And The Boos Rained Down
October 15th, 2012It’s only slightly audible on the game broadcast, but Josh Freeman was showered with hometown boos late in the first half Sunday against the Chiefs.
Freeman had just thrown a third-down, one-hopper that fell short of Tiquan Underwood at the Chiefs’ 21 yard line. The play essentially ended an inconsistent, 5-for-13 first half for Freeman, who tossed a red zone interception on the opening drive and had other rough moments.
Of course, Freeman bounced back for a monster second half, but he still is searching for a complete, 60-minute game.
Joe found the boos interesting, only because they illustrate the growing impatience with Freeman among the Bucs faithful. Fans want to see Freeman be an upper-tier quarterback immediately. The tolerance for mistakes is nearing zero.
Joe sees this as a good thing. There’s no reason not to have high expectations for Freeman. He’s got all the tools, quality weapons, and consistently good protection.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:14 am
Freeman could have a 6 TD night like Aaron Rodgers had last night and Buc fans would still find things to complain about.
Sounds like Freeman and everyone else inside the locker is doing what they need to do to get better each week. That’s all that matters.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:21 am
…and he delivered a 328 yd, 3 TD performance in combination with a stout defense to dismantle the Chiefs.
There were at least 3 drops, 2 by Martin and 1 by Williams. Had those been caught, he delivers and 18 for 26 stat line which equates to almost 70% completetion rate.
The interception was a bone headed play and he’s got to see that LB in the flat. That said, I’ve read somewhere that Dave Moore mentioned that Dallas Clark ran the route too deep. Not sure if that is true.
Freeman played very well sans a few plays. He stepped up and moved around in the pocket, ran when he had to, and did more than just “manage” the game.
I’ve been saying we need to take the chains off and do more 4 and 5 wide sets and the results were very good. In this game, I feel the pass set up the run.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:26 am
Has Freeman ever really been coached before now? Olsen and Van Pelt didn’t seem to do anything for him.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:34 am
I think it’s a classless thing by the fans.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:39 am
I agree with Dutcher, Jeff, and Jessup…
October 15th, 2012 at 9:43 am
I agree with all previous posters….It does take a little time to jell the players,coaches, and scheme… all it takes is a missed block, bad throw, or reciever turning the wrong way…
October 15th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Freeman started the game poorly and minus one great play by Mike Williams was horrible in the first half. We expect more from him at this point in his career and I’m sure he expects more of himself. He came out in the 2nd half and played very well. A few mistakes, but nobody is perfect. The fact that he didn’t let the first half set the tone for him was a big step in the right direction. That said, he can’t afford a slow start against the Saints. They’re offense is too good to get away with that so this week he has to come out ready to play for 4 quarters. That’s all we fans want to see from our 4th year, 1st round pick, franchise QB.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:57 am
The fans are sick and tired of losing; I don’t understand how booing after a bad performance is in bad taste. It’s the second best way to tell the owner your opinion of the team. The best way of course is buying tickets.
That being said I love where this team is heading and having a win like this makes me yearn for more. I hope fans boo Talib when he comes back.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:10 am
… look at the blocking machine in front of Freeman.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Booing your own team is what they do in NY, and it doesn’t help the situation. If you want to tell the owner your opinion do like they do in Denver and buy a bunch of billboards around the city and comment on that. Booing a performer on stage doesn’t help the self confidence of that performer.
It makes them try to play harder and out of character to please the crowd, which he did last year and threw more interceptions. Good thing we don’t have Vince Young because he went suicidal when he was booed in Tennessee.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:11 am
@Vic
They said LGB couldn’t block…
October 15th, 2012 at 10:11 am
First people that have no clue do that.
Hey Joe, is that Blount blocking? You use Blount you win games. I might be wrong but Everytime Blount was in for the play fake Freeman hit the pass receiver. When Blount is in the game the safeties have to move up please see his 35 yd run. We need the 2 headed monster, there is no way around that. Go Bucs!!!!!!!
October 15th, 2012 at 10:15 am
Freeman did well yesterday, in the second half.
Freeman’s style and history of inconsistent playing has worn thin the patience of the faithful. Freeman has the gifts to be a dar ngood QB, but consistency is lacking.
I hope 2nd half Freeman shows up for the rest of the season. We have a fighting chance if we can get consistently good play from our QB.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:42 am
Free had an overall good game, but this particular pass that drew the boos/negative reaction from the fan was terrible and he deserved the feedback. You’ll see in the replay that the receiver was right in front of him,looking right at him, and still the ball bounced about a yard in front of the receivers feet.
