Picking Freeman Over Luck
April 25th, 2013
Joe might have heard the most spirited defense of Josh Freeman in history this afternoon.
Esteemed Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings joined host Justin Pawlowski of 98.7 FM for a pre-draft discussion and wanted to stifle any Freeman bashers in their tracks, and those yearning to draft Freeman’s eventual replacement in the coming hours.
Cummings balked at the notion that Freeman isn’t a successful quarterback with a huge upside yet to be revealed. While talking about drafting quarterbacks, Pawlowski asked Cummings if he’d rather have Andrew Luck or Freeman.
“I don’t want Andrew Luck. I want Josh Freeman,” Cummings exclaimed.
Cummings cited Luck’s 18 interceptions last season (Freeman had 17) and Luck’s limited experience compared to Freeman’s, saying fans and some in the media proverbially would “hang” Freeman for tossing the number of picks Luck did.
Cummings said the perception of Freeman was hurt by the Bucs defense and by those who are quick to blame Freeman. He noted Tampa Bay’s ninth-ranked offense and Freeman’s midseason stretch of greatness last year.
Joe can’t deliver such spirited support of Freeman. All Joe knows is that Freeman is an inconsistent and talented veteran who is 24-32 as a starter.
Regardless, the table is set with everything Freeman needs to win, including a second year with the same menu — from the same kitchen. For Joe, there’s not much to say. Just win, Freeman.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Freeman was doing well until people started getting injured on offense and defense. The Freeman haters are ignorant. He had a better year than 2011, and came out as a junior! He’s had a myriad of coaches, and now has the talent surrounding him to win. Josh is excellent in the two minute offense as well, as evidenced by late rallies in games. I may be biased since he’s our QB but I’ll take Freeman over Luck myself, thanks.
BTW, Aikman was never a GREAT qb if you go by the td/int ratio, and was actually horrible in that department the first couple of years. However, he had the cast around him, and the rest is NFL history.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:29 pm
Better save some cap room Freemans going to finally get it this year.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Freeman Believer. #teamjosh
April 25th, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Freeman is going to go all beast mode this year.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:45 pm
I’m a huge Freeman supporter. If there were any excuses prior to this year, there are none this year.
Dude is going to get paid – write it down.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:48 pm
Dude is already getting paid. He’s one of the highest paid QB’s in this league. He will get a new contract, I doubt he’ll make more money though
April 25th, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Freeman over Luck? Flaacid thinking on Woody’s part.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
As a freeman fan myself I hope everybody is right in the fact that he hits beast mode
April 25th, 2013 at 2:53 pm
I agree, Freeman will be a great QB for us for years.Anybody who cant truly see that really has no football cred with me.When he has a great season this year some still wont be a true believer but in 2-3 years they will dry up and disappear from the blogs and radio call ins.Of course excluding a couple hard core hater idiots.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:54 pm
Hahahahaha!
Andrew Luck > Josh Freeman, period.
I believe in Freeman, but Luck is the best QB prospect since Elway, no way around that.
Luck took the Head Coachless Colts to the playoffs, as a rookie, the year after Peyton Manning left town.
Sorry Joe, good take, but bologna.
Freeman will either take the leap from questionable to consistent, or he will be gone.
Give me Andrew Luck over Freeman, he threw 1 more pick ,but he took his team to the playoffs.
April 25th, 2013 at 2:55 pm
Let’s see, 3 all pro’s on the O – line, V. Jackson and M. Williams on the outside, The Douggernaught in the backfield, Geez, throw me a couple million and I’ll play QB
April 25th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Sure Luck lead his team to the playoffs. Great job, but me thinks Freeman could of lead the the Buccs to the playoffs with Luck’s schedule last year. The Buccs, on paper anyhow, have an easier schedule. Never know until the season unfolds, however.
April 25th, 2013 at 3:09 pm
Has any other QB won a game for the Bucs since Freeman was drafted?
