He’s 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, plays quarterback for a team in the south, can run like a deer and throw bullets. No, it’s not Cam Newton. It’s Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman.
And in this, the year of the Incredible Shrinking NFC, Freeman might be the most important player in the conference. When he led Tampa Bay (5-2) to a 38-35 victory at Arizona on Sunday, it was the fourth time this season he directed a drive for the winning points in the fourth quarter.
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Earlier this week, folks howled when Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris called his team the best in the NFC. The Buccaneers were mired at the bottom of most statistical categories. To that, Morris said, “Stats are for losers.”
Case in point is his quarterback. Freeman entered Sunday rated No.?22 in the NFL, so there was nothing to suggest that he’s the next John Elway. But there’s plenty to suggest that he has “it.”
Consider his age (22), his legs, his right arm, and his amazing proclivity for come-from-behind magic.
In his first starting assignment as a rookie last year, Freeman threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, leading the Bucs from 11 points down against the Packers. Later in the year, against the eventual Super Bowl champion Saints, he led a Bucs’ comeback from 14 down in the fourth quarter in a 20-17 overtime victory.
Sunday against Arizona, the Bucs were down 35-31 with 6 minutes left when Freeman scrambled and heaved a rainbow downfield. Rookie Aurelius Benn ran under the ball and caught it at the 1-yard line. The 53-yard bomb set up the winning touchdown.
Freeman, the third quarterback taken in the 2009 NFL Draft, is one of several young offensive players emerging for Tampa.
Running back LeGarrette Blount, infamous for his sucker punch of a Boise State player last year as a senior at Oregon, carried 22 times for 120 yards and made the play that iced the game, hurdling a defender and rumbling for 48 yards. Not bad for an undrafted free agent.
Another emerging rookie, 6-foot-2 wide receiver Mike Williams, a fourth-round pick out of Syracuse, is on pace for 75 receptions and eight touchdowns.
But then again, stats are for losers.
