Byron Leftwich News

If you wanted poise, you saw it. If you wanted hope, you have it. If you wondered whether young Josh Freeman has the stuff to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, your question has been answered in the affirmative.

Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris was there the last time Josh Freeman faced a moment as big as this.It was 2006 when Freeman, a highly recruited freshman, took over at quarterback for a struggling Kansas State offense, and in his first college start, rallied the Wildcats to a 31-27 win over Oklahoma State.

It's hard to get into Buccaneer Heaven. Among the trio of Buc quarterbacks this woebegone year, not one has won his wings, not one has a jersey hanging on the sales racks, or a bobble head.

One step forward, two steps back has morphed into four and one-third steps forward and six and two-thirds steps back for the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Ready or not, the 17th pick in this year's draft will make his first start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, facing the Green Bay Packers on a day the Bucs will reflect on the past while looking to the future.

You would expect a young gunslinger such as rookie quarterback Josh Freeman to come out firing.

The words still roll smoothly off the tongue of Raheem Morris. Tough. Physical. Violent. Practice in pads.

Franchise quarterbacks in the NFL should come boxed in bubble wrap with a warning label: Handle with care.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas We'll start our weekly team-by-team mailbags with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers .

Head coach Raheem Morris of the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Wednesday that rookie quarterback Josh Freeman will take over the starting duties.

Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes as the New England Patriots cruised to a 35-7 victory over the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers at London's Wembley Stadium.

The Buccaneers fell to 0-6 with a 28-21 loss to the Panthers on Sunday, but head coach Raheem Morris told reporters he will not be benching Josh Johnson in favor of rookie Josh Freeman as the team prepares to face the Patriots, who blew out the Titans 59-0 in Week Six, in London.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed fullback B.J. Askew on the non-football injury list, ending his season, and signed cornerback Marcus McCauley on Tuesday.

With the Washington Redskins losing to four teams that had zero wins entering the game, it was in the best interest of the organization to make a change.

The strategy isn't working yet. But the first thing general manager Mark Dominik wants to make clear, even amid the Bucs' worst start in 13 seasons, is that they're sticking with the plan.

The problems continue to stack up for the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coach Raheem Morris can list them.

During the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss at Philadelphia, coach Raheem Morris and some of his assistants considered doing something that is inevitable: playing rookie QB Josh Freeman .

The Bucs don't know if Shane Andrus will fare any better than Mike Nugent . All coach Raheem Morris knows for certain is the team had to make a change at kicker, for better or for worse - without any assurance the outcome won't be the latter.

And so it has come to this for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There is no mention of "winning" Sunday at Philadelphia.

As if they didn't have quite enough issues this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked up last week from their 0-4 start and found that their next opponent presented a few unusual problems.