Morris: QB Freeman has HOF potential

His first year as an NFL head coach has been marked by only three victories, but Raheem Morris feels like a winner in one key aspect.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have themselves a quarterback.

Unflappable rookie Josh Freeman has led the Bucs to back-to-back road wins heading into Sunday's season finale against the Falcons at Raymond James Stadium. Instead of dwelling on Freeman's 16 interceptions in 259 pass attempts, Morris prefers to think about a bright future ahead for the strapping first-round pick out of Kansas State.

"You get that guy, you go get a quarterback,'' Morris said of Tampa Bay's primary strategy in the 2009 draft. "You eliminate that issue, you build around that guy and you find out what you need for that guy. You do everything you can for that guy to make him successful and then hopefully, 10 years from now, we're talking about whether he should be a first-ballot Pro Bowler Hall of Fame-type dude and all that jazz. At the same time ... patience.''

Freeman's 55.2 percent completion rate isn't particularly impressive, but Morris said that figure is impacted by his ability to elude the pass rush, despite his 6-foot-6, 248-pound frame.

"It's not like he can't make every throw,'' Morris said, "but it's just a matter of being settled down. Being a big guy, he's going to lack some accuracy because he's running out of the pocket. I compare him to a Ben Roethlisberger-type guy. He'll be a little bit different than a Drew Brees, who goes right through his progressions and the ball is out on time. It's perfect, it's nice to watch and it's not fun to defend. Josh's ability to throw a guy off of him and still complete a throw is special. I don't ever want him to lose that.''

Four Bucs are listed as questionable for Atlanta - RB Derrick Ward, G Jeremy Zuttah and rookie defensive linemen Roy Miller and Michael Bennett.