Notes From Tuesday Minicamp Practice

June 11th, 2013

Joe scribbled down some notes as the Bucs opened mandatory minicamp Tuesday with NASCAR driver Casey Kahne in attendance as a special guest.

*Mike Williams biting the football.

*Defensive backs practicing going low and swatting the ball away from would-be ballcarriers using dummies.

*Defensive linemen practicing wrapping up. Linebackers practicing pick returns.

*Running backs working on footwork high-stepping through dummies while keeping heads up looking at imaginary passes in the flat.

*Jheranie Boyd and Tiquan Underwood doing a nice job of hauling in passes from Mike Glennon.

*Jerry Johnson seems like the only receiver who cannot catch a pass from Glennon.

*Safeties coach Jeff Hafley can be heard yelling during drills to his players, “Angles, angles, angles!”

*A lot is being made of the fight for the No. 3 receiver between Kevin Ogletree and Underwood, but Joe suggests that Chris Owusu is very much in the mix, just by how he is flashing this spring.

*Boyd makes a helluva catch going low to dig up a Josh Freeman pass on a down-and-out to the right. Boyd didn’t break stride and pulled in the pass smooth as silk.

*Ogletree makes a nice stab of a Freeman pass in traffic.

*Vincent Jackson blows past the defense so badly that he has to come back to catch an underthrown Freeman pass down the right side, and still scores with ease.

*Doug Martin squirts through traffic on the left side and breaks through, all the while biting that football.

*Mismatch: Glennon and Owusu hook up on a beautiful pass over the middle to roast Myron Lewis for six points. Lewis was eating dirt in Owusu’s tracks.

*Either Luke Stocker ran a terrible route or Freeman terribly underthrew him as the ball hits the turf well in front of the Bucs tight end.

*Cornerback Deveron Carr flies in from the right side on a blitz forcing Freeman to unload the ball.

*Williams totally loses safety Sean Baker on a juke move for a catch on the left side.

*Seemingly steaming on the inside on a steamy morning, Darrelle Revis watches practice near a goal post.

*Wide receiver Terrium Crump with a good catch on a slant from Glennon. This shouldn’t be a surprise since Crump was one of Glennon’s targets at North Carolina State.

*Joe was unable to notice the receiver as he was screened by half the team but Glennon threaded the proverbial needle in triple coverage over the middle, throwing the ball high so his receiver could make a play. While this looked nice, Bucs coaches likely cringed. High passes over the middle in the NFL just beg to be picked off.

*And here comes the crowd noise…

*Nearly a coverage sack on Freeman as Ahmad Black was all over Stocker like stench on scat.

*The captain of the inactive list, Michael Smith, hauls in a screen pass from Freeman on the left side for a nice gain. Later, Freeman hits Williams perfectly on a slant pass.

*On each and every play, left defensive end Da’Quan Bowers gets his hands up and with his wingspan it almost looks like field goal uprights from the quarterback’s perspective.

*Freeman overthrows Mike James but there was very good coverage on James.

*Williams skies high for a touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone, barely beating a streaking Cody Grimm.

45 Responses to “Notes From Tuesday Minicamp Practice”

  1. Jacko101 Says:

    Last year I said CB’s would be the weakest link on this team, this year I’m calling the RB’s to be. I know we have Doug and a great O Line on paper. The way Shiano pounds Doug makes me nervous. After Martin we fall way below average. You heard it first…

  2. Terraj Says:

    The weak point is the qb as long as freeman is starting. How is he struggling to hit guys and theyre not even in pads/contact yet. Freeman might have a game where he’s 22 of 31 but only 3 passes will actually hit the wide receiver in the hands/chest. Receivers always having to slow down and dig it outta the ground. His accuracy is an absolute joke.

    Im so tired of ripping freeman but he leaves me no choice when the guy is still making amateur mistakes. It doesnt matter if you’re 6

  3. Terraj Says:

    ^ 6’5 if you cant hit a receiver

  4. the_buc_realist Says:

    The most surprising thing in there was that Jfro hit Williams perfectly on a screen pass. I am calling fake, until i see video of that.

