Freeman Says He’ll Be “Far More Accurate”
August 12th, 2013
Josh Freeman has not been among the most accurate quarterbacks during his four years in the NFL. Freeman ranked 33rd in the NFL last season in completion percentage among quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts. During his glory season of 2010, Freeman ranked 19th.
The Bucs seemingly don’t believe that has anything to do with Freeman’s mechanics. In fact, new quarterback coach John McNulty made it very clear to Joe and other media that tweaking/teaching a veteran like Freeman mechanics is virtually worthless.
(Joe finds that to be a very short-sighted mindset and QB mechanics are not a detail that detail-obsessed regime should blow off).
McNulty said he’s focusing on Freeman’s advancement within in the offense so Freeman can be faster with his mind and feet and progress in that way.
The good news is that on Saturday Freeman explained to Zig Fracassi and Booger McFarland of SiriusXM NFL Radio why he should be “far more accurate” this season.
Freeman was asked what will make him better because he’s in Year 2 of the Mike Sullivan offense.
“Terminology overall. When you hear a play you hear it and you see the concept and the protection and you see it all kind of as one picture. Rather than, ‘Alright we’ve got this formation, we’ve got this concept over here, we’ve got this over here, we can work this versus this.'” Freeman said.
“And you just kind of see it [all at once]. And you can get there and shift the protection, drop back and throw the ball where you know you got to go with it. With that, your feet speed up. Your feet get exactly where they need to go, and [you’re] far more accurate.”
Joe has no doubt a second season under Sullivan will help Freeman improve. Clearly, his confidence is far ahead of where it was at this time last year. That can’t hurt. But how Freeman performs under extreme pressure is what’s under the most scrutiny. And much of how he responds is more about Freeman personally than anything else.
August 12th, 2013 at 9:21 am
Freeman seems to be thinking too much. With Rogers, Brees & Brady…it looks instinctual…
Freeman needs to cut loose, roll out more & run when pressured.
One of the reasons our Defense gave up leads late in games is that our Offense couldn’t maintain possession….too many 3 & outs.
I didn’t like some of our playcalling….too predictable…run on first down…risky passes on third down. Many times we kicked field goals when we would have been better served going for it on 4th down.
August 12th, 2013 at 9:25 am
I can kind of understand what he is saying. Though I would not call it “worthless”. I think it just depends on how badly the person’s pre-exhisting mechanics already are. When it comes to Freeman, I agree with him, he’s not so bad that they need to spend a bunch of time fixing it. It’s more mental with Josh.
However, his footwork could definately use some touching up.
August 12th, 2013 at 9:28 am
I kind of understand where they are coming from with not wanting to change his mechanics. I am 28 years old and personally have terrible throwing mechanics. I was taught these kind of mechanics when I was young. When you spend your whole life throwing thousands and thousands of times, it’s not going to be easy or in some cases possible to change your mechanics.
Freeman has thrown using the same mechanics thousands and thousands of times. Even if you were to work on him in the off season every single day on his mechanics the thing that will probably happen is that he will lose his confidence and have to consciously think about every single throw he is about to make instead of just doing it.
The last thing you want to see is free run through a play and get ready to throw the ball and be thinking about his mechanics instead of the play he’s running.
If they think that his improvement is just by living the playbook then they show that they are NFL coaches and we should stick to trusting they know way more about football than even the most knowledgeable sports fan.
Brian
August 12th, 2013 at 9:28 am
Freeman will be the Bucs QB and the Bucs should give Sullivan a fat raise to ensure consistency for the next several years.
August 12th, 2013 at 9:29 am
You know…I’m sitting here watching the starters play in the Giant’s vs Steelers game. I am seeing Big Ben and Eli over and under throw passes an awful lot of times. Heck, both had to settle for field goals because of them.
That’s two elite QBs displaying the same faults that Freeman does…makes one think…
August 12th, 2013 at 9:30 am
And there goes Eli overthrowing again.
August 12th, 2013 at 9:34 am
bucfanjeff Says:
“Freeman will be the Bucs QB and the Bucs should give Sullivan a fat raise to ensure consistency for the next several years.”
I am of the firm belief that when a new head coach and all new staff are hired, Coordinators Interviews for advancement should not be permitted for 3 years. It isn’t fair to the fans or the players otherwise.
Maybe, as a result, the Coordinators should have guaranteed contracts for those 3 years.
