Losing Isn’t Thriving
July 12th, 2013
Before the era of statistical gibberish and fantasy fun that doesn’t involve women, sports were all about winning and losing.
The “W” was the almighty. Being called a “winner” was the highest compliment. Call Joe old school, but winning is what Joe cares about most. It’s the greatest intangible in any sport — in life, too. There are winners; there are losers. Any man who’s ever set foot on a field of competitive sports knows some players just find a way to win consistently and/or play like a winner over and over again.
So Joe was intrigued by the recent headline on Buccaneers.com: “Welcome Back Orange: Freeman Has Thrived in Throwback Gear”
Freeman is 1-2 in throwback games.
“In all, Freeman has completed 57 of 111 passes for 806 yards, seven touchdowns and just two interceptions while wearing the Bucs’ throwback uniforms. The completion percentage is lower than his career average, thanks mostly to a 14-for-31 effort in his debut start, but his averages of 269 yards per game and 7.26 yards per throw are well above his career marks. That coupled with the excellent 7-2 TD-INT ratio has helped Freeman compile a strong 88.6 passer rating in Throwback Games. He’s even run nine times for 61 yards in those three outings.”
Joe understands the Bucs’ marketing machine working to put a positive spin on how No. 5 plays in throwback-uniform games. But this was a bit much for Joe.
Losing is never “thriving.” And Freeman’s stats in those games aren’t blow-your-mind great.
Joe only really likes what Freeman did in his first throwback game, his first career start. He led his team to victory against a strong Packers team. It was one of Freeman’s six career wins against teams with a winning record.
July 12th, 2013 at 11:11 am
Can’t argue with that point
July 12th, 2013 at 11:11 am
How should the color of our uniform’s have any bearing on whether we win or lose the game? If you were to cherry pick 3 games while Freeman played in red & pewter, you might get close to the same results. We can’t use uniforms as an excuse of why we didn’t win. 🙂
July 12th, 2013 at 11:12 am
I have those uniforms. wish they would burn them!
July 12th, 2013 at 11:13 am
Freeman has lost a lot more in red n pewter than he has in the creamsicle jersey… just sayin
July 12th, 2013 at 11:17 am
Is it not possible for Freeman to play well and the team still loses?
July 12th, 2013 at 11:24 am
Joe,
Please rush to PFT and get a post on Mike Williams tweet about his contract situation. This is significant and carries some weight going into camp here shortly.
Can’t wait to see you and everyone weigh in.
July 12th, 2013 at 11:39 am
Now that is very interesting Architek… and a bit worrisome.
July 12th, 2013 at 11:47 am
Lol @ mike williams. Somebody get this guy a whambulance. This is why twitter is great.
July 12th, 2013 at 11:51 am
It really is considerable noise being that we are changing the culture and Schiano runs a tight ship! Remember guys how he feels about players that are overly active in the social media. Something to watch that’s for sure.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:06 pm
Joe, I think a “W” is for the team. Stats are for individual players mostly.
A player can thrive in a game that is loss. Look at Barry Sanders. He did it all the time.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
should be 3-1!!!! had the falcons and saints beat!!!
July 12th, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Hopefully Joe is checking to see if Mike actually meant the Bucs. If not PFT is going to look stupid.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Williams’ agent has a fool for a client.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
No where in that Twitter did Williams mention “Bucs.”
July 12th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Right but my thoughts are centered around Mike W taking to the social route to talk through such items knowing Schiano doesn’t like said transactions.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
F twitter.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Good call, Joe!
July 12th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Architek:
Joe read that yesterday. Joe has no clue what Williams was Twittering about. Unless Williams specifically typed “Bucs/Dominik,” which he didn’t, it’s a leap to think he was Twittering about his negotiations.
For all Joe knows, Williams was Twittering about Syracuse.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Yeah, that’s a little to loose of a statement to imply any certain meaning. It’s to open to interpretation.
July 12th, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Joe, are you going to comment at all on @NFLosophy? The anonymous twitter, former NFL front office, guy worked for the Bucs in 2011. He has already talked a lot about Freeman. As well as Raheem and even Bruce Allen. Seems like this is the time of year where this would be very relevant news.
July 12th, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Also, I don’t know how those Mike Williams tweets could be about anything other than his contract.
July 12th, 2013 at 1:10 pm
@WCBF
Agreed. Its plainly obvious but I can see how Joe would need to protect himself in case it isnt how it appears.