    Also at Jacko101, you forgot about ” the pass rush” , “Jfro’s accuracy” , ” The Gm in general” , ” all the injuries sustained this year cause they know knees”

  5. Brad Says:

    Amazing Joe!! Everything you say about Glennon is positive and everything about Freeman negative. I wouldn’t say anything but I heard more positives about Freeman. Keep trying to be the news and make a QB controvsery.

    You look pretty foolish, Brad, considering Joe just wrote an entire post below this about how Glennon isn’t close to ready and has a big uphill learning curve.–Joe

  6. lightningbuc Says:

    Brad,

    HUH?

  7. Braheem Says:

    Yup…All I hear is Freeman inaccuracy. Does he ever just throw a ball away? What? No yells from the coaches on those dirt passes ala McNabb?

    Something seems to be missing in your report. All these low inaccurate passes but no mention of reaction from Mcnulty. Was it a low pass drill?

    Braheem, Joe serves up his notes of interest. Media is not allowed on top of practice and surely can’t hear all coaches comments, especially when the team pipes in crowd noise. It’s practice in shorts. Some of Joe’s readers take things way to seriously.–Joe

  8. Buc Fan #238 Says:

    I read it the way Brad read it too.

    Perhaps that is why Joe is “defensive”?

  9. Sam Says:

    Sign Vonta Leach ASAP!!!!!

  10. the_buc_realist Says:

    Joe’s right, we have to wait for the preseason and regular games too see Jfro’s inaccuracies.

  11. PRBucFan Says:

    OH MY GOODNESS

    Would you babies just shut the hell up and allow the Joes to run there website like they want???

    Damn dudes, if you dont like it just get the hell out..

  12. PRBucFan Says:

    Obviously that’s only directed at a select few.

  13. PRBucFan Says:

    @Joe

    How does his accuracy look?

    Does it look improved just from a general perspective?

  14. Rickster07 Says:

    going low to dig up a Josh Freeman pass
    underthrown Freeman pass
    Freeman terribly underthrew him
    Freeman overthrows Mike James

    Freeman hits Williams perfectly on a slant pass

    Cringing…..

  15. tampamac Says:

    Calm down folks. It’s June. If Free is still out of sync in late August, then it may be cause for concern. Until then, take everything with a grain of salt.

  16. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    ” *Jerry Johnson seems like the only receiver who cannot catch a pass from Glennon.”

    Could easily have read

    “Glennon seems incapable of connecting with WR Jerry Johnson.”

  17. the_buc_realist Says:

    @tampamac
    you are wrong, its not just June. its going into year 5 with the JFro experiment and we need to start seeing signs that he has vastly improved, or the Bucs need to find someone else.

  18. PRBucFan Says:

    Sorry for snapping, nicotine withdrawal is not a fun thing lol.

    I just feel as if certain posters don’t appreciate that *JoeBucsFan is a privilege and we act as if somehow Joe has to provide us with any of this. That is all.

    Again, apologize for snapping

  19. You Go Joe Says:

    Bunch of babies crying about practice notes. You seriously take something that suppose to be informative and cool to something totally negative.

    There can be an article about Connor Barth and you will still complain about Josh Freeman inaccuracies. (JFro…seriously you love to complain but lazy to type his name out ya bum)

    Dam notes are meant to be updates and not progress updates.

    Just a question to Joe so I wont be talking out of my a***, how long does the media have access to view the mini camps ??? The entire process or limited count ?

  20. You Go Joe Says:

    @the_buc_realist Says

    No your wrong, there has been progress over the 5 years. Now when you compare elite QBs to Freeman thats when you start to wine. You want the holy grail of QB with lighting in the background when you should be realistic and see we got a developing QB that will go into his second year offensive scheme for the first time of his career. Or you want Glennon, a rookie QB, who Joe even points out in other articles that Glennon still has A LOT to learn before even being close to starter.

    Pretty much what I’m saying is to take the facts like a man/woman and realize we got Freeman, Glennon, and Orlovsky, in our roster. None of their names shine bright as others, but that’s what we got to work with and the buccs are working on improving Freeman and Glennon.

  21. Buc Fan #238 Says:

    Ah HAAA!!! You are an imposter!

    You said “…and the buccs are working on improving …”

    No Buc fan ever refers to the Bucs as the buccs.

