nothing else needs to be said

Mark my words, J Free is amazing and he will only get better. I am sick of hearing how Matty Ice and Flacco are elite so young, but Free has done so much more with less in his second!!!! year. Watching the games last year, I saw a spark in Freeman, we don’t have much of an O line, exception of Penn, and with Trueblood’s dumbass causing a crap load of penalties, that doesn’t help, so Freeman was under pressure quite a bit, but if you looked beyond that, you would see a young kid who wants this. The first time he started, I said, hey, that kid has talent, and he’s ours. Hopefully, if the Glazer’s get their heads out of Man U’s ass, he could be ours forever. I saw a young kid out there, maybe a bit scared, but determined.

After the 2009 season, I told people, watch out for Freeman, he is going to come on like nobody’s business next year. I got so much flack for defending Raheem, for saying Freeman is a huge star in the making, for saying my Bucs will do better this season. I just sat, ordered my Sunday Ticket to watch all the games national tv won’t show, and had a glimmer in my eye. I watched Morris and Dominick pick up some rookies that no one else wanted to give a chance to. I watched ‘em pick up some rookie named Blount that punched a guy and got suspended that the Titans decided they didn’t need. I saw critics and “fans” bitching about how we will be worse than the year before, that these rookies will account for nothing and we will look horrible. I see people calling Raheem “Radio” and not one person on any sports network saying anything positive about the Bucs. I just smiled, told them no matter what, my heart lies with my Bucs and no matter what happens, that will never change.

Every Sunday morning, I set my alarm 15 mins before the game, get up, put on my jersey and go to the couch, and turn on the game. So I started doing that, and watching preseason. I saw us looking ok, but heard nothing but negativity from “fans” and non-fans alike. Then the season starts, and wow. Who is that team playing? We looked pretty good, and the rookies we picked up, well, they might be making a bit of noise by now. Then we get beat by the Steelers and Saints pretty good, and again, the bashing and doubting starts.

Then something happens, and Freeman starts playing like he means it. We have this 4th round rookie, Mike Williams, making big plays. We start clicking, and winning. We get better. We still don’t get noticed, we still don’t get fans at the games, but we still play like we mean it. A rookie by the name of Blount, whom people only know because he punched a guy in college, starts running, and jumping. Who is this kid, must be a fluke. No one who goes undrafted plays that well. We come to the Falcons game. We make some mistakes, and we lose a close game, literally by a yard. I cried, yes, like a girl. That game hurt.

We play, and we play with heart. Freeman gets out there, makes big plays, makes a few mistakes, but it’s okay, we have already proved we have so much more than anyone knows. We have heart. It sounds cliche, but we have heart. We lost big players, we had more players step up and fill the void. We lose another close one to the Falcons, and man, that one hurt even more. We get a little attention, but it’s pretty much just how we are an illusion, and not that good. We played our hearts out the last few games of the season, including a tough loss to Detroit because one, we collapsed, and two, the ref’s take a TD away from Winslow that they then admitted should have stood. We did everything right the last month of the season but still missed the playoffs. That’s ok, next year it gives us motivation to play even harder, and hopefully with our hurt players back and ready to make even more of an impact.

A team with a healthy Grimm, McCoy, Talib, Black, Benn, and others, yeah, watch out. A now third year QB with more experience under his belt, look out. We will be back, and with a vengeance. Place your bets now, or rather, don’t, because we play better when people don’t believe in us. The 2010 Bucs played better than anyone, and I mean anyone, expected. I am the most optimistic person when it comes to my Bucs, and I in no way predicted the season we had.

The point of this novel was that we were always looked down upon, and we succeeded. Look down on Josh Freeman all you want, call it a fluke, call it an easy schedule. Say he won’t be elite status, that his star will fade eventually. Say all you want, because when he IS a star, when he IS an elite qb, when he IS getting attention and recognition, don’t come back and say you knew it all along, because you didn’t. But I did, and I do, and I always will. Josh Freeman doesn’t need you to freely give your respect, because he will just take it from you whether you like it or not. This kid is an elite qb in the making, and I am just proud of the fact that me and other fans are there to see it happen from the beginning.

Sorry so long, but I love my Bucs!
HL

Dang, it sure is nice to have intelligent football conversation for a change without the little brat throwing a hissy fit.

Jerry: I totally disagree with you about Freeman going through his progressions. He completed passes to 18 (not sure if thats the correct number) different receivers through out the year and he completed most of his passes to the open guy. So not sure why you think he stares down receivers. I didn’t see that at all.