April 25th, 2013 at 3:13 pm
They’re very similar QBs. They both have accuracy and judgment issues, but both come up big in the 4th when it’s close.
April 25th, 2013 at 3:13 pm
Karl,
“I agree, Freeman will be a great QB for us for years.Anybody who cant truly see that really has no football cred with me.”
Couldn’t agree with you more Karl. I mean, with all the wins, playoff appearances, playoff wins, etc. that he has it’s hard to believe some might not think he’ll be “great” for years to come.
April 25th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
@SteveK – Not sure why you’re apologizing to Joe for not agreeing with Cummings
April 25th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
I’ll just say this, Freeman would never have taken that Colt team to the playoffs. Don’t mention schedule, Freeman had the worse games against the easiest part of our season and at most important stretch.
April 25th, 2013 at 3:34 pm
I’ve been a Freeman supporter all along, mostly because I’m willing to cut him some slack due to his age and relative lack of NFL maturity, and because of all of his positive attributes.
But it’s hard to look past his often wildly errant passes, irregular mechanics, questionable decision-making, poor situational awareness, and inability to develop timing with receivers.
I really hope he shines this season. The development phase needs to end.
April 25th, 2013 at 3:36 pm
if the bucs sported 2 corners who were merely below average (rather than way over their heads) for 16 games, josh freeman goes into this offseason as a 10-win playoff QB with huge expectations to jump into the tony romo\philip rivers tier of franchise QBs (not likely to end up in HOF but prolific as heck when needed). i don’t think josh is going to be able to speed up his thinking to the level of a brees or rodgers, but he is more than capable of further limiting his bad decisions and winning more games….especially with a unit capable of keeping the other team off the scoreboard at critical times. i think there were actually 3 or more games where Josh engineered a late comeback, only for the other team to pass the ball at will and retake the lead in the end
April 25th, 2013 at 3:40 pm
SteveK – luck took the colts to the playoffs
No, luck was the QB on a team that made it to the playoffs. I really hate this BS about a QB getting wins, they can be a keycog, but even the bestQB needs a supporting cast around him
April 25th, 2013 at 3:43 pm
all the Jfro loveis making me ill
I swear if he flots biscuits, stares dwn recievers and limps off the field with a “golly molly what happened smile” again this year I’m gonna become a jets fan
put in Orlovsky!!!
April 25th, 2013 at 3:47 pm
philly, new orleans @ home, giants, falcons @ home….just 4 games, off the top of my head, where our QB did enough to win if we had even the 25th-best pass defense of 2013 instead of the 2nd-worst of all time. does an 11-win josh freeman draw the same amount of criticism? there are numerous weaknesses to his game, but i still believe there is much better play and more consistency to come from the kid.
April 25th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Freeman is much better than the haters suggest. Probably in line to earn a big payday after this season. But I can’t imagine a GM in the league that would take Freeman OVER Luck, that is just silly. I don’t recall any NFL fans having a “suck for Freeman” campaigns when Free was at K-State.
April 25th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
Please draft a QB with a brain and ditch The Moron.
April 25th, 2013 at 4:33 pm
Just win, baby!
April 25th, 2013 at 4:42 pm
lol @ judging Andrew Luck by his rookie season when Freeman is in his 4th
April 25th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
@Pick6 Josh led the offense to 8 straight punts to start the game against a Philly defense. Your argument the “he did enough to win” ends there.
April 25th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Freeman needs to play like he did in 2012 minus the 3 bad games. If so this team should be in the playoffs. This revamped secondary should be able to hold leads better in 2013.
April 25th, 2013 at 4:57 pm
Freeman has enough experience now, the right cast around him, a little stability in the system and a great coaching staff. I am betting Freeman will become a top 10 QB this year. Watch what happens when the Bucs win a few games, the confidence grows and the whole team gets on a role. All it’s gonna take is a big win and then watch the fun begin!