    You have lost all credibility.

  22. tampamac Says:

    realist,

    Show me a QB that hits all of his throws in June. They don’t exist. And minus the ugly 2 game stretch last year, Freeman blew every season by a Bucs QB completely out of the water. That’s not progress? Freeman’s main problem is trying to do too much. If he doesn’t have to worry about having to score 35 points per game due to a sieve-like secondary and game manage more, he’ll be fine. To have to score that many points consistently is tough for ANY QB, even those named Brees, Brady, Manning and Rodgers. Since you’re so down of #5, who would be a better option now or even in next year’s draft?

  23. DomsAdvisor Says:

    According to the bullet list of notes left by the author, it shows that Glennon is the more accurate passer.

  24. chris Says:

    I’m sure Glennon is looking good, but remember he;s still running with the 2nd teams.

    Sure it’s June, but regardless, the microscope will be on Freeman. The excuses have run dry fellow buc fans. It’s time for him to perform or we have a new QB.

    Freeman will start the season, but the positive thing about an early bye week? If he’s struggling and Bucs aren’t performing, Glennon could be called upon, so the first 4 games are extremely important.

  25. You Go Joe Says:

    @Buc Fan #238

    your comment was just as educated as my spelling, you still have no valid excuse except for a typo. You want to hide behind that? Ok

    No your wrong, there has been progress over the 5 years. Now when you compare elite QBs to Freeman thats when you start to wine. You want the holy grail of QB with lighting in the background when you should be realistic and see we got a developing QB that will go into his second year offensive scheme for the first time of his career. Or you want Glennon, a rookie QB, who Joe even points out in other articles that Glennon still has A LOT to learn before even being close to starter.

    Pretty much what I’m saying is to take the facts like a man/woman and realize we got Freeman, Glennon, and Orlovsky, in our roster. None of their names shine bright as others, but that’s what we got to work with and the bucs are working on improving Freeman and Glennon.

    There you go genius read it again and reply please.

  26. WestCoastBucsFan Says:

    *Freeman misses a pass in June*

    *Start Glennon!*

    You guys are absolutely hilarious. FIVE. That is how many passes were mentioned in this article. (At a quick glance.) Do you really think this is even ten percent of all the passes thrown in one day of practice? Even if Freeman threw ten touchdowns today it wouldn’t mean ANYTHING. It is amazing how much uneducated “fans” react to guys running around in shorts. These practices are zero indication of regular season form.

    Calm down guys, its June.

    Also, you guys really shouldn’t feed the self proclaimed “realist”. He will simply pop in, make some ignorant statement, then promptly never reply to the people calling him out. A troll of epic proportions. He feeds off of the negativity of the responses. What this poor excuse for a “fan” probably needs is a hug. Too bad no one is willing to get that close to a black hole.

  27. Buc Fan #238 Says:

    I wonder what Shaun King thinks about when he reads this? I am sure he does not approve of biased articles about J Free throwing the ball in the dirt (could have been a ground ball drill), over a WR’s head (could have been a jum ball drill) and behind the intended target (could have been a behind the back drill).

  28. Tampamac Says:

    WestCoast,
    It’s all good. I enjoy a good debate. I’m a diehard fan, but I don’t look at everything with blind optimism. Every once in a while Realist has a valid point, but most of the time he reminds me of Randy Quaid in ‘Major League’- The loyal fan who tries to protect his heart from being broken by being consistently negative and expecting the worst.. Lol.. But in Freeman, no other available or soon to be available option is a better case scenario than him. He has the ability. It’s about putting it together for 16 games all together.

  29. Dave Says:

    You people clearly have no friends or life

  30. SteveK Says:

    Tampamac,

    Great response, much more mature than I wanted to reply to WCBF. When I hear narrow minded optimism with the inability to politely accept others’ opinions, I think of “troll”. Funny how the blind optimism, name calling, and finger pointing at the “team” still defend our QB, #5.

    To me, it shows utter weakness to get narrow mindedness, negatively engaging yourself, and attempting to force blind optimism on the fans.

    In the end it is what it is. We are a 24-40 team under the Dominick era. Freeman is 21-29 the last 3 years as starter. With that being said, Dominick has done his part over the past couple years, and Freeman is the one who needs to progress his career this year.

