Saints Still Scared Of Josh Freeman
October 15th, 2011
The Bucs offense is not what it was.
First, there’s LeGarrette Blount, out with a gimpy knee. Before Blount became a major cog in the Bucs offense last year the Bucs rushing attack was Connie Chung-like. Actually, before Blount started, Joe is of the mind that the Bucs had no rushing attack.
Second, there is wide receiver Mike Williams, who classified his play this season as “terrible” earlier this week.
Lastly, there is quarterback Josh Freeman, whose touchdown-to-interception ratios is among the worst in the league, a drastic turnaround from last year when his same ratio was second in the NFL to Drew Brees.
But don’t try to tell Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams Freeman is struggling. The long time NFL defensive guru believes no other player on the Bucs offense can hurt a defense more than Freeman, so he told Kevin Spain of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
If there’s a guy on the Tampa Bay offense that you’re afraid of, who is it and why?
“What we do is we take a look at all the targets and we take a look at all their players. I think they’ve done a really good job of getting young and good players, but they have a lot of different guys. We don’t just isolate on one, we try to surround the formation and try to play as hard and as fast as we can and minimize every inch of grass that we can. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. This division has become such a great quarterback-driven division, and Josh (Freeman) has played very well against us. We have our work cut out for us again with having to play him this week.”
It’s a good thing Freeman has played well against the Saints. With no Blount, with Williams admitting he’s not having a good year, it will take a fantastic game from Freeman for the Bucs to be able to knock off the current NFC South leaders.
October 15th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
I Hope Freeman has a fantastic Game Sunday. He’s always capable. I still believe the lock put has really hurt Josh this year, but the guy is still the best young QB in the game. I also hope that both Graham and Lumpkin surprise us Sunday. We can beat the Saints, but will have to run to do it. We will miss the explosive Mr.McCoy badly Sunday. But my biggest concern is the leagues 2nd rated passer against the 23 ranked Pass defense.
That’s giving me Da goosebumps! That could just turn ugly!
October 15th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
The guys over at Pewter Report are predicting a loss:
Cook’s Score Prediction: Saints 28, Buccaneers 27
Reynold’s Score Prediction: Saints 30, Buccaneers 17
Horchy’s Score Prediction: Saints 31, Buccaneers 23
Mike Florio is predicting a lodd over at PFT.
I was thinking a loss as well. HOWEVER, I am changing my prediction. I’m calling this one a win.
I think the Bucs are gonna be peeved with all these bad predictions. All of a sudden the national media isn’t taking the Bucs seriously. It’s a mistake.
I hope the Bucs rams those predictions down their throats.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Not that it matters, but Freeman came in second to Tom Brady last year in TD to INT ratio. Brees threw about a million INT’s last year.
October 15th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Hawaiian- Yes Brees throws PLENTY of picks. But just like Brett Fav-ruh he also throws lots of TD’s.
I have no problem with Josh throwing a pick here or there as long as he starts throwing some more TD passes. Brees has 5 picks this year. One less than Freeman. Brees is also 4th in TD passes. Both guys are gunslingers who are gonna force the ball downfield regardless. The difference is that Brees recieving core is getting open for big plays and so far Freemans hasn’t.
Just for the record Philip Rivers and Micheal Vick both have one more pick than Freeman and the immortal Tom Brady is tied with Free at 6 picks. Brady and Brady were 1 and 2 last year in TD to INT ratio. This year they are both among the early leaders in picks along with Brees.
Like I said the difference between Free and Brady or Brees is that Free doesn’t have a reliable go to recieving target right now. These recievers need to step up their game. And at some point we have to start pointing the finger at Olsen. D-coordinators seem to have adjusted to the Bucs passing game. 2nd half vs. Minnesota was the only 2 quarters all season where our passing offense looked good. MAybe its time for Olsen to dig deep in his playbook for the funky routes that can disrupt his tendencies???