Mike Glennon Lighting Up Bucs World

Mike Glennon was drafted in the third round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year and there was quite a bit of wondering why Head Coach Greg Schiano would do such a thing with a young "franchise" quarterback in Josh Freeman as the starting QB and plenty of needs on the rest of the team.  Schiano made a few curious comments and a few clarifications the rest of the sping, always assuring that Freeman was the team's starting quarterback.

After a series of miscues by Freeman came to public knowledge and maybe a few that didn't, a very poor start for both the team and the QB, the Bucs sent Freeman to the Vikings and elevated their tall and skinny rookie QB Mike Glennon to the starter's role. 

Glennon wasn't good enough to lift the Bucs to the first win of the season or for the next few weeks, but he continued to show promise and a better consistency than the fifth year Freeman had done.  Finally, after an 0-8 start and most fans starting to just hope for the first pick in next year's draft, the Bucs entire team turned a corner, led by the play of that same tall, skinny QB from North Carolina State.

With almost perfect QB ratings the last few weeks and absolutely no interceptions, the Bucs have now won 3 games in a row and behind those great QB ratings and defensive turnovers as well as special teams turnovers, the Bucs look like they can play with anybody. 

3-8 isn't very good, but to the depths of where the Bucs had fallen, it looks really good!  There are some very tough games still on the schedule and I doubt many believe they could run the table, but Coach Schiano looks like he has saved his job for this year.  And if the Bucs don't have one of the top picks in next year's draft, Glennon's great play may have saved his own job as well!

Josh Freeman Keeps Bucs Rolling

A couple of years ago I was being interviewed on local Tampa radio and I said I wouldn't trade Josh Freeman for anyone in the league, which caused a bit of scoffing laughter back in the studio.  The radio host asked again the question again and threw in names like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (prior to his neck injury) and I reiterated that no, I wouldn't trade Freeman for those awesome QB's.  My reasoning wasn't that Freeman was better than either of those future Hall-of-Famers, but where the Buccaneers were in building a franchise for the next decade, those other quarterbacks were on the back half of their careers.

Josh Freeman is a young fourth year QB, coming out of Kansas State early and his physical potential is beyond either Brady or Manning, especially for the coming decade!

Following the 2011 disaster season, the Bucs punted Raheem Morris to the Washington Redskins and brought in the no-nonsense Greg Schiano from Rutgers.  His attention to detail may be unmatched, although I'm sure many would like to dispute that, but he has taken a completely unprepared (physically and mentally) Bucs team and reshaped it into a hard-nosed tough football team that has prepared itself for situations before they happen and the success has already shown itself on a number of occasions.

Last Sunday the Bucs didn't play very well, giving up two scoring chances in the red zone, including a TD run by rookie of the year candidate Doug Martin, that should have been called a touchdown, but his fumble came too close to the line, was ruled a fumble and not overturned on video review.

In Josh Freeman's short career, even dating back to 2010 under Morris, he has shown a knack for bringing his team from behind to win.  The team didn't play well, didn't get any big plays from the defense or special teams, which it had in previous weeks, but Freeman led the Bucs back against the Carolina Panthers Sunday with a TD pass and a two point conversion to tie and force overtime.

The Bucs drove the field in overtime and Freeman found Dallas Clark (yes, that Dallas Clark) on a "wheel" route up the left sideline.  The call was great, the catch was fabulous, but the throw was mediocre.  While Josh Freeman has shown he can throw the deep ball well and has both Mike Williams and Vincent Jackson making great catches down the field, Freeman's weakest point as a QB is his medium range accuracy.
It is easier to criticize him on a game-winning OT throw now than after a loss on an interception when lots of people like to pile on.

The 2012 version of Josh Freeman is still not in Brady's or Manning's league and he will not join that league unless he becomes more efficient and accurate on medium range throws.  This improvement will have to come through improved mechanics and I am using this magnificent game-winning play to show my point.  Watch the video and watch what direction Freeman's front (left) leg steps to make his throw to the end zone.  His step goes directly towards the sideline instead of towards the pylon at the front of the end zone.  Before he releases the football his entire body is directed to where Dallas Clark IS, not where he is GOING TO BE!  Without watching the finish of the throw, alignment mechanics guarantee that the ball will be behind the receiver.  The result?  An awesome spinning backward catch by Dallas Clark to win the game!! 

Brady and Manning have had receivers make great catches on poorly thrown balls, but far less often, because they are more precise in their mechanics, Brady being signifcantly better than Manning.  Freeman would do well to study Brady's ALIGNMENT before the ball comes out and he will take a big step closer to joining their league of Elite QB's.

