It sure smells as if struggling Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman may get a decent backup to help push him to be his best self.
In this morning’s press conference, Greg Schiano made it clear to the Tampa Bay pen and mic club that he believes competition at all positions is beneficial to a football team and did not duck the notion it could also help Freeman.
“I will meet individually with josh. Again, it was an up and down year but you look at 4,000 yards and records all over the place. A lot of positives there. Certainly when an expectation level is set and you don’t make it, there is disappointment. Josh is probably his own toughest critic so I don’t know if anything I am going to tell him is going to shock him. I think perspective and sequencing what he has to do until we get back together April 15 , first thing he has to do is get away from the game a relax a little bit. Then there is a sequencing of things that I think has to happen for him and we will discuss that and part of that will come out of the evaluation.
“I am not all in with myself yet so how can I be all in with Josh Freeman or any other player? I need to evaluate. What I can say is, [Freeman is] a 4,000-yard passer, a [team] touchdown record [holder]. There are things you say, ‘Wow!’ Does he frustrate me? Yeah. But those things frustrate him too. Quite frankly I really like Josh Freeman. [I have] to evaluate every single thing for what is best for this organization Do I think Josh Freeman will win Super Bowls in this league? Yeah, I do. I hope that happens here. But I have to evaluate everything before I can say, ‘That is what I am doing.’ I do believe in competition at every spot including the quarterback. I want to have as many good football players on our football team as we can at every single position. As much competition as we can create throughout the football team rises the level of everything. It’s human nature when there is competition the level rises.”
Now there is a rule of thought that Freeman getting pushed may just rattle him and unnerve him and he may regress.
This is the quandary the Bucs find themselves in with their quarterback. His contract runs out after the 2013 season. Should he hit the lottery or should the Bucs sign him to a team-friendly, salary cap-smart pact?
Maybe seeing how Freeman reacts to being pushed will give the Bucs an idea about the details of his new contract.
Just about anyone old enough to comprehend how the business end of the NFL works knows that Adderall-popping, spa-relaxing Eric Wright all but wrote his ticket out of Tampa Bay this offseason, short of reworking his contract to make it Team Glazer-friendly.
After getting busted for Adderall and being sentenced to a four-game suspension, a clause in his contract kicked in where Wright’s second year of guaranteed money with the Bucs was voided.
Offered a chance to publicly state Wright is a Buccaneer Man, Bucs coach Greg Schiano passed this morning, which was basically saying Wright very well may go bye-bye.
“I can’t tell you what his future is with the Bucs because that has not been determined yet,” Schiano said.
Schiano offered no additional information about Wright.
Infer what you want with Schiano’s words, but it is pretty clear Wright is, at best, on thin ice with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik not to mention Schiano himself.
The leader of the New Schiano Order updated the status of some Buccaneers on injured reserve this morning at One Buc Palace and said a cloud of uncertainty remains around Quincy Black.
Black suffered some sort of complex nerve/neck injury in November that knocked him out for the season and left him with physical limitations. Today, Schiano said Black has seen specialists around the country and offered no specifics on Black’s condition.
The Bucs have finished paying guaranteed money to Black, who signed a five-year, nearly $29 million deal before the 2011 season. However, the Bucs could be on the hook for the rest of Black’s contract if Black can not play football again.
Schiano reported no snags in the comebacks of Carl Nicks, Davin Joseph and Adrian Clayborn.
Butch Davis, the special assistant/consiliere/psychic to Bucs coach Greg Schiano, is not leaving the Bucs for Florida International.
There had been many rumors of late that Davis was linked to the opening at FIU after the school parted ways with Mario Cristobal. Davis’ agent, Jon Sasser, Twittered Joe over the weekend to refute a FoxSports.com report that Davis’ settlement with the University of North Carolina, his previous employer, was an obstacle for him to take the FIU gig.
Sasser also reached out to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune to offer the same information.
Below is what Sasser — unsolicited — Twittered Joe, and Sasser encouraged Joe to use this message as a direct quote from him.
@JonSasser: Butch Davis did not even sign a settlement with UNC upon his 2011 dismissal. … UNC’s obligations to Butch Davis are governed by the contract in time at his termination.
In other words, Davis is just abiding by his contract with North Carolina and not coaching for the time being.
So Schiano gets to keep his consiliere, which isn’t a bad thing.
It’s not exactly a blackout-busting group coming to Tampa. Hopefully, the Bucs showed TV executives enough to grant a night home game to the Tampa Bay faithful.
