Rookie quarterback Josh Freeman said in April that the Bucs told him Byron Leftwich was signed as a pre-draft smokescreen, aimed at making other teams think that Tampa wouldn’t take a quarterback in round one.
Maybe Freeman was the intended target of a post-draft smokescreen, aimed at making him think that he’d have a quicker path to the top of the depth chart.
Early reviews indicate that Leftwich emerged from Saturday night’s preseason opener as the new leader in the race to be the Week One starter.
Leftwich completed six of 14 passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. McCown completed four of eight for only 19 yards. (In his NFL debut, Freeman completed five of nine passes for 52 yards and an interception.)
“Byron did a little better,” coach Raheem Morris said after the game. “But it’s too early to say [whether the depth chart has changed].”
A reader tells us that Chris Myers and John Lynch, who worked the Bucs’ broadcast of the game, said that Leftwich is regarded within the organization as being far ahead of McCown.
It shouldn’t be a surprised. Even though the Bucs have made a bigger financial commitment to McCown, Leftwich has years of experience as a starter. McCown started four games as a rookie with the Browns in 2004 and three with the Bucs in 2007.
That said, Leftwich has been dogged by criticism of a catalpult-slow delivery. Last year in Pittsburgh, however, he seemed to be getting rid of the ball more quickly, generating a passer rating of 104.3.
So maybe Leftwich will end up being the guy.
At least until Freeman is ready.
Leftwich, McCown, and Freeman all looked terrible last night. The only guy that played well was Josh Johnson, and it was against 4th stringers.
I didn’t see the game, but going 6-14 doesn’t sound like “clear cut starter” to me…
Wow the Pillsbury Dough Boy looked better than a rookie in his first game what a surprise.
Feel sorry for Bucs fans if they end up with Leftwich as their starter.
I think they should just let Freeman start and work the bugs out. I mean do the Bucs really think they have what it takes to even be a playoff team? They are most likely looking at an 8-8 season at best anyways, why not let Freeman learn as he goes and become the franchise QB this team has been looking for, for as long as they have been a franchise?
the steelers were beating the crap out of the skins in that ONE game fat albert played in last year, florio.
i dont think that one game last year was a fair eval of fat albert.
6 for 14 sounds like a fair eval. NEXT!
Gee Mike – I hope you keep up with these developments.
If they do decide to let the rookie get a year under his belt as a backup rather than throwing him to the wolves as a rookie, this could start a new trend in the NFL of similar practices in the future.
Always felt like Leftwich got the short end of the stick in JAX. Why other teams wouldn’t take a chance on him with people like Matt Shobb and Mark Bulger starting is beyond me.
It might end up being a blessing for Tampa.
I expect the Bucs to surprise in that division where both the Falcons and panthers will have disappointing season now that the league has a book on ryan (see his December 2008 and playoff appearance) and the Panthers have a QB in decline with injuries defensively, which should concern.
This is what I’m talking about. Luke McCown never gets a chance to show what he has. If Luke had the first team offense out there with him for at least a half he would be able to show his strengths. Watch and the tape and you can see Luke was moving the chains more effectively than Byron.
Leftwich, Though playing against 2nd string defense, look horriblwe to me. The 1st pass was a slow delivery and was deflected and almost intercepted.
The TD was thrown late and behind the receiver.
Several times I saw leftwich’s hand stretched behind him to throw with a defender close enough to strip the ball if he was aware enough.
How does that equal starter? He is the biggest risk!
Luke did well for the short amount of time he was given in the backfield. WoW! He was running a lot and if Leftwich was in theior 1st he would never have out ran defenders like Luke.
Freeman played ok but like a rookie.
Johnson played well but against last defense.
If Leftwich gets the start the Bucs WILL NOT reach their full potiential. He is just mediocre enough to hang around and ruin a teams season!
I really can’t tell. Leftwich has won some games as a starter. But his mechanics are a risk. Turnovers waiting to happpen. But Luke still looks shellshocked out there sometimes. at least four times he could have shuffled to the left or right to reset his feet and look for something down field, but every time he either ran around or threw a highly contested check. Leftwich fell victim to at least four drops, they dropped two for McCown as well. Leftwich was attacking downfield with confidence, but not great accuracy. Bottom line for the Bucs offense. Running game better develop and be as good as everyone knows it can be, because niether of these QBs is consistant enough to “win” games for them.