Josh Freeman No. 24
January 17th, 2013
The way Josh Freeman tossed footballs downfield to Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams, Joe thought that, despite Freeman’s untimely December meltdown, Freeman would have decent numbers converting third downs.
After all, if Freeman set passing records for the Bucs franchise, it would stand to reason his third down conversion wasn’t too bad, no?
Apparently, no!
The thinktank crowd of ProFootballFocus.com decided to analyze their files to find the most clutch quarterbacks in 2012. Surprisingly, Freeman was in the bottom third in the NFL.
Freeman was ranked No. 24, just above Mark Sanchez and Brandon Weeden and just below Carson Palmer and Ryan Tannehill.
Clearly, if the Bucs are going to make the playoffs next season — a critical season for Freeman’s tenure as the Bucs’ starting quarterback — this is an area in which Freeman must rank among the top half of the NFL, not the bottom half.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:12 am
Wow…………………………
January 17th, 2013 at 9:29 am
this is why the fantasy stats don’t count. The sheep will come back with he has a new offense every year, he is only 24 years old, and he has not enough play makers on the field. Some even say it is the secondary’s fault for Freeman’s demise. But Josh did not help the defense going 3 in out so many times. That is the stat i would like to see. Where does Freeman rank in 3 and outs!
January 17th, 2013 at 9:44 am
Brace yourself…… Freeman hate comments are coming
January 17th, 2013 at 9:49 am
Sadly this is about where I’d rank him among qbs overall. That’s what continuing to make rookie mistakes will do for you…I take that back. We’ve seen plenty of rookie qbs this year that moved pass j-free.
January 17th, 2013 at 9:52 am
@the-buc-realist. ……thats what Joe is talking about…3rd down conversions. Did you read it??? The exact number is 32.97% (just below Weedon and just ahead of Sanchez)
January 17th, 2013 at 10:17 am
i think this is a product of playcalling and putting ourselves into too many 3rd and 7 or 8’s from running on 1st and 2nd nearly 75% of the time. maybe be a little less conservative early in games or when we have small leads in the second half of games and this stat will be helped by putting ourselves into better situations.
January 17th, 2013 at 10:25 am
Braciing myselfy^^^…. Cue the Freeman apologists.
What a laugh, numbers don’t lie Freemanists!
January 17th, 2013 at 10:25 am
You all just need to chill out. If he stinks this season let him walk if he doesn’t resign him that’s all to it. What we complain about during the off season do not matter. After 2013 season there will be no more excuses just stats and facts.
January 17th, 2013 at 10:29 am
Im not a freeman fan… but who is a better option???
January 17th, 2013 at 10:31 am
So, Freeman has less than a 33% conversion rate on 3rd downs.
A baseball player is considered to be elite if they can get a hit in 33% of plate appearances.
What is most boggling, Freeman converts 3rd downs at a lesser rate than 20 year old Mike Trout gets base hits… That’s right, Freeman can’t throw the ball for a 1st down any better than a 20 year old kid major league pitching.
The sports have nothing to do with eachother, and I am just frustrated at the Freeman apology board.
January 17th, 2013 at 10:32 am
He’s a Moron
January 17th, 2013 at 10:52 am
Joe, I agree with Grasshopper with this added on, are we only talking about when he threw the ball on third down or are we talking about every third down? There is a big difference in the two because of play calling.
January 17th, 2013 at 10:58 am
Even if Freeman did great next season; would he keep it up when a new OC comes in and Mike Sullivan finally leaves for a HC job?
January 17th, 2013 at 11:29 am
OK …that’s not a fair assessment because if you look at the QBs in the top third you’ll recognize them as scrambling type QBs. Remember? Schiano stopped Freeman’s ability to scramble making him a pure pocket passer. How many times did you see A. Rodgers, D. Brees, etc… tuck it and run for the first down on design or improvisation on third down.
I don’t think the think tank crowd of ProFootballFocus.com took that into consideration.
