MMQB speaks about Josh.....

[Hate]

6. This Josh Freeman's pretty good. The game Josh Freeman played in Carolina Sunday reminded me of a few Eli Manning games we've seen over the years. Stink it up for the first 50 minutes, dig a hole, then find a way to coolly get out of it. "We were way too sloppy for a long time,'' Freeman said from the team bus to the airport after the game. "I was way too sloppy.'' The Bucs made up 11 points -- a field goal, a touchdown, a two-point conversion pass-- in the last five minutes of regulation, then won it on a beautiful Freeman-to-Dallas Clark pass in overtime. The play of the day, though, was the 24-yard dart from Freeman to Vincent Jackson with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter -- with 280-pound defensive end Greg Hardy steaming in on a stunt in Freeman's face, with two defenders buzzing around Jackson.
"You don't really have many options,'' said Freeman, considering the pass rush and the clock and the need for a touchdown and not a field goal and the physicality of Jackson to fight off defenders to make the catch if he needs to. "You just gotta go. It was remarkable.'' We forget Freeman is 24 years old. He's six months younger than Ryan Tannehill. He's with a new head coach, Greg Schiano; a new quarterback coach, Ron Turner; a new offensive coordinator, Mike Sullivan; with a new franchise receiver in Jackson, a new tight end in the rejuvenated Clark and a new franchise running back in Doug Martin. And here comes Freeman off a terrible 2011, playing the best football of his pro life. "What we've learned so far this year,'' said Freeman, "is all that matters is battling. Games are 60 minutes, longer sometimes, and we know we've got the players to make sure we can win in the end.''

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/11/19/week-11/index.html#ixzz2CgoDIEOB

[Hate]

The Deep End

Each week, thanks to play-by-play game dissection by ProFootballFocus.com, I'll look at one important matchup or individual performance metric from one of the Sunday games.
Since their 1-3 start, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone 5-1 and averaged 34 points a game in doing so. On the face of it Josh Freeman's 94.6 quarterback rating and 21-7 touchdown-to-interception differential seem to indicate a substantial reason for the turnabout, but that would be too simple; Freeman's season (and his performance here) has been far more enigmatic than that.
Going deep. Freeman is a very good deep passer who has been aided hugely in that regard by the offseason acquisition of Vincent Jackson. Before this game only Joe Flacco threw deep (more than 20 yards downfield) more frequently; 17.8 percent of passes for Flacco, 15.4 percent for Freeman. But it hasn't just been quantity. Freeman's 838 yards on deep passes leads the NFL, and he'd thrown four touchdowns without being picked off entering Sunday's game in Carolina. Through 10 weeks of the season, he'd been the best deep passer in the league.
The short game. He struggles on shorter throws. When he has to read linebackers in coverage and when the space is condensed, his passer rating drops from 125.6 on those deep throws to 86.2 on throws between zero and nine yards. Compare this with Peyton Manning, who rates 95.8 on deep throws but 115.9 on those same underneath passes.
Game on the line. Freeman continued with his problems in the short game in Charlotte (rating of 73.7, including a bad interception for a pick-6) but also initially couldn't find his targets when passing deep. Of his six passes over 20 yards, the first five were either incomplete or intercepted. However, as is often the case with Freeman, with the game on the line he then made the last one count, finding Vincent Jackson with a laser in the end zone for the score, which would eventually take the game into overtime. There he completed all three of his OT passes, including the game-winning touchdown to Dallas Clark.
Freeman deserves tremendous credit for elevating his game, with the arrival of trusted veterans like Clark and Jackson. The Buccaneers have already exceeded most expectations and can go even further this season ... but Freeman's play is not without flaws. If he is to take the next step as one of the game's best quarterbacks, he needs to clean up his short game and become more efficient between zero and nine yards.

[Jack Rabbit Slim]

Probably the biggest writeup on MMQB we've had in about 10yrs...

[BucNY]

6 months younger than Tannehill. It really is amazing how young this guy is. Man this guy has a huge upside.

[bucinsouthFL]

6 months younger than Tannehill. It really is amazing how young this guy is. Man this guy has a huge upside.