The Bucs tied with five teams at 7-9, and strength-of-schedule tiebreakers left them wth the 13th pick in April’s draft. Here’s the current known draft order, via NFL.com.
Yesterday Joe appeared, as he often does, with his good friend Bobby Fenton on the Bucs Postgame/Postgame Show heard locally on WDAE-AM 620.
Fenton had an interesting rant about the Bucs season. He said in no uncertain terms the Bucs season was a failure. If a team doesn’t make the playoffs, Fenton explained, then said team has failed.
Fenton also noted that for any Bucs fan to suggest that the Bucs had a good season because they won three more games than last year is “a loser’s mentality.” This attitude, he believes, stems from a now 10-year absence of a playoff win.
Joe believes Fenton is on point, especially since the Bucs were in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth and fell face first in the dirt losing five straight and finding themselves on the couch for January football, as opposed to playing meaningful January football in the playoffs.
Sure, the Bucs made some inroads, improved in some areas (the rush defense in particular), but each team’s goal is to get to the playoffs.
The Bucs failed to do so. As a result, Joe, like Fenton, cannot see how the 2012 season can be called a success.
Then days later Watson earned a Sabby and cost the Bucs the game in Dallas by burying the Cowboys punter on what was a sure punt block, a play Greg Schiano called a 10-point swing. But then Watson redeemed himself and won the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month award for November.
Today, Watson capped off his strong season on special teams with a massive bull rush that drove a Falcons offensive lineman into the Falcons punter and blocked a punt.
It was a very special play, and one that shows the driving will that Watson brings to all his special teams play.
Watson didn’t have enough as a linebacker to beat out coach-pusher Adam Hayward and replace Quincy Black, but Watson is a very valuable member of the Bucs.
Still just 24 and perhaps the Bucs’ No. 1 gym rat, Joe’s excited to see how Watson can raise his game in 2013.
Fan favorite E.J. Biggers breaks up a pass intended for Julio Jones Sunday.
Joe made a big deal of how the Bucs were on the cusp of a horrific mark of giving up the most passing yards in the 93 years of NFL history. Matty Ice only needed 252 yards yoday for the Bucs to achieve this football version of a scarlet letter.
Well, Matty Ice came 14 yards short of pushing the Bucs into NFL history.
Holding Matty Ice to just 238 yards isn’t bad. Really. And aside from a blown assignment by Anthony Gaitor that allowed the Dixie Chicks an easy score, which prompted Greg Schiano to blow up on his defensive backs on the sidelines, the secondary played well today.
Leonard Johnson had key breakups in the fourth quarter. So too did E.J. Biggers, who, despite his legions of haters, actually played decent this year if not OK at times. And as Joe has documented, Mark Barron made the play of the game on fourth down in the fourth quarter against Tony Gonzalez that may have saved the Bucs win.
Joe believes for the Bucs to improve the secondary, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik must land a free agent (use the cash that was going to go to Eric Wright and add more to get a decent guy in here) and draft a corner. Of course, to expect a rookie corner not to struggle in his first year in the NFL may be a stretch.
Whether or not Michael Bennett re-signs, another pass-rushing specialist sure would be nice and perhaps the Bucs can land a defensive end in the first round?
Yes, the Bucs’ porous pass defensive played OK today. But that doesn’t mean the Bucs don’t need massive upgrades in the offseason in order to repair the unit.
Josh Freeman got rattled far too much this season, and his rollercoaster play and body language led every Bucs fan paying attention to wonder whether No. 5 has the mental makeup to be a winning quarterback.
That debate absolutely can still be had, but Joe’s very happy that today Freeman spared himself an entire offseason of Bucs fans and media brutally attacking at his viability as the Bucs starting quarterback. A loss and/or a crappy performamce by Freeman in Atlanta would have delivered just that — from now through his next bad throw in the 2013 preseason. And frankly, Joe doubts that Freeman could have handled that pressure. But Freeman delivered a win and had a decent day today.
Bucs fans have come to know “Good Josh” and “Bad Josh,” and against the Falcons it was more “OK” Josh. He threw an ugly interception and flashed his typical spotty accuracy, but Freeman delivered 2010 playmaking and appeared in command.
Yeah, Freeman set all kinds a Bucs single-season passing record today, as well as franchise career touchdown mark. But Joe only cares about winning when it comes to quarterbacks.
Freeman’s got a running game, quality receivers, solid pass protection that should improve with Carl Nicks and Davin Joseph returning, and he’s got an offensive coordinator that knows how to get the most out of a quarterback.