April 25th, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Crack kills
April 25th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Thinking such as this is a HUGE reason why the Bucs haven’t been in the playoffs in the past 10 years and why the Bucs have NEVER had a high quality QB.
Since their is slim chance to none that the Bucs can or will find a QB the caliber of Matt Ryan and Drew Brees this year, I see it as Dominik did the next best thing he could – Sign Defensive “play Makers” that will make those Qbs job harder… That is of course if good ole JF doesn’t continue his 3 and out ways or constently throw ints that eventually will wear out the Bucs defense.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Freeman’s got upside. But he’s going into year 5. Luck was a rookie last year. You cannot make that comparison bc Freeman’s cast was much better than Lucks. Luck actually beat a very good team in Houston and Green Bay. What’s freeman do?
I’m a freeman fan but I’m also not going to sugar coat his crappy play. Freeman has physical upside better than lucks but lucks intangibles are off the charts.
If I had the choice today 99.9% of the people are taking luck , including myself. Ony a Tampa homer takes freeman.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:12 pm
Joe,
Note sure either, just “sorry” for Cummings thinking process on this one.
Freeman needs to give us playoffs before he is better than a playoff QB, especially a rookie playoff QB.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
Here’s an example: bucs are up in a ball game. Pick one that they blamed the secondary and defense on the loss. We’re up 4 and it’s 3rd down with the ball the other team has one time out with 1:51 to go. Free throws an incomplete pass. Give team a shot.
Luck complete the pass. Extends drive game over.
Those were the situations that td vs int ratios and yards mean squat. Making the plays that extends drives and wins ball games. Luck did t. Freeman didn’t.
Freeman wasn’t good when you needed him to be. Luck was clutch in those situations. End of story.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Bucfan – “Freeman wasn’t good when you needed him to be. Luck was clutch in those situations. End of story.”
There’s a lot goes into a play. Sometimes the QB is to blame. What about the play calling though? Sullivan seemed like he got really, really conservative in the play calling down the stretch in games (IE – Giants, Eagles, etc.).
Sometimes it’s the pressure (give credit to the opposing defense), or the fault of others. The receiver not breaking off his route properly (we saw that numerous times last season) or a missed block.
Luck might of been clutch. but Luck hasn’t won a playoff game yet and is still very young and will go through the same growing pains Josh went through. Again, the Colts schedule was down right laughable last year. Buccs played a more difficult schedule, plain and simple. Swap the teams, and the Buccs have better results.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:36 pm
Remember that defenses were also seeing Luck, RG3, Wilson for the first time as well. There’s tape on them now to slow them down, that picks-up their tendencies. Cam Newton struggled at times last year. Freemans first full year was really 2011…he game in roughly six games in to the 2010 campaign, and had a stellar first full season in 2010, struggled mightily in 2011….but the team had many many holes and problems.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
I would be all for Freeman if he would quite blaming other people for his f— up’s, get his head in the game not in Hollywood, thinking more about more money than being a playoff quarterback, having a don’t care attitude because there is no other quarterback on team to take his place and be more of a team player.
April 25th, 2013 at 5:54 pm
Even if Freeman has a great year, we STILL NEED a quality backup and someone who can reliably step in if Freeman goes down or gets benched. We really do need to draft (or acquire later on this year) some REAL depth.
April 25th, 2013 at 6:00 pm
Vic66,
“I would be all for Freeman if he would quite blaming other people for his f— up’s,”
EXACTLY!
LUCK wins this one because of Freeman’s play call with it being 3rd and 9 at Dallas. The headsets go out, and so does our chances of winning… We ran a draw.
“Miss-communications” are excuses. Freeman should have seized the opportunity to lead the offense to victory, instead he handed it off to Martin and left it up to him to get 9 yards on 3rd down.
That play is reminiscent of the movie, “The Replacements”, where Gene Hackman yells at Falco, “Winners want the ball in their hands when the game is on the line”. All I am saying is that Andrew Luck wants the ball in his hands with the game on the line, does Freeman?
