Talent – Football IQ = Josh Freeman
August 19th, 2013
Former Buccaneer Ian Beckles isn’t sold on Josh Freeman’s decision-making.
Longtime former Gaines Adams and Barrett Ruud basher Ian Beckles seems to have turned his harsh-critic daggers to Josh Freeman. Beckles, the former Bucs guard (1990-1996) turned popular radio host, has offered harsh assessments of Freeman lately.
And they’re the kind that leave little hope that Freeman will become a great player.
Today, Beckles broke down one way Freeman holds on to the ball too long and he said Freeman has talent but no “football IQ.” You can catch the full Ron and Ian audio below.
Joe’s not sure what set off the masses, but Freeman took a beating on various local radio stations this morning. Right or wrong, it’s going to get ugly around these parts if Freeman has a rough September.
August 19th, 2013 at 7:32 pm
Here come the Beckles haters!
August 19th, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Sry Joe, but your doing the same stupid stuff Beckles is doing….saying stupid stuff or reporting it to feed into the retarded fans… freeman will have a great year and the Bucs are headed to the playoffs… This team has so much hope and promise this year , with the defense and the 2 nd yr in Sullies offense…it’s to bad your site has resorted to ” Jerry Springer” tactics and BS. I used to like this place .
August 19th, 2013 at 7:49 pm
I like Beckles because he calls it like he see’s it. The problem is he’s right about 50% of the time just like the rest of us. Maybe because Freeman IS the best QB the Bucs have ever had I get too caught up in his potential. The Bucs have lived & died by the D for years so this is all new for most of us anyway. Ian may have his reasons, but I’m sticking to my own conclusion that with experience and maturity; Freeman will turn his career around and be the Bucs QB for a long time.
August 19th, 2013 at 7:50 pm
Joe,
Interesting that you mentioned Freeman took a beating on local radio stations, as he’s getting some national love. Both Bill Barnwell and Robert Mays on Grantland did a preview of the Bucs on their podcast today, and they both thought Freeman would have a strong season. They also believed the Bucs would win the division at 10-6, which I found interesting
August 19th, 2013 at 7:53 pm
If he can’t play well for a massive contract, I don’t think it’ll be for anything anyone says or writes.
August 19th, 2013 at 7:55 pm
I rest my case about the media. Give them a platform and they think they are all NY shock jocks. If we could take away their bully pulpit and soapboxes, they would be nothing, and their opinions would fall on deaf ears..
August 19th, 2013 at 8:20 pm
I’d like to see some of Freeman’s teammates take Beckles to task. The constant daily bashing of Freeman, and he hasn’t even played a meaningful down yet. The local media is pounding this teams morale right into the ground. You get the feeling they would rather see failure than success. In fact they even hedge their bets predicting failure most of the time. Disgusting.
August 19th, 2013 at 8:33 pm
Freeman is not Schiano’s guy, no matter how he wants to ‘sugar coat’ it.
He “inherited him” from Raheem.
Schiano recruited Glennon in College, didn’t get him, but wanted him here in Tampa.
Ronde Barber just bashed the heck out of Freeman on national TV, calling him inconsistent.
Josh must play well this season, or he will get benched, it is as simple as that.
Tampa has a 20 million dollar decision to make this year, regarding Josh.
If they can get as good, or possibly QB Play out of Mike Glennon, Freeman will be gone, it is as simple as that!
August 19th, 2013 at 8:56 pm
This guy still bashes Gerakd McCoy!!!
August 19th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Freeman has no IQ period. You can’t fix stupid.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:08 pm
Wow! Anyway you can get more comments from other disgruntled ex-Buc players? I find their insight so enlightening…
August 19th, 2013 at 9:09 pm
Freeman pats the ball so much I wouldn’t be surprised if he offered it a dog cookie.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:10 pm
DAMN
August 19th, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Do you guys ever really watch him? If he takes the ball and turns his shoulder right he always throws right, never turns the other way. He takes it left, same thing. Watch the tape.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:26 pm
Yes Ian bashes PRO BOWL DT Gerald McCoy all the time. I can’t respect a guy who bashes a player even after he plays well after being healthy. He doesn’t want to admit when he’s wrong. And by the way Freeman will succeed. I’ve always said it. I can’t wait!!
August 19th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Rapheal oops I mean Racheal stop acting like a lil boy smart a$s. You always have something out of pocket to say. Hiding behind rude commemts online.lmao
I only start with fans who have a prior history of talking smack to me.
TO MR. $ACBUC$!
August 19th, 2013 at 9:39 pm
@ sacbuc …your just a little punk with no sac ….. I just call it like I see it…dumbass
August 19th, 2013 at 9:39 pm
It’s about time Beckles caught on to Freeman. Freeman has looked like hot garbage this off-season. Look in Jacksonville. Everyone is bashing Gabbert down there. But he’s come out looking sharp in pre-season and looks more motivated than josh.
