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November 30, 2011 @ 9:32 am
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Bucs, Freeman Confirm Thumb Injury From Gun Range Mishap

Written by Mark
Cook
Mark Cook

Mark
Cook

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The Buccaneers and Josh Freeman both confirmed Freeman received stitches after an accident at a local gun range on Halloween night.

After a month of mystery surrounding the circumstances of Josh Freeman’s hand injury, “Thumbgate” has been solved, or at the least somewhat explained.

Buccaneers PR director Jonathan Grella and Freeman both stated Tuesday that the sprain was a result of an injury sustained in the London-hosted Bears-Bucs matchup October 24 and that Freeman’s hand was wrapped on the flight back from London. However, both also confirmed on October 31 Freeman had a mishap at a local gun range which required five stitches.

"My thumb got sprained in the Chicago game and got cut at the range," Freeman wrote in a text message to the Tampa Tribune. "The cut was only cosmetic and didn't affect my play. The sprain, on the other hand, lingered for a few weeks.''

Published reports also stated that Freeman met with general manger Mark Dominik following the incident to explain what happened, but the gun range mishap did not violate any terms of Freeman’s contract according to sources.

Freeman has struggled in his third season with accuracy and some have questioned how much the injury may be contributing to Tampa Bay’s recent slide. After beginning the season 3-1, the Buccaneers have dropped six of their last seven games and now enter the last five games of the season with a 4-7 record.

 

Last modified on Wednesday, 30 November 2011 09:53
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COMMENTS

  • avatar


    ehinote
    December 1, 2011
    3:40 pm
    Dixieboy - No, I understood. My point was, he was not saying we know where the offensive coordinator goes with the ball, but rather they know that's where Freeman likes to go with the ball in those situations. His comment wasn't about the play calling... it was about Freeman's tendencies. Again, Freeman has more of a comfort level seeing down the middle of the field as opposed to out to the sidelines and that's why he throws to the middle on big plays. He has options on that play. If the defense floods the middle with linebackers or a crashing safety, Freeman can go to the short flats. And as to the fades and slants in the redzone... that is the OC keeping Freeman from making mistakes. Remember early in the year Freeman threw quite a few INTs in the endzone. Well they've stop running backside drags and such and have since stayed with simple slant and fade reads near the endzone.
  • avatar


    BucFan20
    December 1, 2011
    2:45 pm
    ehinote....you miss the point he made. Down and distance they knew the play they would run because they call it just about everytime. No matter Winslow or who they put there. And he will stare there the entire time. They watched all the films and saw it. And yes you are correct. Freeman is just dumb enough to try to force it. They Know that too. That's why he was ready. They also know if Blount is out it will be pass , most likely dink or dunk to Winslow, or Williams. Most likely Winslow. We have No Receivers to chose from. Winslow, Williams, Parker sometimes and they almost refuse to use Benn. So out of all the film study this season where have most of the passes gone?
  • avatar


    ehinote
    December 1, 2011
    9:31 am
    Dixieboy - that is Freeman's choice. Olsen does not call a play and say throw it to Winslow. Freeman forced it into him with 3 guys around Winslow. There had to be a better option. Think of the offenses that aren't predictable... it's because they have QBs that can make all different types of throws. Funny how we watch the Colts offense and they now look predictable. It's because Painter falls into his comfort zone. Peyton was able to take advantage of whatever the defense gave him. Freeman likes the middle of the field... be it Winslow, Parker, Stroughter or anyone else running routes through the middle and defenses know that. He is not good at turning his body and throwing balls to the sidelines, because it takes him too long to turn, set, and release. Defenses know that so they squash the middle.
  • avatar


    Horse
    November 30, 2011
    7:34 pm
    Here comes the "gun issue" once again. What is it with some people have to have guns? Guns are nothing but trouble unless you hunt for an animal that you must kill in order to survive. Hand guns and semi & automatic weapons should be outlawed unless its our military.
  • avatar


    scubog
    November 30, 2011
    5:41 pm
    Thanks for the humor Dixieboy.
  • avatar