What more does he need?
Sure, the Bucs could get No. 5 even more toys this offseason, but they shouldn’t have to. Freeman just needs to develop his head, and more weapons won’t help that. The lone “best friend” Freeman is missing is a smothering defense. And that’s got to be where the Bucs pour their resources.
The always affable, talkative and no-nonsense Bucs left tackle Donald Penn offered his thoughts on the Bucs radio network after the game on the up-and-down season, and specifically, the running of the Muscle Hamster, who was spinning his wheel today for a touchdown and 142 yards.
“It’s a great feeling to go into the offseason with a win,” Penn said. “We were hoping [the Falcons] played all of their starters. We wanted the full Falcons, not the half-Falcons.
“All the bad stuff that happened last week got out of our system and all we could do [today] was good. We did things right. We ran the ball good and when we run the ball, we are a good team.
“My hat’s off to Doug [Martin]. He does a lot of stuff that makes [the offensive line] look good. He has improved all year. I’m looking forward to next year. We have a good offense.
“My hat’s off to Josh Freeman. A lot of people been down on him but he came in working hard every day, came in here smiling like he always does and played well.”
The Bucs sacks leader, Michael Bennett, who perhaps may have played his last game for the Pewter Pirates today, spoke on the Bucs radio network after the game. He seemed as if he wants to return to the Bucs when he hits free agency in March.
“Coach trusted the four-man rush today,” Bennett said. “The past four games, we were doing a lot of games [stunts on the defensive line] but today, we showed what we can do. Gerald was a beast today and Da’Quan showed what he can do. Da’Quan had two sacks that didn’t count.
“I grew with this team. It was the first full season that I played with Gerald. It was an up and down season but we get AC [Adrian Clayborn] back so you can see what kind of defense we can have. We played really good today.”
Joe might stop calling rockstar general manager Mark Dominik “rockstar” if Eric Wright returns to the Bucs in 2013, especially if Wright returns with the same bloated contract that is set to pay him $7.75 million next season.
There’s no reason for it. Dominik must see that.
Wright was healthy and very well rested entering today’s game following a four-game substance abuse suspension and a California spa/beach getaway.
Wright practiced all week but was not activated today. The FOX TV cameras caught him sitting on the Bucs bench in street clothes.
Joe sincerely hopes that’s the proverbial writing on the wall. Joe can’t fathom how Wright is what Greg Schiano calls “a Buccaneer Man” and how his return is in the team’s best interest. Take Wright’s money and put it toward another veteran cornerback without a background in pills and funny business.
Mike Williams, left, celebrates his touchdown catch with Tiquan Underwood Sunday.
Mike Williams, who finished four yards short of reaching the 1,000-yard receiving plateau, spoke on the Bucs radio network after the game about the season-ending win over the Dixie Chicks.
“We wanted to go into the offseason with a that bad taste out of our months. You are only as good as your last game and we feel we played our game today.”
On his touchdown catch:
“Usually on that play, it’s a high ball but Josh had to spin away from pressure and I had to get my feet down.”
On Doug Martin’s running:
“I have to give it up for our offensive line. For us to lose two Pro Bowl offensive linemen and still have a 1,000-yard back, that says a lot about of offensive line.”
On his growth this season as a receiver:
“I have to give credit to Vincent Jackson and credit to Mark Dominik for getting him and to [wide receivers] Coach [P.J.] Fleck. He always said I had more in my cup. We had a good offseason together and did OK on offense. I hope this season I can work out with the Western Michigan receivers [Editor’s note: Fleck is now the head coach at Western Michigan]. Part of the reason I had my season was the work I had with Coach Fleck.”
The leader of the New Schiano Order had a lot to prove today. After the heinous shutout in New Orleans two weeks ago, Greg Schiano said “I know what to do” to snap the Bucs out of their freefall. But that didn’t happen last week.
Today was Schiano’s final shot to show he had true command of his Bucs and could get their minds and bodies right. And the Bucs responded by soundly beating the best in the NFC on the road. Very impressive.
Chucky couldn’t do it in 2008. Raheem imploded in 2011. Schiano found a way. And it was almost as if Schiano was more animated today and refused to let his team lose. Lip readers saw him screaming “do your job” while ripping and coaching Anthony Gaitor for allowing a TD to develop in front of him on 4th-and-7.
It was a bizarre 7-9 season, and better coaching probably leaves the Bucs with an even better record.
