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QB Josh Freeman will make his starting debut against the Packers in Week Nine after getting extra time during the bye week to prepare

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It's Time: Freeman Named Starting QB

Oct 28, 2009 - Now starting at quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josh Freeman.

Head Coach Raheem Morris made that announcement on Wednesday afternoon following a 65-minute practice at One Buccaneer Place. As this is the Buccaneers' bye week, the team will have a little extra time to get Freeman ready for his starting debut against the Green Bay Packers on November 8.

Buccaneers management purposely took a patient approach with the development of their 2009 first-round pick, starting the season with veteran Byron Leftwich under center and Freeman third on the depth chart. Leftwich started the first three games before giving way to second-year man Josh Johnson in Week Four. Johnson showed significant promise but the team failed to win any of the games started by him or Leftwich. It's likely the team's winless record accelerated the program for Freeman, but the Buccaneers still believe his half-season on the sideline has helped prepare him for his debut.

The Bucs' roster, which is healthier now than it was during the first six weeks of the season, is also a factor.

"He's going to go out there and it's going to help him," said Morris. "He'll get better. He has his center back in Jeff Faine. Some of these offensive linemen are healthy. Antonio Bryant's starting to get healthier and healthier. His running backs are coming along. You've got Derrick Ward, you've got Earnest at fullback, you've got Cadillac; it's time for those guys to step up. We went through the growing pains of the 0-7; now it's time for him to come in there and join his team and lead us."

"I've had the opportunity to watch it from a different point of view and see things unfold. I feel like I've really grown as a passer and also a leader on this team."

Freeman was the third quarterback drafted in April, following Matthew Stafford first overall to Detroit and Mark Sanchez fifth to the New York Jets. Both Stafford and Sanchez were opening day starters and have had up-and-down seasons so far (Stafford's has been interrupted by injury). Like any confident young player, Freeman would have preferred to be on the field on opening day, but he too can see the benefits of the slower timetable.

"It was definitely one of those things where I don't feel comfortable sitting on the sideline," he said. "I'm in my element when I'm out on the field. But I also had to look at it like it's an opportunity to sit back and learn a lot of things. Working with [Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks] Coach [Greg] Olson, I definitely feel like I learned a lot and I feel a lot more comfortable in this offense.

"I've had the opportunity to watch it from a different point of view and see things unfold. I feel like I've really grown as a passer and also a leader on this team. [Now] it's a matter of settling down, letting the game come to me and making the throws I know I can make."

Freeman proved at Kansas State and in offseason workouts that he has the arm strength, accuracy and field vision to make every throw in the playbook. The Buccaneers have no doubt about his raw talents but they are aware that he is taking over a struggling team with many young players in key positions. Freeman is expected to lock down the starting job for years to come, but his immediate success will depend largely on how well the rest of the offense plays around him.

"All the quarterbacks that have been in there have been subject to some other people not doing a great job for them as well," said Morris. "But now it's time to get Josh out there. You know you've got to run the right routes, be in the right spots. Everybody has to do the smart thing, you've got to block and protect the right way and you've got to get it all done together. It's up to the quarterback — he's the leader of the offense, he's got to get everybody going in the right direction and that's what he'll do. That's what he'll prepare to do, practice to do and play to do."

Johnson will move into the backup spot, with Leftwich remaining third on the depth chart. The Bucs' offense will go from the pocket passing of Leftwich to the more on-the-run game of Johnson to a player who will hopefully combine the best of both. The playbook itself will not change dramatically, and certainly won't be gutted just because Freeman is a rookie.

"You don't scale back," said Morris. "You do what you've been doing, you get better at what you've been doing, you add on what you need to add on for the game weeks, you prepare for the change, you let him see the adjustments, you let him go through the adjustments mentally and now it's time for him to go play physically. Here we go."

Here we go, indeed. The Buccaneers' next game could be the start of a new era for the franchise. Of course, Freeman is keeping a much narrower focus.

"My mindset right now is to prepare the best I can and go out and do what I do, which is play football and try to find a way to get a win," he said. "All that matters is the Green Bay Packers right now. We have a bye week and I have a little bit more opportunity to prepare for the Packers and what they're going to bring at us. It's one week at a time.

"This is definitely something I've been working towards and I finally get the opportunity to step out there and do something."