Tag Archives: Josh Freeman

by | March 20, 2012 · 8:53 am

Team Retrospective: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Welcome to our coverage of the NFC South!  Peyton Manning doesn’t play in this division, so it’s unlikely that anyone gives a shit…but let’s do it anyway!

When a young team wins they are called hungry and energized, and when they lose they are immature and inexperienced.  In 2011 the Buccaneers fell into the latter category for most of the season, which seems mystifying when you consider the impressive 10-6 season the year before.  It was a team that seemed like it was ready to break through, but unfortunately momentum, hype, and ridiculous buzz words like “yungry” don’t win football games.  What does win football games?  Players on the other team, apparently.   The Bucs were 27rd in points scored, and 32nd in points given up.  When you frame it like that, it seems almost impressive that they won four games.

It has already been an interesting off-season for Tampa, as their list of head coaching candidates was honestly one of the most unimpressive I have ever seen.  Wade Phillips?  Mike Sherman?  Seriously?   But in the end the head man at Rutgers, Greg Schiano, came out of left field to take the job.   The wisdom of this hiring has been debated, but one move that is being universally applauded is the free agent signing of Vincent Jackson.  There are some character questions there, but he’s a wide receiver so I’ve already come to grips with the fact that he’s probably insane.  There isn’t anyone happier about this move than Josh Freeman, who finally has a big time weapon to throw the ball to.  (My apologies to Arrelious Benn and Preston Parker.)

2011 was a rough season for the Bucs, but they still have a solid young nucleus.  And that kickass pirate ship!  This is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers retrospective.

By week ten fans were getting hammered and walking the plank voluntarily.

Team Highlight: In week 6 Tampa Bay hosted New Orleans and squeaked out a 26 to 20 victory.  They forced 3 Drew Brees interceptions and Josh Freeman threw for over 300 yards in what was no doubt the peak of their season.  It putTampa in first for a few moments, and got people to consider the idea that maybe the guard had changed in the NFC South.  Spoiler alert: it had not.

Team Lowlight: Basically everything that happened after week 6, as the Buccaneers lost the remaining ten games of the season.  It wasn’t like they were losing at the gun to great teams either; they were getting throttled by some very mediocre squads.  During that time they lost two games to the Carolina Panthers by a combined score of 86 to 35 and got pounded by the hapless Jags 41-14.  To say that this stretch was embarrassing is an understatement.  I think if I was the guy in charge of the pirate ship cannon I would have been getting black out drunk and firing it off randomly by week 15, crying out for the stone feet of Brad Johnson.  Originally I made the case on this very blog that Raheem Morris should get to stick around for another season, but when I take a look back at this debacle…well, dude had to go.

Connor Barth might have been runner-up.

Team MVP: Josh Freeman had an absolutely abysmal season.  LeGarrette Blount was injured and inconsistent.  Mike Williams failed to improve on his impressive rookie year.  No one really stood out on the defensive side of the ball.  I guess I’m just going to go with Kellen Winslow Jr.  After an injury plagued start to his career, Kellen has become a consistent performer and a reliable target.  In the last three seasons he has averaged almost 800 yards a season and over ten yards a catch.  I’m giving the team MVP to a tight end, that’s how bad this season really was.

Needs: The Bucs have already signed the best wide receiver and offensive lineman (Vincent Jackson and Carl Nicks respectively) of the free agent class, along with a solid corner in Eric Wright.  Tampa Bay has already had an impressive offseason and it’s not over yet.  Look for them to draft some impact players on defense, as they finished 31st in turnover margin in 2011.

What’s a Buccaneer fan drinking these days: I’m not sure what this drink is exactly, but I’d find out how to make it immediantly.  This is a team on the rise, so enjoy yourself.  But if Josh Freeman plays like he did this season just dump a bunch of Bacardi 151 in there too.  It’ll still taste good, because just look at it.

Jango Scale of Scandal Likelihood:

 The Straight Cash Homey meter was incredible, but it’s nice that it got to go out when it was on top and not stale, literally changing the face of football blogging forever.  Anyway, I think the scandal likelihood is moderate because there’s always a chance that Vincent Jackson is going to hold out, demand the ball more, and drive drunk simultaneously.