April 25th, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Luck over Freeman is insane. Dont feed the trolls. Not getting his contract extension speaks volumes.
April 25th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Sorry free over luck. Think I got a contact high from whateva y’all are smoking.
April 25th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
I’m all for Josh being the guy. However, as stacked as this team is, if it doesn’t click for him this year we need to move on. We should trade our third and fourth (from NE) to NE this year for Ryan Mallet. Get a valued backup and insurance incase Free stinks. And if Free kills then we have a solid backup and trade bait. Win Win
April 25th, 2013 at 6:15 pm
I am all for Free being the qb. But if he doesn’t get it this year we have to move on. This team is loaded. We should trade New England a third and fourth for ryan mallet. Schiano gets competition and Free has to put up or shut up. Its win win. If Free does well he gets a contract and the Bucs get a viable backup and trade bait. If Free doesn’t we already have his replacement.
April 25th, 2013 at 6:21 pm
In an earlier article, “The Blount Truth”, It says speaking about the Bucs:
” they lack a quarterback who can put the team on his back week in and week out.”
NO truer words have ever been spoken…. That is JF’s PROVEN M.O.
At this point, after all the excuses and failures over the past FEW years, If JF even so much as struggles during the 1st 4 games of this season, He needs and deserves to be ran out of One Bucs Place like he is a plague!
April 25th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
I have only one word to use in defense of Freeman. NICKS! Lok at his stats before and after Nicks went on IR for the season. The whole middle of our offensive line was wither playing out of position or was not NFL starting caliber. Freeman was under intense pressure in the games against New Orleans and St. Louis. He took too many chances. He panicked. Ok, you can blame him for not staying steady. But what quarterback could have bween successful with the offensive line we were playing after Nicks left the scene? To his credit and Shiano’s–unlike John Gruden–there were no complains, but it was the quality of the players in front of him that had a lot to do with Freeman’s decline in the last half of the season.
April 25th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
I like Josh but there is no way he’s better than Luck. Put Free on Colts and Luck on the Bucs last year and Bucs would have been in the playoffs. Colts may of had the first pick again. That team had nothing compared to our talent surrounding the QB last year. Cummings is an idiot if he really believes that.
April 25th, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Buddha you are an airhead. He played without nicks and still did well. Nicks isn’t making the horrible decisions overthrowing Wrs and into triple coverage.
In fact freeman ranked in the top 10 in most time allowed after drop back before pressure.
Too many excuses for freeman. After he gets weapons people still complain there isn’t enough.
April 25th, 2013 at 7:28 pm
The “Fourth year for Free vs rookie year for Luck” doesn’t really work for me since Free is only a year older, and on his third system. I think Free was much better than the media portrayed him as being, anf that he’ll turn in a great season in 2013. That being said, there’s still no way I’m a homer enough to take him over Luck.
April 25th, 2013 at 9:13 pm
Please, I’d rather have either Luck or RWIII, but not RGIII, too fragile. I still think Freeman can do well, but those two guys are special.
April 25th, 2013 at 11:29 pm
I like Freeman, BUT to even talk about comparing him to Luck is absurd! Unless you’ve watched Luck play, don’t start talking stats. If you have seen Luck play, you wouldn’t be comparing them. Luck was a rookie. He was the best prospect, universally agreed, in 10+ years. Then he proved it on the field.
Again, I like Freeman, and we won’t get anybody better for a long time, for many reasons. So, lay back and enjoy it Freeman haters.
April 26th, 2013 at 7:30 am
One played in afc with terrible teams specifically the afc south, look out for jags and titans. One played in nfc, against way better teams. This is biggest difference between the two qbs win loss record
April 26th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
This wordpress system can be very frustrating. My comment doesn’t show up. But, when I resubmit it, it says it’s a duplicate. Joe, I know you say you don’t know what’s going on. I can assure you, something is going with that system.
April 26th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
I give up. The filters on here are horribly frustrating.