July 12th, 2013 at 1:28 pm
You guys decide what you think Mike is talking about here. “Family first” sounds like something Schiano has preached a lot. That the team is a family. I understand it is professional to not jump to conclusions Joe but I don’t think it hurts to speculate?
July 12th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
Joe your pushing the stereotype that you can’t be a good player if your team doesn’t win. This is the exact kind of talk that leads to people thinking Joe Flacco is a good quarterback. It Is also stating that bucs greats like James Wilder, Paul Gruber , and Jimmy Giles aren’t good and doesn’t matter because the bucs didn’t win much.
July 12th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Well it sounds like the deal won’t get done this year and that he is looking forward to this season and will continue negotiations at another time. That is the worse case scenario in those tweets
July 12th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
The deal will get done. Still got a couple weeks. More really.
July 12th, 2013 at 2:44 pm
WestCoastBucsFan, it could literally be a family issue, and then he sets it aside to focus on football.
July 12th, 2013 at 2:49 pm
Highly disturbing to think that those running Buccaneers.com can be that delusional…. Most be those pewter and Red colored glasses I have been hearing about!
July 12th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
We all already know how Horrible our defense has been year in year out. But since Joe is going into completion percentage…I would like to know how many of Freemans INTs over his entire career have be clearly catchable balls that we dropped. Not all on him
July 12th, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Joe I see the safe and diligence approach but isn’t odd that he would post Schiano theme of family?
July 12th, 2013 at 3:27 pm
@Kevin: not to mention receivers running the wrong route. I remember clearly in 2011 when two players ran into each other and lead to a pick. That clearly is not Freemans fault.
July 12th, 2013 at 3:46 pm
Also Selmon don’t know how I forgot Selmon
July 12th, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Solaire:
It’s all about the rings, baby. You can be a good player and never be in a playoff game (Giles and Gruber did play in playoff games, btw).
Would you rather have a good player, or a player that somehow helps a team win? Joe would take the latter.
Joe’s about winning.
And, yes, Joe thinks Joe Flacco is a good quarterback. He makes plays in the most pressure-cooker of games. Bad players surely don’t.
July 12th, 2013 at 4:14 pm
What’s there to comment about?
July 12th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Good players are what help you win Joe but you need a collection of them to win. No doubt Joe Flacco played lights out in the playoffs but he was mediocre at best throughout the regular season. He definitely deserves credit for the Super Bowl win but he was carried to the playoffs. I would rather have a player like Ken Anderson( and his mustache) than a player like Joe Theisman but I would rather have the entire redskins team than the Bengals of that era.
July 12th, 2013 at 5:26 pm
A former front office person talking about the Bucs? Seems like something Bucs fans would be interested in. I grabbed a few tweets about the Bucs.
July 12th, 2013 at 5:38 pm
West Coast:
He didn’t work in the football operations wing.
July 12th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
Solaire,
Flacco has **won** a playoff game **5 straight years** since entering the league.
July 12th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
True. Just seemed like it would be newsworthy this time of year.
July 12th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
Joe just.. stfu
July 12th, 2013 at 6:25 pm
Never said Flacco didn’t win a playoff game I even said he played well in the playoffs I was just saying that he doesn’t play well enough in the regular season to make the playoff on an average to bad team. Throughout Flacco’s career his defense averages less than 20 points per game. On an average team there is no way he would have made the playoffs every year. They hardly made last year an wouldn’t have if Ray Rice wasn’t a monster. The fourth and 29 play is a perfect example to how Flacco has played His career. Besides the playoffs this year where he played great he has been mediocre with great players around him. If he plays more like he did in the playoffs next year I will retract my statement
July 12th, 2013 at 7:01 pm
@Solaire
SteveK hadn’t been born yet when the media and fans in Baltimore were trying to run Flacco out of town. Or he just refuses to accept that it happened.
July 12th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Buc n Junkie I mean it was only week 16 last year wasn’t even that long ago
July 12th, 2013 at 7:53 pm
@Solaire
I got it. I was poking at SteveK
July 12th, 2013 at 8:24 pm
I know you were I was agreeing with you
July 13th, 2013 at 10:18 am
HAHA This is the definition of irony. Joe could have an article about Rachel Watson and the comments will turn to Freeman. This article Joe writes about Freeman and the comments turn into Williams and @NFLosophy. We’re like a lost puppy that doesn’t know what to do when you fake throw a ball.