January 17th, 2013 at 11:36 am
If Freeman can’t lead us to the playoffs next year, then I hope he’s absolutely god awful so we can at least get Jadeveon Clowney. Either 10-6 or 2-14 please, but another 6-10 or 7-9 season would be a debacle.
January 17th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
# 24…. I have no issue with that… That is about the same place I would have put JF…. There just is not 1 thing that is spectacular about his game! Next!
January 17th, 2013 at 12:58 pm
@Capt. Edward Teach: You are pathetic, absolutely pathetic. Even Freeman himself would have never thought about such an excuse to his putrid 3rd down passing numbers himself.
January 17th, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Schiano stopped Freeman’s ability to scramble making him a pure pocket passer
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How exactly do you know that? I’ve never heard a statement from either Schiano or Freeman saying something as stupid as that. I seriously doubt Schiano would tell his often pressured QB that he can’t scramble and must stay in the pocket. Makes no sense.
January 17th, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Shows how little you so-called Buc fans know. Schiano said during OTAs that he liked for his QBs to stay in the pocket, that’s why he had them wearing braces on their follow-thru leg.
January 17th, 2013 at 1:58 pm
@Jonny 3.3
What’s really pathetic is how you pretend to know everything about football. It’s easy to sit back and criticize someone after the fact but if you don’t form your evaluation on all the litigating factors then you have cheated the person you are criticizing. That’s why your not a coach or a GM.
January 17th, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Capt. Edward Teach Says:
January 17th, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Shows how little you so-called Buc fans know. Schiano said during OTAs that he liked for his QBs to stay in the pocket, that’s why he had them wearing braces on their follow-thru leg.
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Liking their QB to stay in the pocket and making them are two very different things. Every coach would like there QB to stay in the pocket. But to suggest he is forcing Josh to stay there is beyond ridiculous. I guess “real Buc fans” are suppose to have reading comprehension problems as well.
January 17th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Talk about beating a dead horse. He is here for 2013 people, like it or not. If he does great I am all for keeping him, if he doesn’t, dump him. I am also with crowd of people asking who we replace him with? I’ve accepted he is here for 2013, everybody else should too.
January 17th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
I also agree with Bucrightoff, I hope next year is either a huge success or complete disaster. Something in-between would kind of suck.
January 17th, 2013 at 2:18 pm
That in no way means he’s stopping Free from scrambling.
He just doesn’t want to do one of his dumbass dives.
January 17th, 2013 at 2:25 pm
Josh had 39 rush attempts in 2012, 15 on 3rd down giving him a 53.1 QBR and a 81.6 rating. 39 rush attempts were his lowest in 4 years.
In 2010 he had 68 rush attempts, 36 on 3rd down, giving him a 64.6 QBR and a 95.9 rating. 68 rush attempts were his most in 4 years.
When you look at the numbers it proves to me the success rate of 3rd down conversions also hinges on the ability of the QB to scramble.
January 17th, 2013 at 2:31 pm
And I would agree with you Josh needs to scramble more. However, you can’t sit here and tell me Schiano is forcing Josh to stay in the pocket with no proof other that what you just offered. Josh could of and should of scrambled a lot m ore last year as well. Schiano wasn’t here then. Was that his fault to?
January 17th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
@SilenceTheCritics
You’re right, saying stopped is to strong a word, let’s say Schiano strongly advised against it.
It started with Greg Olson, he too wanted Josh to start staying in the pocket longer. He felt Josh was bailing to quickly but Josh did rush for 4TDs in 2011
January 17th, 2013 at 3:01 pm
I wonder how much of this had to do with the state of the right side of the offensive line?
January 17th, 2013 at 3:04 pm
JF is has just shackled himself too much mentally, Schiano got on him the first time he too a dangerous dive but that is all he did.
January 17th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
And then there was the 3rd down short yard pass. Well we know how most of those ended up!
January 17th, 2013 at 4:57 pm
@BucFan20
I’m not sure how yet but give me time and ill come up with a good reason why that is all to blame on the defense! Josh does no wrong!!