This is Freeman’s fourth year, and while I do think he’ll be our QB for the longterm, those types of passes just can’t be missed at his level of play.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:44 am
He continually missed receivers badly. That pass to Tiquan was so under thrown when he was so wide open that probably everyone in Tampa simultaneously said WTF?
Why can’t they hire Jeff Carlson to come in and clean up his mechanics? He is a mirror image of Tim Tebow except Tim is not afraid to run the ball.
Tim keeps getting bigger and stronger while Josh is shrinking.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Freeman has yet to show NFL caliber accuracy and anticipation. The deep ball to the sideline is, by far, the easiest to throw. One of the reasons I think the TE’s are not being used, is that they are normally in the middle of the field, where accuracy is at a premium. Also, anticipation is required on the shorter, middle of the field, throws. We still dont see the deep outs, the deep square-ins, the seam passes. Freeman really struggles to hit his receivers in stride at full speed. To often the ball is behind them or low or high, which causes them to break stride and limits YAC. Was this a step in the right direction? absolutely, BUT, all he did is throw the ball up to give the receiver a chance, a good thing, no doubt. I want to see more of the quick, anticipation, hit receiver in stride type plays. The TD to Jackson that was a mid-level slant/post was a GREAT throw. If Free can start to hit those type of throws more routinely, we may have a QB. Until then…still not sure, and yes he should be given all season to gauge his ability to make these throw that require a higher level of accuracy and anticipation.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:52 am
@Sneedy16
1. People all over do that.
2. New York has a long history of winning championships.
3. If you cant handle getting boo’d then you shouldn’t be there in the first place.
4. If what you said is true, how come Freeman had a MONSTER 2nd half?
I’m not a boo-er but I have no problem with people booing. Yes a lot of fans may not follow the bucs as much as we do and don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, but in the end all anyone cares about is a WINNING football team.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:55 am
While some of you were sitting in your air conditioning watching HD Pirate TV, I was in the stands, sweating my ass off, drinking $8 beer, supporting the Buccaneers as I do every home game. And yes, I booed Freeman on that play because Underwood was wide open and he threw the ball a good 5 yards short of him. Spare me the crap of booing is classless when you can’t even get off your ass to use the tickets you allegedly have. Booing is done in every stadium, not just New York, Philly, etc when the product on the field is sub-standard based upon the amount of money shelled out to watch said product. Grown men who are “professionals” shouldn’t have their feelings hurt by a bit of booing.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:00 am
“Immediately?” It’s been four G-D years. Tell you what… tell me WHEN I can start having expectations of him, and I’ll sit on my hands until then. Tell me the official “grace” period that a QB gets during a time when the stadium is half-empty and has had losing streaks of 10 and 8 games in the past 4 years and I’ll refrain from booing until that time.
He should be LIGHTING it up right now. He’s got weapons all around him. There are no more excuses.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:01 am
@lightningbuc. You are dead on.
I was there and I was one of the fans that booed also. Freeman has to step into his throws. Personally I think fans showing their feelings probably got his butt in gear and was one of the reasons he started connecting with his receivers in the second half.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:24 am
Though he played well yesterday liked his pocket presence
October 15th, 2012 at 11:26 am
@Mavsmoney
1. No they all do not. I’ve watch the teams get booed not a single player get booed. It’s like when Kansas City cheered when Matt was hurt.
2. Yes Yankees and Giants. The NY fans boo for everything. They booed Tim Tebow before he even played a down for them. Jets haven’t won anything since 1968 and Mets since 1986, but they get booed on a weekly bases.
3. Not when it’s your won team. I can understand if you are in an away team.
4. Like I said some people can handle it. His monster 2nd half had nothing to do with the fans booing. It had much to do with adjustments made during the game. Josh has always been inconsistent so booing him will not make him consistent all of a sudden.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:27 am
If you want to boo go ahead and boo. I personally have never booed the team I have cheered for since they graced the grid iron. I get what Lightning is saying, so I will take back my agreeing with the “classless” fraise, but I just cannot boo the Bucs…It is just not in my nature. The Bucs have allot of weapons, and on paper they look much better than what we have seen. If you remember back four years ago, everyone was conserned that switching OC would stunt freeman’s growth…Well, I guess you guys were right. let’s see how he improves as the weeks go by. Even Brady has a bad half now and then. it was nice to see the WR group bailing him out too. Freeman should be taking Willianm out to dinner tongiht.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Miguel…why do you even post?? You had KC picked to win and no one thinks you remotely have any knowledge of the game. You’re sort of like a stalker….you just lurk around in spite of the restraining order.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:31 am
Bobby…Not only did he pick KC to win, he said they were going to crush the Bucs.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:31 am
I would love to go to a game, but I live in Houston. I have no choice but to watch the game on TV. I went to the Dallas game where Freeman stunk up the place. You think beer is expensive in Tampa, try $12 in Dallas!!!!
