ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!!????
Buccaneers Quarterback Situation
TOPIC 1: FREEMAN'S BALL SECURITY
Much has been made about Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting quarterback Josh Freeman and his need to avoid interception and his accuracy. That isn't the only route that Freeman needs to get better with his ball security.
Last season Freeman had 10 fumbles, but he recovered eight of them. I think that experience will help him understand the urgency, and the severity of what a fumble does to a football team. You don't have to be a professional to realize that you aren't supposed to fumble the ball. It can be attributed to a number of things.
On a play you are thinking about a lot of different things, and ball security isn't necessarily the number one thing to think about, but in the NFL it is the number one priority. In the NFL, experience will be ingrained in him, and he will be forced to hold onto the ball.
Whether you're throwing it to the other team or putting it on the ground, that is the easiest way to lose a football game. Every coach says it before and after a game. I believe experience will help him to reduce the interceptions and fumbles.
Before I've spoken about how I wish that Freeman would hold the football more in the center of the ball. For his hand size he holds the ball too much near the end of it. That makes the ball less stable in your hand. That is not the absolute cause of any particular fumble, but it just causes you to have a looser handle of the football. The further you go holding the ball towards the end the less stable it will be. I think he should move up another notch on the thread and that would give him a more secure hold of the ball that would help a few things, specifically ball security.
Having two hands on the ball is something that I train all youth quarterbacks to do at America's Best Quarterback. Sometimes pro quarterbacks get a little bit lazy on it. I think that Freeman fell into that and he could improve that as well.
TOPIC 2: JOHNSON'S POTENTIAL
I like Bucs backup quarterback Josh Johnson a lot. I don't think that he's ever going to get the chance to be the starting quarterback where a team is handed to him like Freeman. Whether that is on merit or not, I just don't think he'll ever get that chance, so I think he's going to be a spot player and a potential long-reliever to go with a baseball analogy.
I wrote to Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris last season to let them know what I saw when watching Josh Johnson. He has a great whip. He really rips the ball better than any quarterback that they had going into camp last year, including Luke McCown and Byron Leftwich.
A mechanical issue that Johnson does do is put the ball back behind his head and neck so far that he doesn't get around some times so his long ball is not going to be what he wants it to be, and have the results that he wants. The front end of the ball is going to stay up a lot and it is not going to turn over as it should. Regularly that causes the longer ball to float.
That also has to do with proper release points. His strength is when he throws short and hard. On some passes he throws the ball harder than he probably should because he is more comfortable with the results when he snaps the ball hard. When he releases it high to loft in a longer pass he leaves the front of the ball short and up and that causes it to float and become more variable as it goes downfield.
That issue with downfield accuracy is in line with things I've read in some Pewter Insider stories where sources with the Bucs question Johnson's abilities as a natural passer, and the potential to throw the different types of passes. I don't ever expect Johnson to be a great long ball thrower, but he still has the ability to throw some good balls down the field and it is just about the consistency.
TOPIC 3: THIRD-STRING QUARTERBACK THEORY
These upcoming OTAs will give us a good look at the derby for the third quarterback spot between Rudy Carpenter and Jevan Snead. Perhaps one of them can challenge Johnson, but right now the competition appears to be for Carpenter or Snead to make the team as the emergency quarterback.
If I were the coach that is looking at picking a third-string quarterback I would want a guy that potentially is a very good quarterback over a guy that has limited potential but might give your defense better looks on the scout team. I would want a guy that given certain situations, and through development and coaching he could be a starter in time.
That said, if I don't have that guy than you have to go with a good guy for practice that is your rep guy. He would be the type of player that can look like opposing quarterbacks. He would have skills of a mobile quarterback. Josh Johnson is the type of quarterback that I'd love to have as my third guy if I were a pro coach. He has the mobility to look like a running quarterback, and the pocket presence to look like that type of passer.
Plus, if the third-string guy is athletic he could help out even on special teams practice by just running down the field in punt coverage. The little things like that help a football team to produce good practices during the season when injuries start mounting, and normal contributors on Sundays are limited during the week.
Some teams have gotten away with not having a third quarterback on the active roster but having one on the practice squad. If you can do that it is advantage from a roster numbers standpoint, but if he's too good you worry he's going to get taken by another team.
Ultimately you still want a third quarterback that you think can develop into being a very solid pro quarterback.
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Bucs rookies Training with madden 2011 lol.
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Jon Gruden: In there own Words! part: 1
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Jon Gruden: In there own words! Part: 2
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Warren Sapp: In there own words ft. john lynch
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Bucs rookie Gerald Mccoy Mix
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Raiders want there money back!!!! lol
First Al Davis refuses to pay Mike Shanahan the remaining money due on his contract, then he tries to do the same thing with Lane Kiffen; now he's wanting JaMarcus Russell to give back $10 million.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-russellgrievance052710
The Oakland Raiders have filed a grievance against former quarterback JaMarcus Russell seeking repayment of $9.55 million, the team confirmed Thursday.
The grievance is based on the contention by the Raiders that the contract was changed at one point during Russell’s three-year stint with the organization and that he’s not allowed to keep all of the money he had collected prior to his May 7 release. Russell, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft, was guaranteed $32 million as part of a six-year contract reportedly worth $68 million.
"We have filed a grievance against JaMarcus Russell and that’s all we’re going to say at this time,” Raiders attorney Jeff Birren said.
Part of the guaranteed $32 million was originally in the form of salary advances for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons. A portion of those salaries is in question, according to the grievance.
“The money in question was fully guaranteed. That is why JaMarcus was forced to hold out and miss all of training camp as a rookie,” said Eric Metz, one of Russell’s two agents. “The Raiders know that and this is our only comment.”
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John Lynch: In there own words!
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Derrick Brooks: In There Own Words!
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LenDale White is reportedly to face a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Then He is cut by the Seahawks!
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Barrett Ruud, linebacker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Remember in coach Jon Gruden’s last season in Tampa Bay when he kept saying Ruud should be included in talk about the NFL’s best middle linebackers? Gruden had a point. Ruud was making plays and seemed to be ascending as fast as any player in the league.
Ruud seemed on the verge of being a true star and the face of the franchise when Gruden left and the new regime cut ties with Derrick Brooks and a bunch of older players. But Ruud never emerged as a difference-maker last season. He produced a career-best 142 tackles last season, but can you recall him making a single big play?
Not really. But let’s not put all of the blame on Ruud. There was chaos for most of Raheem Morris’ first year as Tampa Bay’s head coach. The Bucs tried to switch to a different defense under coordinator Jim Bates, who got fired midway through the season. Tampa Bay switched back to the old Monte Kiffin defense and things got a little better at the end of the year.
The Bucs went out and drafted defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price with their first two picks. That should make Ruud the happiest guy in town. He still doesn’t have that long-term contract he’s been seeking for more than a year. But his plays no longer will start with Chris Hovan and Ryan Sims getting blown 5 yards off the ball. McCoy and Price should fill some space and keep blockers off Ruud.
That should allow him to start making the kind of plays that will get him a big contract.
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