    BucFan20
    November 30, 2011
    4:01 pm
    Remember 1 thing about the offense. In the Red zone it is fade left, fade right or quick slant. No matter it will be a pss and every team knows it. On the Winslow pick last game the backerthat picked it off was interviewed and said "anytime they need it that's where they go. We saw it on film and I was ready". Yes the offense is totally predictable. All the teams know it and the fans know it too.
  • avatar


    billbyrne
    November 30, 2011
    3:47 pm
    Our defense is clearly not great but it is good enough to win games if the offense shows up! Tom Brady wins in New England with a poor defense and we should be winning in Tampa with a better defense. As long as the offense continues with turnovers and penalties and Freeman continues with bad decisions, we will continue to lose. We can't blame it on being "too young" when we have so many talented veterans on offense. Faine, Trueblood, Joseph, Penn, Graham and Winslow are all experienced veterans and should be providing stability and leadership. When a talented, experienced offense does not perform and continues to self destruct with penalties and turnovers, it is a clear sign of a lack of discipline. Discipline is all about coaching and that is where the Bucs come up short. Players are not being held accountable.........and that's coaching. With five games to go, Josh Johnson should be given playing time when Freeman falters and Spurlock, Stroughter and others given playing time just to make a change and get the attention of those not performing. Losing demands change....if not the players, maybe the coaches!!!
  • avatar


    BucFan20
    November 30, 2011
    3:44 pm
    He was just trying to teach Aqib how to shoot straight. But looks like 2 Bucs that are not to good with a firearm. lol.
  • avatar


    DrT1066
    November 30, 2011
    2:49 pm
    Sounds like he had one of his thumbs where it shouldn't be in back over his other hand. Pulls the trigger and the slide rockets back and cuts the thumb.
  • avatar


    Dman
    November 30, 2011
    1:26 pm
    A thumb injury doesn't explain or excuse Free's lack of vision or poor decision making this season. And his passes have been high and off target since the preseason.
  • avatar


    kobebucs
    November 30, 2011
    12:31 pm
    Freeman is our quaterback,he's good enough to lead us no doubt.Freeman is not our probiem hurt or not.Defense is! They tackle poorly.Bad play calling on offense.Way to many penalties.thats all coaching thats our problem.yes, we have key guys getting hurt and alot of bad luck but even so ,no way to get around it coaching changes need to be made because if you can't see it for yourself people do not buy into this team, its really hard to watch this.If we were playing to our best and getting beat ok but its the coaches job to give us the best chance to win the game and with the effort on the field something is wrong somewhere people won't buy tickets to see lack of effort.
  • avatar


    ehinote
    November 30, 2011
    1:48 pm
    kobebucs - our defense gave us every opportunity to win against the Titans. They scored one TD for us and set us up for the other one at the 29 yard line. If Freeman could have put any sort of consistency together we would have been up by 3 scores and the Titans wouldn't have been able to pound us with Johnson. Bottom line... Freeman played another very poor game. Almost every other starting QB in the NFL this year would have won that game with the positions our running game and defense put us in.
  • avatar

    PalmBayBuc
    November 30, 2011
    12:18 pm
    I really question the thought process of going to the gun range and shooting anything with a sprained thumb. Much less shooting a Desert Eagle.
  • avatar


    ehinote
    November 30, 2011
    11:45 am
    Again... excuses for Freeman's play. This guy is more pampered than any QB I can think of recently. I know it's because our area so badly wants a franchise QB to hang our hopes on, but it won't just happen because we say it. He will get next year and possibly a new OC to figure it out, but the OC isn't going to make a difference. Too bad for Olsen that he has to be the scapegoat for the franchise QB. Olsen isn't bad. He gets away from the run, because there are so many opportunities in the passing game due to defenses bringing so many guys into the box and not respecting our passing game. If Freeman would take advantage of those opportunities then Olsen would look like a genius. Bill Walsh would have looked like a horrible play caller with the way Freeman is playing. I hope he turns it around, but it's too bad we may have to go through another year and a half before we start building around a new QB.
  • avatar


    pinkstob
    November 30, 2011
    10:48 am
    Since it didn't violate the terms of his contract this is a non-issue to me.
  • avatar


    bveghte
    November 30, 2011
    9:50 am
    This may have hurt his play somewhat in recent weaks, but his accuracy problems were much worse before the injury than since. Before the injury, he was throwing a lot of lofted wobbly soft balls. It was due to technique mistakes -- throwing of the back foot -- and hesitancy. That improved gradually since the Chicago game as AVP worked with him on fixing that. So no, this injury explains very little of his poor play this year, much less the slide. And half the QBs in the league have injuries of some kind that limit their play.
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