Entirely Too Early Prediction for 2012: This is the probably the hardest one I’ve had to pick so far.  You have a new coaching staff, high priced free agents, and a young team.  Either way I think they will be better than last year, but I don’t think they’ll be winning the NFC South this year.  I will say 8-8 because honestly I have no idea what this team is capable of.

Stop back tomorrow when Chris Dorsey tells us a thing or two about the Panthers season and posts his own shirtless combine photos!

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by | December 13, 2011 · 11:40 am

Your Favorite Team Sucks: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I was going to write about Josh Freeman being really disappointing this week, but I’m not sure that I need to go into detail about it. Dude has 12 TDs vs 16 picks, his team has lost 5 straight, and his hair isn’t as awesome as it could be.

So yeah, there’s your favorite player sucks. Maybe I’ll expand if he tosses two INTs to the Panthers next week.

-  Nate Raby, 11/29/11

What about if he tosses two interceptions to the Jaguars? I feel like that’s worse.

At least he looks good in a suit

A lot has changed since I considered writing a “Your Favorite Player Sucks” column on Josh Freeman. Well, actually, that’s an out-and-out lie. Nothing’s changed. The team kept losing. But what changed was I saw the last two games, and I began to start thinking on a larger scale. Yes, Josh Freeman sucks, but he wasn’t even in the game last week against the Panthers. The lowly 3-8 at-the-time Panthers. Until a garbage time TD, they were losing 38-12.

This is not merely a quarterback problem. This is a problem that exists in the very core of the entire organization. Josh Freeman doesn’t tackle, doesn’t return punts, doesn’t call plays from the sideline. Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, neither does anyone else on the team.

This week, your favorite team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And boy do they suck.

Doesn’t it seem like two months ago that we were talking about the Bucs as possible division champs? Well, it was exactly eight weeks ago when they had their last win. They had just beaten the New Orleans Saints in Raymond James, and had climbed into a tie with the Saints at 4-2. At the time there were a few pervasive thoughts concerning the NFC South:

1.)    The Falcons are done.

2.)    The Saints can’t compete with Tampa’s athleticism and youth.

3.)    The game between the Saints and Tampa could be seen as a passing of the baton of NFC South powers.

Yeah, well…no.

They haven’t won since that game. They’ve lost seven straight, four by more than 10 points. And most recently, 41-14 to the Jaguars.

To. The. Jaguars.

The Buccaneers suck for a few reasons, but every single one of those reasons can be boiled down to one simple fact: the Bucs had a really easy 2010 schedule, and it has been followed by a much harder 2011 schedule. That is the magnifying glass on every problem the Bucs have, because without that perspective, neither season is too impressive or disappointing.

One reason the Buccaneers suck is their key players are too young and not exactly ready to carry a team by themselves. Josh Freeman is in his third year, but more importantly he is only 23. The team’s number one receiver, Mike Williams, is only 24 and in his second season. And their bruising running back LaGarrette Blount is also in his second year, and just turned 25. So that’s the main offensive firepower for the Bucs: a bunch of young kids. Only one can rent a car without a premium, for Christ’s sakes. And if they were on any other team, it would be okay, because they would have some veteran leadership and the expectations wouldn’t have been that high.

In comes that pesky 2010 season.

Last year, Freeman had 25 TDs vs. 6 INTs. Williams almost had 1000 yards receiving and found himself in the end zone 11 times. And Blount, who only started half the year, had over 1000 yards rushing and averaged 5 a carry.

Those numbers inspired confidence in the front office, and it showed in the draft. The first three rounds were spent on defensive picks. It was clear that Tampa Bay expected their young trio of talent to continue producing.

Let’s look at 2011. Freeman has 12 TDs and 18 INTs. Mike is on pace for 850 yards, but has only caught three touchdowns. And Blount, who has started the entire season, would need three monster games to produce the amount he produced in only half of last year.

There are two ways of looking at this information. Either this is a down year, or last year was an aberration. We don’t know which one it is right now, but we do know that it appears the front office was satisfied with the offense, and that reluctance to build may have cost them a season.

