Your Josh Freeman Update

Tough year for Freeman and company this past season.

This was not a good year for Josh Freeman and the Tampa Bay Bucs. They started 3-1 but finished the season with 10 straight losses, looking really bad in the process. Basically, I would check the score, and sigh. The last game the Atlanta Falcons blew them out so badly, it was 42-0 in the second quarter.

Josh had 22 interceptions and 5 lost fumbles during 2011. Not all, of course were his fault, but that is a huge increase from 2010 where he threw just 6 INTs and lost 3 fumbles. TDs were down from 25 to 16. The relatively useless QB rating tumbled 20 points from 2010 to 2011.

I would suspect that the firing of the coach is related to the step back that Josh and this entire team took this year. This team folded, in addition to playing badly. The way it folded is something you have to lay at the feet of the coach. I keep comparing the Bucs to the Chiefs. The Chiefs never folded. They always kept playing, especially the defense. Tampa Bay folded--lost their focus and professionalism. While players are very responsible for that, much of that comes from the coach.

Josh is very talented, but prone to take his talent for granted, thinking that talent alone will get it done. If he is smart, he will take this off season to spend a lot of time thinking about how he wants his career to go. He might want to look at the best QBs in the league for models: Brady, Breese, Rodgers, even Rothlesburger. Look at these guys for clues as to what works and what doesn't work to help become a professional QB that is a step above the average--a guy a team can build on towards a championship.