    I hope Josh plays well, but to excuse his over all inconsistent play, and think the “Franchise Best Year” was good enough are sadly mistaken.

  31. PRBucFan Says:

    Who said start Glennon?

  32. Tampamac Says:

    SteveK,
    Greatly appreciated. Everyone shows their support in their own way. My older brother is the biggest crap talker in the world when the Bucs are losing, but soon as they put together a couple wins in a row, he’s their biggest cheerleader.. Lol.. But regarding Dominik, he’s coming into his own. Every GM has hits and misses, and as you said, he’s had more hits as of late. Hopefully he can continue his hot streak. As far as Freeman, you said it. Last year we saw promise, but he has to eliminate the terrible games. I can take a ‘bad’ game here or there meaning maybe 2 picks. But the 4 pick ‘terrible’ games have to be out of his system for the Bucs to not be watching from the couch in January.

  33. SteveK Says:

    NOBODY^^^^

    Freeman’s job to lose.

  34. Sharkcoasttactical.com Says:

    I like Dom Dom

  35. bucsguy Says:

    @ realist “find someone else” I will be the first to agree that free has consistency issues but just find another one huh? Flaws and all HE is the best bucs qb since Doug Williams so since that was in 79 it appears a difficult task to find a qb.

  36. Braheem Says:

    @Joe
    Thanks for the info and feedback but my question was genuine. I repeatedly read about low passes from Freeman and wonder if he is intentionally throwing low as a matter of practice for both he and his receivers.

  37. WestCoastBucsFan Says:

    The only thing narrow minded is someone that thinks a QB that set franchise records (no matter how similar they are to Dalton’s numbers) was the problem last year. Especially after watching a pass defense give up the second most yards in NFL HISTORY. You want to talk about narrow minded, there you have it.

    SteveK, you also seem to have no concept of what a troll is. Let me grab a definition for you:

    “In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is someone who posts inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

    Hmm, sound familiar? Lets go take a look at a comment section from an article from the other day:

    On this page : https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=89624

    stevek Says:
    June 7th, 2013 at 2:18 pm
    West Coast,

    Schiano had a say in the 2012 draft. He was modestly saying he did not, but no doubt his imprints were on some of those picks.

    You probably thought we were taking Morris Claibourne instead of Mark Barron, huh?

    ^^This is an unprovoked comment that was not in any way, shape, or form related to the article or anything I had said in that thread. You are the definition of a troll SteveK. Along with the self proclaimed “realist”. Purely trying to evoke emotion, nothing more. Always trying to derail the thread into something unrelated. Not to mention your awful repetition of meaningless stats, day after day, article after article. Like a broken record. You are more than welcome to your own opinions but when you start providing “facts” to try and prove a point, I will gladly join in the discussion of them as “proof” of anything.

  38. BamBamBuc Says:

    Thanks Joe for the practice notes, always nice to hear things from OTAs.

    As for everyone else, just thought I’d let you know I’ve been watching all of last year’s games over again, since I don’t live in Tampa and have no access to team practices or anything else locally. And I must say that a lot of the complaints are blatantly false regarding Freeman and the Buccaneers last year.

    Did Freeman have a couple bad games? Yep, as did the team. Watch those games again. That 5 game stretch started a couple weeks after Nicks went on IR after the Vikings game. Each week after Larsen started at Center, Zuttah moved to Guard, Meredith playing next to Dotson got progressively worse in protection. By the time we get to the Broncos game, Freeman was consistently getting hit as he threw (once was even called roughing the passer on a wobbly pass that was picked off… no play due to penalty, so no INT). Even moving forward to the Eagles game, the pressure was noticeable. Now, Freeman should be able to handle pressure, and he wasn’t horrible. When he could step up or move outside the pocket, he was pretty accurate. But when he was unable to move away from pressure or when he was hit as he threw, his passes were off target. Now, watching other QBs, including Manning, they had the same problem. When they got hit as they threw, their passes were off target and not very good. So, Freeman was fairly consistent, but the pressure increased. So, his poorer accuracy numbers and INT numbers had a LOT to do with pressure which was greater.

