Taking Record of the Record Setter: Breaking Down All of Josh Freeman’s 2012 Touchdowns

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Touchdown 9 – Week 7 versus New Orleans, First Quarter

Coming off a turnover, the Bucs had the ball deep in Saints territory and wanted to convert momentum into points. They come out in the shotgun with two wideouts stacked together to the right of the play. One of those wide receivers was Vincent Jackson, who commanded the attention of both defenders, which allowed Tiquan Underwood to cut underneath and come across the middle for a strike from Freeman. He took it to the house for six points.

Touchdown 10 – Week 7 versus New Orleans, Second Quarter

17 yards from the end zone, the Buccaneers lined up to find Vincent Jackson squaring off with Patrick Robinson in a press coverage situation. Robinson stood absolutely no chance. Jackson schooled him with a move at the line of scrimmage and streaked past, galloping towards the end zone. Freeman felt a blitz coming from that side of the field, as well, and gets rid of the ball to Jackson despite the somewhat lackluster pressure. Jackson did the rest.

Touchdown 11 – Week 7 versus New Orleans, Fourth Quarter

In an attempt to come back and defeat the Saints, Josh Freeman took a snap inside the Saints’ five and had all day to sit in the pocket. Dallas Clark runs straight up the field and is held by Curtis Lofton, but still breaks away and cuts to his left, and finds a perfect pass from Josh Freeman as he gets out of his break.

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Touchdown 12 – Week 8 versus Minnesota, First Quarter

After the debacle in Week 7, during which the Buccaneers were unable to score from inside the two despite four chances running the football, Mike Sullivan had no plans to run the ball in a goal line situation against the Vikings. Instead, a playaction pass was the call, and Erik Lorig is able to release from the backfield and there’s no one in purple able to catch up after biting on the possibility of a run. This is the play that brought us an amazing touchdown celebration from Lorig that started, and ended, with Lorig slipping onto his rear end in the end zone.

Touchdown 13 – Week 8 versus Minnesota, Second Quarter

The fade actually worked! Mike Williams was one-on-one, and Josh Freeman was facing pressure, so he lobbed it up, and did so well enough to get it over the defender, but within reach of Williams. Mike went up, made the catch, and showed excellent control as he brought down a touchdown catch.

Touchdown 14 – Week 8 versus Minnesota, Third Quarter

The highlight of Doug Martin’s first huge game as a pro, the call on this play was a screen pass left to the Dougernaut. Carl Nicks got out in front of Martin and provided an excellent block, and Martin used the space to burst ahead and evade a diving Viking defender. He then used a huge Jeremy Zuttah block to slip past another pair of defenders, and then the race was on, and Martin won that race easily.

Touchdown 15 – Week 9 versus Oakland, Second Quarter

Josh Freeman made some very good throws in 2012, and this was one of the best. The Bucs were in the shotgun with three wide, and Vincent Jackson was one-on-one with Michael Huff. Huff thought about playing some press coverage, but Jackson sidestepped him and was off down the sideline. The Raiders’ safety was late to react due to a bit of playaction, so Jackson was in a window at the pylon, so Freeman delivered a strike that his Jackson in stride. Vincent had to tap dance a bit to stay in bounds, but he did so, and was rewarded with six points.

Touchdown 16 – Week 9 versus Oakland, Third Quarter

Once again, Michael Huff was victimized by Josh Freeman and a Buccaneers’ receiver. This time, it was Mike Williams, who ran right at Huff, then broke towards the sideline, where there was absolutely no help. Huff had help over the middle, but still kept an inside defensive position on Williams, and it translated into a nice throw from Freeman to a wide open Mike Will.