The Tampa Bay defense wasn’t stellar last year. They were toward the back of the pack in rushing defense, which inspired the picks of Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers in the 2011 Draft. But what’s surprising is they were pretty decent against the pass. They were 7th in the league in passing yards allowed, and 9th in points allowed. This year, they’re 27th in pass defense, and second to last in points allowed.

Again, the difference is the 2010 season. The Bucs faced an interesting roster of quarterbacks last year. As they played the AFC North and NFC West, the competition wasn’t exactly eye-popping. Tampa’s impressive wins were against the following quarterbacks: an old Jake Delhomme, the great one-two punch of Matt Moore and Jimmy Claussen, Carson Palmer, a rookie Sam Bradford, another quality QB tandem in Derek Anderson and Max Hall, a non-Harbaugh-coached Alex Smith, an old Donovan McNabb, Charlie Whitehurst…and Drew Brees (on a team that had already clinched a playoff berth and had nothing to fight for). There is only one quarterback in that list that I want playing on my team, and I’m lucky because he does play on my team. Otherwise, the impressive Tampa pass defense were not exactly being challenged.

In 2011, they have faced the AFC South and the NFC North. And while some of the quarterbacks haven’t been impressive (especially in the AFC South), they have had to face players such as Aaron Rodgers, a Harbaugh-coached Alex Smith, and Matt Schaub.

In bringing up the quarterbacks has faced, I also brought up the teams they have faced, which is ultimately responsible for the difference in records the Bucs have posted in 2010 and 2011. Again, in 2010 they faced the NFC West and AFC North. And while the North has two good teams in the Steelers and Ravens, they also have two bad teams in the Browns and Bengals. In addition, they swept the NFC West (as any team should – DAMN YOU 2010 SAINTS! YOU LOST TO THE CARDINALS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRO—sorry), going 6-2 in their divisional-assigned matchups. This year, they have gone 1-3 in the stronger NFC South, and 1-3 in the actually-not-very-strong-at-all AFC South. Maybe that AFC South thing isn’t as indicative on how hard this year is, but all of that is invalidated by the fact the Bucs lost to the Jaguars. Come on. The Jaguars.

The bottom line is that Tampa is facing a tougher season, a lot tougher than they faced last years. And while neither season is indicative on what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are as a team, they both show that the Bucs are neither a playoff team nor a basement dweller. So in closing, the Buccaneers suck because they are inconclusive and confusing. And because Freeman needs to style his hair better.

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by | November 29, 2011 · 7:59 am

The Unveiling of the Stevie Johnson Memorial Moves Like Jagger Award

I was going to write about Josh Freeman being really disappointing this week, but I’m not sure that I need to go into detail about it. Dude has 12 TDs vs 16 picks, his team has lost 5 straight, and his hair isn’t as awesome as it could be.

Josh Freeman's non-football ventures

So yeah, there’s your favorite player sucks. Maybe I’ll expand if he tosses two INTs to the Panthers next week.

What really pushed me away from writing about Freeman was last night’s lashing on Monday Night Football. There are plenty of storylines coming from last night’s game, and a lot of them are interesting. The Saints stay ahead of the Falcons, the Giants are on a 3 game skid, not mentioning Mark Ingram without saying his dad is in jail (okay, maybe that’s not interesting at all and more annoying than anything). But what I liked more than anything last night was the dancing. Oh, the dancing. With 73 points scored between both teams, there was a lot of celebrating. So here are last night’s nominees for what I am now calling the Stevie Johnson Memorial Moves Like Jagger Award:

===

Lance Moore Does the Bernie

After his second touchdown of the night (and on my fantasy bench, naturally), Lance Moore dropped the touchdown and decided to do a move known as the Bernie. I loved every second of it, especially the nod before and after.

My favorite part is what the video doesn’t cover: how he grabs the football and runs all the way to the other side of the field. I thought the celebration was going to continue, but instead he Barry Sanders’d it to the ref on the far side. Like I said, I loved it, but I don’t think the Giants did. Because when they scored, Brandon Jacobs had his own dance.