We’ve seen countless QBs, for example, suffer because of multiple Coordinators. This would lesson that.
August 12th, 2013 at 9:54 am
[…] Josh Freeman promises to be more accurate. [JoeBucsFan] […]
August 12th, 2013 at 10:03 am
Wow how great is that? Freeman talking about improving his footwork. Just hearing that statement and knowing he know’s his footwork is a big problem is refreshing. Those opened faced arm throw’s lead to interception’s. Three or five step drop’s and throw’s are one thing. When the play break’s down is another. I have a little more faith in him just because of that statement.
August 12th, 2013 at 10:04 am
Not working on his mechanics? Whhhhaaaaaaaa???? This from the QB coach?!?
August 12th, 2013 at 10:13 am
Minor tweaks to throwing mechanics is ok…major tweaks is – Tim Tebow.
August 12th, 2013 at 10:14 am
@BuccaneerBonzai – I completely agree with you.
August 12th, 2013 at 10:24 am
Eli and Josh have the same issues. Notice how when the giants don’t win the Super Bowl they don’t even make the playoffs? It’s because Eli is inconsistent and will lose his team a handful of games every year. Fortunately hes’ had two solid playoff runs which have lead to two rings making all the bad worth it. Josh hasn’t done that.
August 12th, 2013 at 11:11 am
so much pessimism? We haven’t even played a meaningful game yet and so many fans are living in the past. This should be an exciting year. There are so many plots and subplots, twists and turns to go through, contract years, careers, rookies. I mean we got so much to look forward too, and so many of you want to determine this season already based on what has happened in the past.
Who’s to say that Josh won’t put up great numbers again this year without him personally stumbling in a couple games like last year. As fans isn’t time to put our differences away and rally behind our team as a whole. Yes, Josh has faults, but we all know he can get it done with limited mistakes. He’s done it before and we need to start believing he’ll do it again.
Being miserable for the sake of being miserable is not conducive to a winning atmosphere. If for some reason Josh falters we got to believe that Mike can pick it up.
August 12th, 2013 at 11:20 am
The tough thing will be if Josh has another roller coaster year and we are like 8 and 8. Do they start over and let him walk or resign him?
August 12th, 2013 at 11:37 am
the mechanics aren’t his issue, per se, it is consistency of those mechanics. when josh skips a ball or sails a throw it’s not because his body struggles to make that kind of throw – we see him nail it as often as his misses it. when you consistently see things too late you are throwing around a pass rusher or hurrying your motion, etc. so the best thing for improving your mechanics when you get to a certain point is speeding your brain up to execute on them. by trying to adjust the mechanics of a veteran (who has thrown for 4,000 yards in the NFL, btw), you are actually slowing him down further and replacing another instinct with an active thought process. josh throws the ball as well as anybody, his issue is anticipation\instinct in his reading of the defense
August 12th, 2013 at 12:08 pm
Am I the only one bothered that Josh was 33rd most accurate passer in a 32 team league? Say what you want about anything else but how do you open up the bank to the QB with that stat. There were a lot of other QB’s with new coaches, coordinators, or just plain rookies and they all ranked above Josh. That is bad.
August 12th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Junkie,
Yes! Yes! Yes! Absolutely right. We have a great damn team to look forward to watching this year. We have a great coaching staff too. It’s time we all realize it and enjoy the ride. We’ve had good times and bad the last few years, but there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this season. I’ll tell you one thing, I’m so excited about a winning season with playoffs, that if we don’t make it to the playoffs I will be inconsolable. My friends and family will be begging me to just leave the effing house
August 12th, 2013 at 12:46 pm
That picture right there shows exactly why Freeman has so many problems with accuracy and batted down balls. It’s his throwing motion, he throws like half side arm throw instead of from the highest point closer to his helmet.
i’ve noticed this for the last couple of years. It’s great to put touch on a deep ball. But is horrible for short/intermediate throws, plus it doesn’t put any air under the ball to get it over D lineman jumping to swat at the balls.
August 12th, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Chef Paul …lol I agree.
August 12th, 2013 at 5:34 pm
I’d say McNulty knows what he’s talking about, it’s his job lol
Far more than what most other may “think”
I wil say the more I hear about his improved accuracy the more excited I get but than I think about that ugly pass to MW in the preseason game and I don’t know what to think. Hopefully, those passes have become the “exception to the rule”.
The rule being most of his passes are on target now.