While Joe can totally understand fans wanting to jump on the Josh Freeman bandwagon, Joe hates to throw cold water in the face, but people need to check themselves.

Sure, Joe was giddy over the win. And Freeman showed a lot of potential to Joe. Enough that Joe is no longer wrestling with his pillow during sleepless nights over the 0-7 start to the 2009 season.

But Joe also knows this is only Freeman’s first start. After all, Tony Banks himself also had a three-touchdown game in his first start.

Vacation Man of BSPN.com, a former Bucs beat writer and current Tampa resident, must be hanging out with too many Bucs cheerleaders — not that that’s a bad thing. Because Vacation Man has already declared that Freeman’s win over the Packers Sunday has saved Raheem the Dream’s career.

Well, guess what? Freeman’s not a bust. He got his first start Sunday and the Bucs got their first win. I’m not saying it’s going to be all clear sailing and Freeman’s going to the Hall of Fame. But he showed some really good things in his first start.

Mark Sunday as a turning point for the Morris regime. As the Bucs were losing their first seven games, all their fans wanted to talk about was the past.

Now, they can start focusing on the future — because Freeman has shown there really is a future.

Whoa, hold up. Look, Joe’s happy as the next Bucs fan. But Joe’s not quite ready to start buying tickets to various Pro Bowls to see Freeman play based on one game.

Did Freeman give Joe pause to get excited about the future? Damned right he did. That written, it was one lone game. Let’s see what the kid can do now that Tony Sporano (“Hey, Paulie, meet me at The Bing, and bring the gabagool, will ya?”) has a full NFL game tape of Freeman to study.