You could argue, that in those last 6 games and the first 4, combined, Josh was one of the NFL’s worst QBs.
Weeks 1-4 + weeks 12-17 = Horrendous.
So many people are living off those 6 weeks. But it’s 6 weeks. Seasons 16 games.
Josh waits for WRs to come open. He doesn’t throw the ball on time. 90% of his success in 2010 that ONLY Greg Cossell pointed out, when everyone was praising future star of Freeman, was that all of his plays came off of broken plays and him breaking the pocket. Cossell even said a QB can not consistently play like that and defenses will key in and Freeman will need to become a pocket passer. He said this prior to the 2011 season. Now look what happened since ?
Troy Aikman said it best: He does not see the other side of the field. He looks left, he stays left. He looks right, he stays right. He cannot process things quickly. Sure in Training Camp, when no bullets are flying, he can go through reads, but when defenses know Josh is terrible under pressure, they’re going to bring it because well, they can.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:45 pm
Really can’t stand all the Freeman bashing here anymore ….so many retards …
Get a clue morons
August 19th, 2013 at 10:10 pm
Free’s is a 10 athletically and his football instincts are 3.
Brady is a 7couldn’t athletically but his instincts are a 10
what you with those numbers is what you get
August 19th, 2013 at 10:39 pm
I have a hard time believing that this kid who has done nothing but study and play football his entire life has low football I.Q. He has planned his career since he was a kid.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:49 pm
^ Jason Campbell had the same work ethic. So did Byron Leftwich. Some guys just can’t adjust to the speed of the nfl. Theres a difference between film study and carrying it over to the field.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:50 pm
@Chris
Both of those points of criticism are inaccurate. A good amount of Freeman’s 2010 success wasn’t from broken plays but extended plays. He did run the most that year, but often he would just break a tackle and still look to throw. One of Freeman’s better plays was against Carolina when he avoided two sacks then hit Winslow for a 30 yard pass. But the main reason Freeman got so much credit that year was because he got to a point where he was spreading the ball to everyone that got on the field.
And Troy Aikman’s comment was only half right. Freeman does lock up to his first few reads when he’s under immense pressure constantly. The game where that comment came up was last year against the Cowboys, and in that game both QBs got hit ALOT. But that’s not something that always happen. When Freeman gets a chance to settle in he can scan the field as well as anyone else in the league. But I will say this. His field of vision is probably about 30%-35% less than a Rodgers or Manning.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:55 pm
Only problem with that is Jason Campbell had to switch coordinators every year, and that’s a sure way to ruin a young QB. Byron Leftwich, on the other hand, had no problems understanding the NFL but had a mechanical flaw with his throwing motion. So it didn’t matter if he read defenses properly or not since his throws were still coming out late.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:59 pm
Why can’t people have varying opinions about Freeman without all the hate?
August 19th, 2013 at 11:13 pm
Now we’re going from calling him inconsistent to calling him dumb. What do we do next? String him up?
August 20th, 2013 at 12:17 am
This second year in Sullivan’s offence thing is way overblown. Guess what it’s RG3,Wilson and Luck’s second year in their offence as well. Having a season of tape on these guy’s and their offence. Might help the opposing defence’s more than the QB. These guy’s have been running different offence’s since pop warner. If a Qb struggles to pick up offence’s. He usually won’t make it to the NFL unless he slip’s thru the crack’s. All the 1st round bomb QB’s could throw a football. What they lack is awareness and the abilty to process information very fast. Also some people just don’t have peripheral vision. A QB has to have great peripheral’s. They need to focus on receiving target’s. One after another the whole time never looking at onrushing linemen. Anyone notice that Freeman never pump fakes. Pump faking QB’s show awareness just by pump faking. Freeman stares down receiver’s. That’s a fact and defence’s know it. Imagine V-jax running a quick stant. Freeman stares him down. All defender’s start heading to V-jax. Oh my word a pump fake and Martin catches a dump pass in the flat that V-jax vacated. Boom TD.
August 20th, 2013 at 1:07 am
I’m not saying that having a high football IQ means he is a good QB. You can say what you want about those qbs play but to say they don’t know the game is based off nothing. Many of the great coaches in league history were sub-par players, but they had high football IQ. I feel it is inaccurate to rate someone’s football intelligence on the quality of play.
August 20th, 2013 at 1:52 am
@76buc76
This isn’t sandlot football, this is the professional football. They aren’t exaggerating when they say its complex. Remember why our former HC Jon Gruden preferred veteran QBs? It was because his system was notoriously complex, so it was much easier to get a veteran to try and understand it than it was to try to develop a rookie under such a system. Sullivan’s offense is in that range of difficulty as well. That’s why experts are giving Freeman a chance to prove himself now instead of calling him stupid like some of our fans.
@Solaire of Astora
The term “football I.Q.” is just a way of saying players are good at what they do. The fact of the matter is no one is entirely sure why some players excel and other don’t. The best thing they can do is find players with more good aspects than bad and hope for the best.