But Joe’s confident Schiano will improve. And if the Bucs can somehow duplicate their stunning 2012 offseason, they should be a very dangerous playoff team in 2013.
No, this has nothing to do with today’s game, but actually something more important. Today on the FOX pregame show, a feature on Vincent Jackson’s work with families who have loved ones stationed overseas was highlighted. For those who missed it, here it is. Pretty cool stuff.
Joe’s not sure how the division tiebreakers will work, but on paper the Bucs finished the season tied with Carolina and New Orleans at 7-9 in the NFC South.
It’s definitely a messy tiebreaker. The Bucs beat Carolina twice. New Orleans beat the Bucs twice. And Carolina beat the Saints twice, including a 44-38 win in New Orleans today.
Each team had a 3-3 division record, but the Bucs checked in with a 4-8 conference record, worst among the three teams. So Joe suspects the Bucs officially will finish in fourth place, which surely would help their schedule next seaon.
Joe will update the official finish later tonight.
Mark Barron makes a tackle on Dixie Chicks Jason Snelling, but it was his break up of a pass targeted for Anthony Gonzalez late that may have been the play of the day.
How about that Bucs defense today? Lavonte David was a monster. Joe thinks he was on his TV screen on just about every play. Talk about a highway robbery of a second round pick by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
Then there was Da’Quan Bowers and Gerald McCoy. Bowers punished Matty Ice repeatedly, and GMC was bullrushing Dixie Chicks offensive linemen play after play like the Pro Bowler he is.
Even Leonard Johnson and E.J. Biggers looked sharp.
More surprising, in a sense, was the reawakening of rookie safety Mark Barron. The first round draft pick from Alabama was a stud early on this season and was a monster against the run. There are still cold mornings in our nation’s capital where RGIII wakes up thinking about Barron.
But Barron’s pass defense hasn’t been as good. Part of that is he is a rookie still learning. But on a critical fourth down play late in the game where Matty Ice tried to go for future Hall of Fame tight end Anthony Gonzalez, Barron, playing centerfield, raced in and broke up the pass that Gonzalez had his mitts on.
That was easily Barron’s play of the year on pass defense.
Overall, maybe the Bucs best defensive play all year. Too bad it came a month too late.
Joe’s ecstatic that the Bucs beat the real, first-team Falcons, rather than some shell of the now 13-3 NFC leaders.
This was a massive win for the New Schiano Order, which restored hope and confidence to players and fans for the long offseason. There just would have been no way to positively spin a six-game losing streak to end the 2012 season.
Doug Martin jumped into all kinds of elite company among rookie running backs with 142 yards on the ground, and the pass defense actually showed up! They “bowed their necks,” as Greg Schiano likes to say, and stymied a strong offense on the road.
Josh Freeman, well, he’ll be back in 2013, and the way he played today is about what fans can expect. It was “OK” Josh, and enough to win a lot of games with a real Bucs defense on the field.
It is the last game of the season. There will be no playoff games, no January games. The Bucs took care of that by tanking the past month.
But there are questions that the Bucs need to have answered today, if not Bucs fans.
* How many interceptions will Josh Freeman throw today?
* How many yards will the pass defense give up?
* Will the Bucs own the disgusting title of the worst pass defense in the 93-year history of the NFL? They only need to cough up 252 yards for such a distinguished title.
* How many sacks will Michael Bennett get? For every sack he racks up, for every tackle he makes, the cash register at One Buc Palace rings.
* What will Ronde Barber do? If this is Barber’s last game, Joe would love to see him get a pick-six.
The leader of the New Schiano Order updated the status of some Buccaneers on injured reserve this morning at One Buc Palace and said a cloud of uncertainty remains around Quincy Black.
First it was rockstar general manager Mark Dominik calling Dakoda Watson 
Josh Freeman got rattled far too much this season, and his rollercoaster play and body language led every Bucs fan paying attention to wonder whether No. 5 has the mental makeup to be a winning quarterback.
Joe might stop calling rockstar general manager Mark Dominik “rockstar” if Eric Wright returns to the Bucs in 2013, especially if Wright returns with the same bloated contract that is set to pay him $7.75 million next season.
The leader of the New Schiano Order had a lot to prove today. After the heinous shutout in New Orleans two weeks ago, Greg Schiano said “I know what to do” to snap the Bucs out of their freefall. But that didn’t happen last week.
Joe’s not sure how the division tiebreakers will work, but on paper the Bucs finished the season tied with Carolina and New Orleans at 7-9 in the NFC South.