Brandon Jacobs Dances for an Uncomfortably Long Time

Look at that big boy go. I didn’t like a lot on this drive. I didn’t like the defenseless receiver call on Quddus. I didn’t like the lack of tackling from the Saints. I didn’t like the fact that 21-10 was now more manageable for the Giants than 21-3.

But boy do I love those moves. If I hated on it, it would just be out of envy.

I think a lot of Saints fans had a problem with how long it went on, but I kind of liked it. It made the Saints angry; they played Jacobs harder, and he didn’t do too much more for the rest of the game. Also, no one should ever make a big man stop dancing.

The Dunks: How To Do It

Getty Images

Jimmy Graham. Look at the elevation. And he didn’t even break the goalpost this time!

How Not To Do It

So...close...

Aw, Drew. Poor guy, too short to get up there and dunk it. I love that he apologized to Michael Jordan for this.

Keeping With Basketball: The (Sorta) Alley-Oop!

The best part of this video (found here) is not so much the celebration, but the way Pierre Thomas waves Aaron Ross away. “Dude. You’re not going to catch me. You’re going to spend one more breath than you have to. Save it for when you really need it, man.” At least that’s what I thought his brief hand wave said. It could have been a mocking wave telling Ross to try and tackle him. Whatever, I like my version better.

But then when he gets into the end zone, he waits for Jermon Bushrod to come celebrate, then tosses him the ball so the left tackle can spike it. This was obviously planned, and while I’m making up conversations that probably never happened, why not add this one:

Pierre: Jermon…I’m sorry. I had sex with your girlfriend.

Jermon: Dude. That’s not cool.

Pierre: I’m sorry man, I was drunk and she…I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?

Jermon: Can I have sex with your girlfriend?

Pierre: No.

Jermon: Oh. Well, can I spike the ball if you score?

Pierre: Fine. But only if it’s a TD that puts us up by 25 points.

Jermon: Oh come on, that’ll never happen.

===

So those are the nominees. And the winner is…this is so exciting!

Brandon Jacobs Dances for an Uncomfortably Long Time!

I know my Saints fans will be upset with me for this, but there is sound logic behind it. After last night and three straight losses, the Giants needed to win something.

Go ahead, big fella. You dance all night. Nobody’s stopping you.

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by | November 7, 2011 · 11:29 am

Monday Morning Jerkface: Week 9

The Eagles take on the Bears tonight, but other than that match-up another week has come and gone in the NFL season.  The pundits have a different group of teams that they are now convinced will never lose again, and they will frantically press the panic button in a few select cities.  How will some announcers reconcile their desire to simultaneously declare the Giants and the Eagles a 100% lock to win the NFC East?  Regardless, there is one team from that division I am ready to bury.

This pass was probably not complete

I have preached for weeks that regardless how bad the Redskins have looked, that we should hold off on condemning their season.  Despite the fact that a number of college QBs would be better equipped to run this offense than Rex Grossman or John Beck, the numerous injuries to key personnel, and Dan Snyder’s track record of putting together football teams that are terrible at football, I thought there still might be hope.  I give Shanahan a lot of (perhaps too much) credit.  Well everyone, after their loss to San Francisco I will no longer stand in your way.  We can now eulogize the 2011 Washington season.

“Thank you for coming.  Here lies the 2011 Redskins season.  Does anyone know how to get a hold of Drew Bledsoe?”

Defensive pass interference calls that I find offensive

Oh, jokes!

Ten years from now I wonder if corners are going to have to play with one hand tied behind their back, or a ball and chain to their ankle.  Rule changes over the years combined with the sophistication of modern passing attacks have made it more and more difficult to do your job as a defensive back. 

From my experience watching football it seems that blatant defensive pass interference is called around ninety percent or more (although this stat would probably depend on your definition of blatant), while offensive pass interference is closer to fifty percent.  Plaxico Burress got away with multiple push-offs in the Jets/Bills game, and this is certainly not a new trend.  If there is a lot of contact, it seems that there is an automatic assumption that it is the defender’s fault.  There was a play in the Green Bay/San Diego game yesterday that got me thinking.  On a 4th and 3 Charles Woodson was trailing Antonio Gates and running at full speed.  Gates stopped on a dime,Woodson ran into his back, and their feet got tangled.  The ball sailed over Antonio’s head, seemingly uncatchable, and they got a fresh set of down out of the pass interference call.  Some of the time this will be explained as incidental contact, and that the defender has the same right for that space.  And other times it is flagged for contact after five yards.  Combine that with the controversial call at the end of the Pats/Giants game and I’m a bit confused.  I know the league has worked hard to make this clear, but they need to work harder.