Creamsicles Save The Day (and maybe the season)

Congratulations to Josh Freeman and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their first "W" of the season! It was make or break, do or die with their orange and white uniforms from their inaugural season of 1976, one that ended without a win. This 2009 version of the Yucs was looking far too familiar, with a win far from sight. At 0-7 and coming off a bye week that was preceded with a beating in Britain to the aptly named New England Patriots, it was time unveil their first round draft pick QB Josh Freeman.
The Buccaneers team did everything it could to help him succeed against the reeling Green Bay Packers and he did his part very well indeed. With a punt block returned for a score, an interception returned for a score and an interception returned to the 8 yard line, he didn't have to drive the team all the way down the field, but he was "money" in the red zone, with three touchdown passes on the day!
It won't be as easy next week against the Miami Dolphins or without the inspirational "uni's", but Freeman is off to a hopeful start for this regrouping franchise.

Buccaneers Going to Rookie at QB

The Bucs moved up in the draft to take Kansas State junior Josh Freeman. Now the Bucs have moved up his development timetable as well, making him the starting QB for their next game November 8th against the Green Bay Packers. The winless Buccaneers haven't had any offensive firepower this season after firing their offensive coordinator with 10 days to go before the season opener. The started the season with the slow-footed and slow-releasing Byron Leftwich at the helm, but after 3 poor losses, switched to second year pro Josh Johnson. Johnson showed flashes of athleticism, but lack of judgement and accuracy that is so common in young QB's. Now they turn to the biggest QB in the league, who owns good mechanics, but lacks a sense of urgency in his drops and time to finding a receiver. The lack of ingenuity in Tampa's offensive play-calling, will surely doom the beginning of this youngster as well.
At the same time that the Buccaneers make a switch to a rookie, the Carolina Panthers decide to stick with the aging Jake Delhomme, who has struggled with accuracy this year worse than any rookie I've ever seen. His struggles date back to last season's disappointing finish and have continued to plague what was thought of as a very talented and strong football team. Problem for Carolina is they really don't have a better option to bring off the bench. The Bucs look to the future while the Panthers don't seem to have one, even though they have won a game this year and the Bucs have yet to do so.

5 Dogs, 1 Bone?

The new coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has made a very bad analogy for the "fight" to be the next starting quarterback of the team. He did it once and I let it go, but now the reference was on the NFL Network and all the announcers were playing with it. Likening the battle that will go down for the QB position this summer as, "one bone, five dogs, let's see who wants it!", is a terrible analogy seeing that former superstar QB Michael Vick has yet to be released from federal prison over dogfighting charges. Morris has already made it very public that he is looking for mean and nasty players for his team and his over-exhuberance will wear thin within a short time, but Roger Goodell may have to step in here and let him know that you can't make that reference anymore.
By the way, although I would like Luke McCown to get the nod as the starter, I think that new first round pick Josh Freeman will ultimately win the job to start the year. Raheem Morris made it perfectly clear that Freeman is his guy all the way. That makes it hard for the players and fans because everyone will be waiting for the team to struggle, so his guy can get a chance to step up and take the bone away from the older dogs. WOOF WOOF!

3 Franchise QB's Go in 1st

The Lions, Jets and Buccaneers all need a "face" for their franchises and as Saturday afternoon turned into evening, all three have acquired their guy! Matthew Stafford seemed to drop on many draft guru's lists as draft day approached, but the worst team in the NFL stuck with the long-time favorite top pick. The Jets made an aggressive move to get someone they think can fill their most important position after the one year Brett Favre experiment. Mark Sanchez seems to be the most ready QB to step in and play well in September (no rookie is ever really ready, but if the team around him is solid, they can survive the rookie rocky road that most go down).
The Buccaneers haven't drafted a quarterback number one since Trent Dilfer in 1994 and this wasn't a popular pick by fans or media in the Tampa area. But, Raheem Morris said this guy is the best of all of them (at least he will be before it is all over) and they had to go get their guy. Doug Williams (former Buc great and current Buc executive) said that Josh Freeman will not be expected to play in his rookie season, but I think he will see significant time.
There wasn't much else to talk about after that, but Pat White did go earlier than expected (2nd round, #44 overall) to the Miami Dolphins and the Dolphins promptly released John Beck, who was their second round pick only two years ago. Top seniors Chase Daniel and Graham Harrell both went undrafted.