October 15th, 2012 at 11:33 am
Miguel posted?? Didn’t even realized it. I learned how to bypass his rants.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Sneedy,
My comment about sitting in AC was directed at another poster on here who claims to buy tickets to games but can’t be bothered with going and then talks crap about the rest of the fans.
However, you are clearly wrong about booing in stadiums. Did you watch the 49ers-Giants game yesterday? SF fans were booing their home team in the second half, and the 49ers are probably one of the best teams in the NFL. But they didn’t show it yesterday, so the fans let them have it.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Why does that miquel dude even post..its not even understandable what the dummy post….is he like 14 or something ?
October 15th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Fans can boo all they want..it was a terrible throw..so what, all QB’s have bad throws..everygame…Knoledgeable fans know it takes a little time for the TEAM to jell.. really like a year or two..but some are impatient.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:48 am
How about some perspective? Freeman has 59 touchdowns and 51 interceptions over the course of his whole career, which is less than 3.5 years. Vinny Testeverde was here for six years and had 76 touchdowns–the current career Buccaneers record and 112 interceptions. The fans booed and booted Testeverde out of town and he later went on to have a quite decent, though not elite, career, 275 touchdowns and 267 interceptions and two Pro Bowl (All-Pro) seasons. At the completion of his fourth year, Testeverde had 55 touchdowns and 81 interceptions. Steve Young was in Tampa two years and had 11 touchdowns and 21 interceptions with a completion percentage of 53%. Oh by the way, the knock on Young was he simply wasn’t accurate!
October 15th, 2012 at 11:49 am
@lightningbuc
I have no problem with booing a team if they are sticking up the place. I just have an issue with booing a person. I can’t boo my own team. I played sports so I know how that feels. That’s just me though. I don’t want to force my opinions on anyone. All I’m just saying is that it doesn’t help players. The coaches on the other hand it might be different.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:51 am
Raphy,
If you misspell knowledgeable does that mean you really aren’t?
October 15th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Keep things in perspective. This was a 2010 game. Did Freeman have some good throws? Yes. And give credit where credit is due. But, He gets credit anytime a TD is a scored if he threw the ball. WHEN in fact it was the receivers actions that made it possible if as usual it’s over their head, behind them, etc. This was a team he sould have walked on. I will wait until he plays a top tier team and the defense does not have to score, Barth have to score or the receivers make a miracle catch so he gets the credit.
October 15th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
@lightningbuc ..holy crap ..lawsuit..I missed a “W”…..
October 15th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
@BucFan20
I want to say something, but you are right. I don’t want to crown him as a better QB and he stinks up the place when the Saints arrive. I give him 2 consistently good games before I open my mouth on Freeman game play. I have one thing though, it doesn’t matter if the receivers are making circus catches on man coverage as long as he isn’t forcing it in double coverage like in 2011.
October 15th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Sneedy16
My point is, if he does not ge these passes more on target more often they will cost us a close game. It will be a circus catch the receiver just can’t bail him out on and it could be on the last drive of a game.
October 15th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
t^
October 15th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
bucyea, I concur. I have already have had the thought that the TD over the middle to Jackson for 6 was the only Freeman throw that made me say, ”Nice pass!” Nevertheless, I would have groaned, but not booed, on that three-hopper.
McBuc , I booed the Bucs once, back in the 80s; not for poor play but for lack of effort.
Deminion , Josh needs that sort of pocket presence when he is being rushed, too.
October 15th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
The two back shoulder passes to Mike Williams were perfect, especially the one he picked off the defender’s helmet, that was perfectly placed, it was the same pass he caught in the end zone two weeks ago. If you place it right there no one but the WR can come up with it, otherwise it bounces off the defender’s helmet.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
I like Blount in the foreground throwing a block in the passing game.