Another somewhat related rule that I absolutely despise, is the automatic first down for defensive holding.  I believe for pass interference when the ball is the air it is fair to spot the ball wherever the foul occurs and hand out a first down.  But instead of five yards and an automatic first down for holding I think they should make it ten yards and no automatic first.  That way you don’t see a team getting a first down on a 3rd and 35 because of a slight holding call away from the ball when the team had just settled for a four yard dump off pass.

Divisional Deadlock

The AFC East and the AFC West both have 3 team ties for first place.  In the east we have the Patriots, Jets, and Bills, all three seeming like they belong in the playoff conversation.  But in the west it’s a different story.

I know it’s a short week, and I know they just came off of an emotional win against a division rival, but when you are in a tie for first place and you have the winless Dolphins at home…you have to take care of business.  The Chiefs did not.  For weeks I was convinced that Matt Moore won some kind of fan contest that allowed him to play QB for the Dolphins, and suddenly he’s completing 70% of his passes and throwing 3 touchdowns.  Also, have you seen this?  Excuse the poor video quality, but that has to be one of the worst field goal attempts I have ever seen.  It doesn’t look like a designed fake, but doesn’t it look like he still has time to get the snap down?

The Raiders did most of us a disservice by losing to Tim Tebow and the Broncos.  Not because the guy isn’t a nice kid, I just don’t want to hear about it anymore.  He still completed less than 50% of his passes folks.  I know he had over 100 yards rushing and threw a few nice passes, but let’s not have a total freak out.  Interestingly enough, the Broncos are now only a game back from this whole mess.  For precautionary reasons, I’m going to be spending the next week in an ESPN free bunker.

It says something about the state of the division where maybe the team that performed the best yesterday out of three that are tied for first (San Diego) gave up 45 points at home.

Other stuff…

-San Fran has more wins than the rest of their division combined.  Seriously.

-Saw someone tweet  that Brady isn’t an elite QB anymore yesterday.  Let’s all just take a deep breath.

-The Bucs hung with the Saints for most of the game yesterday, and yet somehow Blount only had 13 caries.  And it wasn’t like he wasn’t having success, he was averaging over 5.5 yards per attempt. Perhaps the Tampa Baycoaching staff has heard one too many announcers talk about the bright future of Josh Freeman.  Sorry, but he doesn’t scare anyone.

-I’ve talked a lot of shit about Joe Flacco the last few weeks, but he looked like a legitimate franchise QB down the stretch last night.    

-Speaking of the Ravens, I will give anyone reading this ten bucks to film themselves giving a Ray Lewis-esque speech to your co-workers before the start of your workday.  Ten bucks!

-No matter how many times the commentators try to shove it down my throat that Eli is becoming an elite QB, I just can’t quite get onboard.  I know he has a ring, and he’s currently playing well, and his last name is Manning, but his red zone interception yesterday was maybe the most unforgiveable pick I saw all day.

-Andy Dalton is quietly making a case for rookie of the year, an award everyone thought Cam Newton would be a lock for.  In fact, the Bengals are doing everything quietly.  They are tied for first and no one in the league is talking about them as a serious contender.  They will take on a rather pissed off Pittsburgh team next week, and that will be an indication for whether or not that team is legit.

-If you watched the Packers/Chargers game yesterday, you saw the Packers blitz defensive backs from deep in the secondary at least 20 times.  It seemed terribly obvious to anyone watching the game that this scheme was taking entirely too long to get to Rivers.  I can understand not adjusting after the embattled Chargers QB shredded this blitz the first 18 times, but after 19?!?  Shame on you, coaching staff!

Enjoy Monday Night football everyone.  Or, if you’re like me, hate every second of it with the grim knowledge that either the Eagles or Bears have to win!

Posted by Ben Van Iten.

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