    As for the short passes being skipped to WRs or overthrown, this is also exaggerated. Throughout the season last year, he was very accurate on both short and mid-range passes. He did overthrow some long balls, even missed a couple wide open WRs, but the numbers were relatively small in regards to skipped throws or bad misses. He did throw the ball away more last year than the year before, taking less sacks (only 4 sacks the entire month of October). I haven’t gone back to my 2011 recordings, but I do recall Freeman having more of an issue with skipping passes then than he did in 2012, so maybe that’s where that criticism is coming from. A significant number of incompletions were either drops, extremely well defended, thrown away or being hit when throwing. More often the throws I was seeing (mostly mid to long range passes) were exceptionally well thrown and on target. Another issue was receivers giving up on plays. Especially in the last 6 weeks, I was seeing players simply stop, not even make an attempt for the ball, and nearly costing us interceptions because of it. Players I cannot fault for giving up would be Freeman, Martin, Jackson, and Williams. All of those guys continued to push until the final whistle.

    Another thing I’ve noticed was how the defense really crumbled late in the year. Yeah, I know they were the worst pass D before then, but take note of this. The number of missed tackles went way up down the stretch from what I could tell (I don’t have stats per game of missed tackles, but it was obvious). The number of turnovers created diminished. Much of this coincided with the trade of Talib, the Wright suspension. Not that either was much before then, but it was amazing watching the missed tackles when Gorrer was in the game. Even though Johnson tackled ok, the number of misses went up when he started more games. Now, maybe this is because Barron had to drop out of the box more and actually help deep. I’m not sure, I’m not a coach and do not have that film, but it was eye-opening. Not even a missed tackle, but watching Foster completely over-run his pursuit and let Nick Foles run free to the end zone was a complete breakdown. Nick Foles can’t even run, but went untouched. Everything was breaking down. Pursuit angles got worse, as players couldn’t get through blockers to make tackles anymore. Watch each play again, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Again, players that I NEVER saw give up last year were McCoy, David and Barber. Didn’t matter the score or the record, those guys played start to finish.

    All in all, I really just wanted to say that it didn’t really look at all like Josh Freeman was all that inconsistent by himself. Many things led to a 5 game losing streak that knocked us out of the playoffs, but it was more than Josh. I’ve actually become more impressed with him watching the season over, rather than less impressed.

    I encourage each of you to watch the games again, well worth your time.

  39. Buc Fan #238 Says:

    That comment WAS absolutely NOT a troll comment.

    Are you dumb WCBF???

    Jeez, you could have picked a better example than that one.

    There are hundreds of examples on this website and you FAILED to pick a troll comment that meets your definition.

    Hahahahahahahaha!!!!

    -BucsFan #ha ha ha

  40. PRBucFan Says:

    ^^^^^ Your right,

    You provided a much better example 😉 lol

  41. bucsguy Says:

    I agree bam bam free played poorly at times but as I have started on other posts it coincided with others and he starts to press which is a fixable occurrence ib expect free to be a probowl caliber player this year and the bucs to be an 11-12 win Club. Lets go Free and let’s go bucs

  42. WestCoastBucsFan Says:

    @Buc Fan #238

    You got me. I was hoping no one would find out I was dumb.

    Seriously though, I did link to the wrong comment. Only because the two were so similar. (If you haven’t noticed, SteveK repeats himself a lot.)

    I meant to link to this as my example:

    On this page:
    https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=89753

    SteveK Says:
    June 10th, 2013 at 1:49 pm
    West Coast,

    Schiano had a hand in the 2012 draft.

    Josh Freeman needs to have a “show me” year.

    You come across as the over aggressive lap dog, yipping at the heals of those who comment.

    C’mon BucRealist, join the mayhem!.

    ^^This one should meet the criteria.

  43. WestCoastBucsFan Says:

    @BamBamBuc

    Keep it coming with these posts man. There damn good. Its good to know the film paints a better picture of what is actually going on. If I had the time I would love to go back and re watch the games.

  44. scubog Says:

    How about Realist simply writes “ditto” since his message never changes regardless of topic. Nice post Bam Bam. Re-watching games without emotion is often insightful.

  45. Mean D Says:

    And, according to Pewter Report, Freeman was painfully inaccurate all day.