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Decision was not surprising, but Bucs wasted precious time

Staff photo by KATE CALDWELL

Johnson will assume the starting role at quarterback despite having taken only 12 snaps in the NFL.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2009

Updated: 09/29/2009 12:11 am

TAMPA - What took so long?

Bye-bye, Byron.

They spun the bottle Monday morning and it came up Josh.

No, not that Josh.

Less than 24 hours after that Giant disaster, Josh Johnson stood with TV microphones clipped to his sweatshirt. He was wired for sound. Whether he is wired to be an NFL starting quarterback, we'll find out beginning Sunday at the Redskins. It's his turn.

"Surprised?" Johnson said. "Yeah."

Nothing surprises us anymore at One Knee-Jerk Place.

Raheem Morris and his team of experts spent more than 2.3 million meaningless man hours trying to decide between Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown. Cut to Monday.

"We'll be going to Josh Johnson," The Raheemster said.

The Bucs already are tired of Lefty's leftovers. And they think Josh Freeman isn't ready. We're not so sure about the head coach, either.

A second-year player who just a couple of months ago was the fourth-string quarterback is now running the show. Freeman, the inevitable starter, moves up to No. 2.

Leave Leftwich, take the cannolis.

What took so long?

The Bucs finally have admitted what we thought they should have admitted months ago, that this is a season best served by youth. They fooled themselves, if not us, for too long.

True, most of us thought it would take seven games, with the bye week after London thrown in, for the Bucs to publicly drop the pretense and admit they were rebuilding and switch to the future. It took three weeks.

Only I thought we'd see the other Josh, the first-round Josh, the Josh who'll start sooner or later. I vote sooner. By the end of this season, the Bucs need to know if either Josh, or both, can play or not. That should be the goal

The Bucs already have wasted so much time, energy - and money - on that sham quarterback competition between Leftwich and McCown, denying Freeman and Johnson important preseason snaps that could help them even now. You can't go back to Leftwich. It has to be Josh and Josh from here on out.

Clearly the Bucs realize they need someone like Johnson, who can run around, seeing as Leftwich, who is sequoia quick, was getting hit more each week, in part because center Jeff Faine is missing. There is a growing need for a moving target under center.

"He provides more options," Morris said of Johnson.

But wasn't that true a month ago, two months ago?

Think of all this wasted time.

Think of where Johnson and Freeman could be by now.

Only these 2009 Bucs could take something that seems perfectly logical, going young at quarterback, and turn it into a perfect mess.

You could make a very good case that Josh Freeman should start right now. Rookies Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco led their teams to the playoffs last season. Rookie Mark Sanchez is 3-0 as a starter with the Jets. Rookie Matthew Stafford was at quarterback the other day when the Lions snapped their endless losing streak.

But the other Josh, well, he does have more experience, with a dozen NFL snaps under his belt, that's right, a whole dozen. Then again, maybe this is the year of the redshirt freshman quarterback in Tampa. B.J. Daniels just helped South Florida beat Florida State in his very first college start. Yeah, this is just like that.

All that wasted time.

Get ready to run, J.J. Start warming up, Josh Freeman.

The veterans expressway is closed.

Surprised?

Not a chance.

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