Oct 21, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants defensive end
Justin Tuck(91) sacks Minnesota Vikings quarterback
Josh Freeman(12) during the second half at MetLife Stadium. New York Giants defeat the Minnesota Vikings 23-7. Mandatory Credit: Jim O
Was the former 17th overall pick from the “Little Apple” in Manhattan, Kansas dragging down the “Big Apple’s” football team? Was Josh Freeman ill-equipped to backup Eli Manning even though he is a 26-year old athletic freak QB with 80 NFL TD’s and only 67 INT’s. Eli Manning threw 67 interceptions while I was writing this sentence, you’d think it was a good fit.
In the “Little Apple” at Kansas State, Josh Freeman electrified in 2008, scoring 20 TD’s in the air and 14 with his legs. It was an impressive season. Sure, the Wildcats only won five games… but his 6’6″ -240 lb frame had career football scouts thinking QB size prodigy. To a certain extent, the scouts were right. Freeman can play in the NFL, Raheem Morris even managed to win with him in 2010, sort of. Keep in mind, the NFL is not an easy sport to QB, it spits out the best-of-the-best from the college ranks. Vince Young and Tim Tebow are incredible football players… didn’t matter. From Eric Crouch to Tim Couch, college production doesn’t matter. In the league, sometimes NFL production doesn’t even matter.
Josh Freeman has won 24 contests, but he’s lost 36… His 80 TD’s sound amazing, his 111 sacks are a different story. At 26 years old, the young QB should have his best NFL days ahead of him. Instead, he’s being beat out by guys like Ryan Nassib. Which is understandable, Ryan has potential. But as a man, as a human being… if you’re getting beat out by Curtis Painter. Yes, I said Curtis Painter… the QB of the Indianapolis Colts during their dreadful 2011 season. If you’re getting beat out by that guy, who by the way, isn’t even back until training camp. You might want to consider a different approach to your training and football mindset.
Josh Freeman was just signed by the Giants last month. He’s now the QB of the Cutsville Cuts.
Aug 18, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Ryan Nassib (9) hands the ball off to running back
Michael Cox(29) during the second half against the Indianapolis Colts at MetLife Stadium. Indianapolis Colts defeat the New York Giants 20-12. Mandatory Credit: Jim O
Regardless of Josh Freeman, as a Giants fan… How are you feeling about the QB situation. Curtis Painter is still out, Ryan Nassib is seeing quality snaps, but Eli Manning is back with the team. Eli actually underwent arthroscopic ankle surgery on April 10. Now he’s back participating with the team in OTA’s. At Giants.com, he had this to say:
"“I think this was kind of my goal, to be back for OTAs,” Manning said. “I had the surgery, it would be about seven weeks from the day until the first OTA, so I was hoping. They said … after the surgery it was going to be six weeks. They didn’t really tell me if it was six weeks until I could start doing things or six weeks until I’m full speed. They said six weeks, so I kind of had it in my head that I should be ready. I knew early on after three weeks that I was feeling pretty good and could do a few things and was hoping that it could continue to heal quickly so I could be back for OTAs.“I always want to be out there,” Manning said. “I think this year having a new offense made me want to be out with the team, out running plays. Just the little things, calling the play in the huddle, hearing the play call and being able to visualize it quickly. If you miss part of it, you have to figure out what it is just by knowledge of the offense. All of those things are important. It’s one thing to watch it from the sideline and think you know it spot-on, but sometimes you’ve got to be right there at the line of scrimmage and have to make important calls and changes and checks and reads. I think it’s very important for me to be out there, and I wanted to be out there as soon as possible to get going for this offense.”"
So Manning is back and feeling good, and Josh Freeman is cut. Maybe that had more to do with it than anything. Maybe the Giants really like what they see in Ryan Nassib. Maybe Josh Freeman is struggling to regain his form. It could be any number of things.
Freeman’s mental acuity for the sport appears to have evaporated in a single offseason. It’s apparent he couldn’t learn the Minnesota Vikings playbook and his digestion of on-field information was not the stuff professional signal callers are made of. In 4 starts last season, Freeman completed 43% of his passes, including a historically poor 40.6 QB Rating at the Meadowlands on Monday evening October 21st — the Giants initial victory of 2013. Maybe they saw something in that game… who knows? That’s just speculation.
What’s not speculation is that Josh Freeman is done with the New York Giants. Like many in New York, Josh’s 15 minutes in the limelight are over. Good luck Josh Freeman… Where’s the end zone in Cutsville anyway?