August 20th, 2013 at 2:41 am
Also if Sullivan’s offence is as complex as the giants then Freeman is doing well he did just as good as Eli whose been in the system for more than half a decade. Stranger so what your saying is Football IQ is a baseless term that actually has nothing to do with how smart someone is. There are plenty of good players who seem as dumb as a rock( I say seem because I don’t know any of them personally and do not feel comfortable calling them stupid withought having met the person). Like Warren Sapp.
August 20th, 2013 at 3:06 am
I couldn’t believe the local talk radio hosts this morning…
A little early to hit the panic button after two drives in which the Patriots blew up the line of scrimmage immediately after the snap.
Let’s see the guy play a half this week…or a full game in Week 1 for that matter.
August 20th, 2013 at 4:18 am
Anyone see the clips last night during the Pitsburg – Skins game of Rothlesburger running around, holding the ball forever and getting sacked? Sometimes that happens when a QB is trying to make a play. It’s called football! Unf**ing believable! I just returned to Tampa last night from a short vac. In New Orleans. In NOLA, they are a city in love with their 7-9 football team, if you see 10 people on the street, at least 3 of them are wearing Saints gear, and that’s Men, women, children, young and old. The news castors love them, Grandmas wear their saints pins in their hair, even the Mayors film clip at the airport on the way out of town shows the saints at least twice! That leaves me wondering why are our journalists such complete tools? Why the constant bashing, nit picking, and running down the team and it’s players? Joe, you think maybe during the lull in actual football, you could run a story of all the phenomenal charity work the Glaizer Foundation has done over the last year? I am sure you know about it, they sent a big beautiful picture book in our season ticket package. How about writing about GMCs new family, or what the players like about Tampa. How about talking about all the effort the Bucs are doing to improve game day experience at the stadium. How about find anything at all positive about our team or our city that helps build pride and the fan base? Most importantly, how about taking a leadership position with your peers and stop promoting the negative crap they say that rips down the team and demoralizes the fan base. It’s a brand new year, the team is trying to improve, how about leading us into a fun football frenzy!
August 20th, 2013 at 6:44 am
I guess Ian Buckles lucked out. He found a job where he’s encouraged to be fat and and stupid.
August 20th, 2013 at 9:03 am
I’ve long given up to listening to Ian on his morning show with Ronnie Diaz, this guy still has an ego that won’t stop, I’m so tired of hearing that he’s played in the NFL for so many years, and has blocked John Randle more than any other offensive lineman, so he knows what he’s talking about, fine Ian, you ARE the authority when it comes to evaluating talent, we know you have a big screen tv in your scanctuary that you watch on game days with another big time former NFL player in Tyjie Armstrong, and we know you have a rewind button on your remote because after you isolate your “trained eye” on (this time it’s….) Josh Freeman, and play it back in front of your buddies to prove your point, well that just shows us all that you know something that we all don’t. This guy has been wrong on so many occasions about players he bet would NEVER make it in this league…i.e Gerald McCoy, he’s been on record more than several times stating that #93 will never make even a decent DT, well he sure swept THAT under the rug very quietly last year, didn’t he? And so now it’s Freeman, and it seems half the town is right behind him in that Josh is just a terrible QB, of course Beckles knows this because he blocked for the great QB’s in Vinny Testaverde and Trent Dilfer. So lets see what he has to say when Josh takes this team to the playoffs and perhaps beyond, my guess? He’ll find another scape goat, maybe it will be Carl Nix, who may be treading on the territory of Tampa Bay’s best guard of all time in a few years, a player that may make us even forget about the legendary #62, you remember, the guy with a head the size of a medicine ball?! Whatever dude.
August 20th, 2013 at 10:53 am
The speed of good decision making has been what has separated 5 from Brady, Brees, Rodgers, etc. Two years in the same system with the same coordinator and the same key receivers should result in speedier good decisions. We’ll just have to wait for the season to get going to know. Maybe he’ll be great, but more likely he’ll improve enough to really fire up the debate further.
August 20th, 2013 at 10:58 am
Stranger, complex or not it comes down to reading the defence. At the line of scrimage. Switching the play based on defencive formation. Then unless the play is a run or a quick hitter pass. The QB has to go thru his progressions and make the right read. Freeman can only follow his primarry receiver and maybe glance at the other receiver. On the same side of the field. Ryan said it best going in to the Dallas game last year. If Freeman drop back looking right. He barely ever throw’s left. Our offence did nothing against Dallas. Now Ryan is with the Saints. So we better put lot’s of throwback’s in the game plan week 2
August 20th, 2013 at 11:41 am
76buc … Wow that was a whole paragraph to say that Freeman locks on to one receiver. Far be it for me to try to be an English critic because I suck at it. But holy crap, it was hard to find your point in that jumbled mess of spelling, grammar, and structure errors! But thanks for offering your intelligent insight.