You have to give a lot of credit to Tampa for being patience with Josh and supporting him. The guy came in as a very, very, very raw talent. He was mocked by most to fall into the 2nd or 3rd. I really think that had Raheem not been here, he wouldn't have been drafted in the first round. He was a guy with all the tools, great leadership and a knack for winning big games against big teams (Texas) with little to no talent around him, but lacked technique and mechanics. If Josh contiunes to improve and is our QB for the next 10 years, you have got to give a lot of credit to this organization...and Raheem lol

[cheveliar]

Putting a lil touch on the ball can be taught...and perfected with work and practice.

[Bucs N Beers]

Probably the biggest writeup on MMQB we've had in about 10yrs...

Boobies.

[Theoldbuc]

Probably the biggest writeup on MMQB we've had in about 10yrs...

Boobies.

Love the picture of Cam!

[nitey]

Putting a lil touch on the ball can be taught...and perfected with work and practice.

Wow! A Chev sighting! Where the hell have you been guy? Your thoughts have been missed.

And I agree.

[Detrimental]

1-3 due to play-calling. We should have BEEN let #5 let loose. Guy is a gunslinger, lets use him.

[Biggs3535]

6. This Josh Freeman's pretty good. The game Josh Freeman played in Carolina Sunday reminded me of a few Eli Manning games we've seen over the years. Stink it up for the first 50 minutes, dig a hole, then find a way to coolly get out of it. "We were way too sloppy for a long time,'' Freeman said from the team bus to the airport after the game. "I was way too sloppy.'' The Bucs made up 11 points -- a field goal, a touchdown, a two-point conversion pass-- in the last five minutes of regulation, then won it on a beautiful Freeman-to-Dallas Clark pass in overtime. The play of the day, though, was the 24-yard dart from Freeman to Vincent Jackson with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter -- with 280-pound defensive end Greg Hardy steaming in on a stunt in Freeman's face, with two defenders buzzing around Jackson.
"You don't really have many options,'' said Freeman, considering the pass rush and the clock and the need for a touchdown and not a field goal and the physicality of Jackson to fight off defenders to make the catch if he needs to. "You just gotta go. It was remarkable.'' We forget Freeman is 24 years old. He's six months younger than Ryan Tannehill. He's with a new head coach, Greg Schiano; a new quarterback coach, Ron Turner; a new offensive coordinator, Mike Sullivan; with a new franchise receiver in Jackson, a new tight end in the rejuvenated Clark and a new franchise running back in Doug Martin. And here comes Freeman off a terrible 2011, playing the best football of his pro life. "What we've learned so far this year,'' said Freeman, "is all that matters is battling. Games are 60 minutes, longer sometimes, and we know we've got the players to make sure we can win in the end.''

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/11/19/week-11/index.html#ixzz2CgoDIEOB

It's good to see Freeman calling himself out for crappy play.  I think that's something we both said we would like to see from him.

Those are two excellent write-ups from Peter King.  Fun time to be a Buccaneer fan.

[JDouble]

1-3 due to play-calling. We should have BEEN let #5 let loose. Guy is a gunslinger, lets use him.

I don't buy that. Freeman and the entire offense was just not clicking yet. It took some time. It's great that they were able to gel this fast. I honesty thought it would be late in the season before everyone started clicking. They were calling what they could before the bye week, but it was limited. Expanding the playbook and running plays that we weren't executing in practice would not have been good.

[cheveliar]

Putting a lil touch on the ball can be taught...and perfected with work and practice.

Wow! A Chev sighting! Where the hell have you been guy? Your thoughts have been missed.

And I agree.

Sup Nitety...had some family issues brah.  You know how all things, including Buccaneer footabll dare I say, become secondary when the family needs you...Glad to be back.

[Ms Elam]

1-3 due to play-calling. We should have BEEN let #5 let loose. Guy is a gunslinger, lets use him.

I don't buy that. Freeman and the entire offense was just not clicking yet. It took some time. It's great that they were able to gel this fast. I honesty thought it would be late in the season before everyone started clicking. They were calling what they could before the bye week, but it was limited. Expanding the playbook and running plays that we weren't executing in practice would not have been good.

Yea this is a read react offense. Half the time the ball is hiked the receivers route isn't determined yet. Depending on what the db does the wr may go this way or that way, its up to the qb and wr to be on the same page. Freeman is balling though. He had 16 touchdowns least year, this year he has 16 touchdowns....in the last 6 games

[Benchwarmer#1]

Freeman will develop and be consistant with Sullivan and schiano around. Of that, I have no doubt.