FanHouse JoshFreeman

It's Pats-Colts week, with Sunday night's contest in Indianapolis the 10th game between Indy and New England since 2003, the second year of the new alignment that left them in different divisions.

With the ascendancy of Twitter, it appears to be Pats-Colts conspiracy week.

Since I don't have 3,123,174 followers, like my friends Peter King, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen (@SI_PeterKing, @Adam_Schefter, @mortreport, respectively), I'm reduced to following their answers to fan questions as unofficial Twitter answer men on the NFL. Their responses (especially the ones from Peter) are, at times, to questions implying some sort of conspiracy by the NFL and the networks to make sure the Patriots and Colts play every season.

Though most had the Minnesota Vikings as the favorites to win the NFC North heading into the season, nearly everyone agreed that either the Chicago Bears or Green Bay Packers -- or both -- would at least pose a challenge to the Vikes' second straight division crown. Instead, we're taking this division race off life support and putting it to rest after Week 9. The 2009 NFC North champions will be the Vikings. They can now focus on securing home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The reason for the above sentiment is that both the Bears and Packers were abysmal, in different circumstances, Sunday afternoon. The Pack went into Tampa Bay and lost to the formerly winless Buccaneers, while the Bears were absolutely manhandled for the majority of the afternoon by a fickle Arizona squad.

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The Buccaneers have been busy little beavers this offseason. Jon Gruden got canned, Raheem Morris, the league's youngest head coach, was hired, and along with new (and young-ish) general manager Mark Dominik, they purged the roster of veterans and commenced with the youth movement.

Taking quarterback Josh Freeman with their first-round pick was a clear indication of that, but so too was trading for wildly talented but emotionally excitable tight end Kellen Winslow.

In 2005, the 49ers were stuck with the No. 1 pick in the April draft and no one worthy of the selection. Then-head coach Mike Nolan hitched his wagon to Alex Smith, and three-plus seasons and 18 wins later, Nolan was out of work and Smith's NFL future was in doubt.

Mike Singletary is now running the show. After a strong finish to the 2008 season (5-2 after Week 10), the club could again be in the quarterback business if either Smith or Shaun Hill don't work out in 2009.

The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat's Matt Maiocco writes that the 49ers, who sent a '09 second-rounder to Carolina for the Panthers' 2010 first-round pick, could be perfectly positioned to get their choice of quarterbacks in a QB-heavy 2010 draft, should they decide to do so.

This just in from the "No Duh" department: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would prefer that rookie quarterback (and renowned "project" guy) Josh Freeman not be forced to start this season.

At least that's what GM Mark Dominik said recently, despite the recent word floating from the Tampa streets that Freeman could potentially be the team's in 2009.

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It's June, so a lot can change between now and the start of training camp in six weeks, but apparently the Buccaneers are thinking about giving the starting quarterback gig to rookie first-round pick Josh Freeman.

Before last season, I would have had a hard time supporting that plan, but Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco changed all that. Ryan led the Falcons, a four-win outfit in 2007, to the postseason; Flacco made it to the AFC Conference Championship game with the Ravens, a team that finished 5-11 the year before.

Now, the Bucs might have similar ideas for Freeman. And they were 9-7 in 2008, which, in theory, means they have fewer holes to patch.

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

Heading into this year's draft, Josh Freeman was considered to have the highest upside of any quarterback entering the NFL in 2009, while also possessing the biggest downside. The Buccaneers, in need of a true franchise quarterback for the first time since ... well, they've never really had one, were not only willing to take the chance on Freeman, but they were also willing to move up two spots to get him.

The goal of every NFL team is to win the Super Bowl. Even if, through front-office hires and player acquisitions, that doesn't always appear to be the case. But of the last 15 teams to hoist the Lombardi trophy, only two featured quarterbacks not classified as "franchise caliber."

In 2000, the Ravens won it all with a kick-ass defense. Trent Dilfer's job was to give the ball to Jamal Lewis and get out of the way. Two years later: same story, different team. The Buccaneers' defense did the heavy lifting; Brad Johnson was in charge of game-managing Jon Gruden's version of the West Coast offense with short passes and handoffs.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers think they finally have a franchise quarterback, in Kansas State's Josh Freeman. They very well might, but that doesn't make him a good fantasy football option for this coming season. In fact, I don't think he should be drafted in any league as of right now.

The Bucs currently have Byron Leftwich, who will probably be starting this season, while the rookie is brought along, a la Carson Palmer waiting behind Jon Kitna in Cincinnati. It's possible for the Bucs to cut Leftwich -- since they didn't give him a signing bonus it wouldn't cost them any money -- but most in the know believe Freeman's not ready to immediately come in and start.

During the NFL draft a lot of fancy buzzwords get thrown around by analysts, bloggers, fans and, well, pretty much anybody watching the annual selection meeting. Smoke screen, reach, tweener, value ... you get the idea. When it comes to smoke screens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers attempted to use one of their free-agent signings in an effort to hide their interest in eventual first-round pick, quarterback Josh Freeman. That is, if we believe Freeman.

Appearing in an NFL.com chat after being selected by the Bucs, Freeman claimed that the Tampa Bay front office informed him that its two-year deal with free agent quarterback Byron Leftwich was nothing more than a giant ruse.