� S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S � PAGE 31Saturday, November 21, 2009
BY FRED GOODALL
The Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. -- A shot at ruin-
ing New Orleans' perfect record
is not the only reason the strug-
gling Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
young Josh Freeman are excited
about facing the Saints.
Sunday begins a stretch in
which the Bucs (1-8) play five of
seven games against NFC South
rivals, and they're eager to see
how their rookie quarterback
holds up in his first tour through
the division.
They'll also face the Saints (9-
0) in New Orleans on Dec. 27.
"It's perfectly planned for No. 5
(Freeman)," coach Raheem Mor-
ris said. "It's a chance for him
to get five opportunities against
division foes that he's going to
face for the next 10 to 15 years, or
whatever it is."
The former Kansas State stand-
out has been impressive in two
starts, leading fourth-quarter
rallies from double-digit deficits
against Green Bay and Miami.
The Bucs beat the Packers for
their only victory two weeks ago.
They took the lead against the
Dolphins in the fourth quarter,
only to lose 25-23 on a field goal in
the closing seconds last Sunday.
New Orleans coach Sean Pay-
ton is impressed by Tampa Bay's
improvement since Freeman be-
came the third quarterback to
start for the Bucs this year.
The Saints survived a scare on
the road against another one-vic-
tory team last week, beating St.
Louis 28-23, and anticipate an-
other difficult matchup as they
try for the first 10-game winning
streak in club history.
"He has given them a spark,"
said Payton, whose team has
lost three of its past four against
Tampa Bay and hasn't won at
Raymond James Stadium since
2006, when New Orleans swept
the season series.
"I think the players around him
have responded, and he's playing
with confidence. Certainly we un-
derstand the strengths and weak-
nesses of when you play a younger
player, but that being said, he's a
guy that's elusive, can scramble
to run and has a big arm. ... We'll
have a challenge."
New Orleans quarterback
Drew Brees is on pace to join
Peyton Manning as the only
players in NFL history to pass
for 4,000 yards in four consecu-
tive seasons. He's thrown 19 for
touchdowns, but a recent spate of
turnovers has caused concern.
After throwing two intercep-
tions and losing one fumble in the
firstfivegames,Breeshasthrown
seven interceptions and lost three
fumbles in victories over Miami,
Atlanta, Carolina and St. Louis.
He's been sacked nine times in
the past four games after going
down four times in the first five.
Turnovers "will just kind of
happen in spurts, just like a
baseball player that hits a slump.
You kind of hit a slump for a few
games," Brees said, adding that
the Saints have run into a string
of teams playing some of their
best ball of the season.
"The games only get harder
from here on out, no matter what
the record of the team is you're
playing. I can definitely say that
Tampa is a much better team than
[its] record, as were the Rams."
Freeman has made plenty of
mistakes the past two weeks, but
has played well when it matters
most. He has the league's third-
best fourth-quarter passer rating
(117.9) behind Brees (124.2) and
Minnesota's Brett Favre (119.3)
and has thrown for three TDs
and no interceptions. He threw a
go-ahead TD pass on fourth down
against Green Bay, then produced
two fourth-quarter TDs to give
the Bucs a chance at Miami.
Overall, the 17th pick in this
year's draft has completed 50.8
percent of his passes for 417 yards
and four touchdowns, with two
interceptions. Ball security has
been a concern with six fumbles,
although he's lost only one.
"He's going to make some mis-
takes," Morris said. "But obvious-
ly, he is getting better and better
every week."
Teammates talk about the
rookie's presence in the huddle
and poise in critical situations,
yet the 6-foot-6, 248-pound Free-
man scoffs at the notion he's been
the biggest difference in the Bucs
the past two weeks.
"I wouldn't say it's because
of me," Freeman said. "I think
it was coming off the bye week,
guys really got out of feeling like
they were an 0-7 team. The at-
titude and mentality everybody
has been bringing to practice is
not reflective of our record."
In addition to two games
against the Saints, the Bucs will
face Atlanta twice and division
foe Carolina once over the last
seven weeks of the season. That
not only should give Freeman a
feel for the NFC South, but also
provide him -- in the rookie's
words -- "something to look for-
ward to next year."
Bucs' Freeman
gets South tour
JEFFREY M. BOAN/AP
Tampa Bay QB Josh Freeman
scrambles against Miami last
weekend. The rookie from Kan-
sas has pumped some life into
the moribund Bucs.

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32 Produced by PageSuite