TAMPA — With Josh Freeman's first pass Friday, you could see why the Bucs have preached patience.
With his last pass, you could see only promise.
The 21-year-old rookie shook off an interception in the Bucs' 27-20 loss to the Texans in the final preseason game. His final throw was a rope threaded between two defenders to receiver Cortez Hankton for a touchdown with eight seconds left in the first half.
Officially, it covered 23 yards. But Freeman gained a lot more mileage than that.
"I played a little too conscious and was not really letting the game come to me," said Freeman, who faced no Houston starters. "Then I got the opportunity in that two-minute drive to come out and cut a few loose. I had a lot of my teammates make a lot of big plays for me.
"It was good to finish out strong."
And because the Bucs are treating Freeman like a family heirloom, it's anyone's guess when they might let him play again. He is expected to begin as the No. 3 quarterback, but even that might be reconsidered.
In fact, Freeman wasn't even the more impressive quarterback named Josh.
Second-year pro Josh Johnson, who played the second half, passed for 182 yards with a touchdown and interception. But his 83-yard drive in the final minutes fell short despite three snaps from the Houston 3.
"Every time I get the opportunity to play, it's big," Johnson, 23, said. Every time I get to go out there, I want to … provide a spark for this offense and lead us down the field and show I can be a leader for this team."
Freeman finished 7-of-17 for 85 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. His passer rating was 37.3, and he also scrambled three times for 27 yards.
That's the good news because it could have been much worse.
Trailing 14-3, Freeman whistled a pass behind tight end Jason Pociask and linebacker Kevin Bentley intercepted.
At that point, Freeman had completed 3 of 10 passes for 28 yards with two picks. Not exactly the numbers the Bucs wanted to see from the 17th overall pick.
"I thought that first pass I threw was on the money," Freeman said. "I had the safety looked off, came back and just fired it. I was like, 'Yes, it felt good!' That was a heck of a play by him."
On the touchdown drive, Freeman was 4-of-7 for 57 yards. For the preseason, he was 22-of-49 for 238 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.
The Bucs plan to keep all four quarterbacks.
Unfortunately for him, Johnson leveled the playing field with Freeman by also throwing an interception on his first attempt.
But Johnson was much more poised in the pocket than Freeman. He went through his progressions and spread the football around, leading the Bucs on three drives of longer than 70 yards.
Johnson, who played sparingly in the four games, finished the preseason 17-of-30 for 218 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a 76.8 rating. He also rushed nine times for 88 yards.
"For the most part, Josh Johnson showed poise," receiver Michael Clayton said. "It's coming down to a tough decision. The kid has made plays throughout this whole preseason. He hasn't had a lot of opportunity since he's been here. But he's always showed up in practice.
"And you just get that feeling if you leave him in there and he gets that rhythm, he's a smart enough guy to make all the throws, and he can run. He's a very good talent. It'll be interesting to see how this quarterback thing turns out."
Johnson actually tried to settle Freeman down Friday.
"I told him, 'Hey, Free, just be you,' " Johnson said. "And in that two-minute (drill), you saw him. He was able to come out, and he just had to get his feet wet. It happens. Everybody goes through it. What I told him was the way you bounce back is what's going to gain your respect as a quarterback with the guys.
"Everybody throws picks. It happens. It's part of the NFL game. But it's the way you bounce back, and he bounced back very well."
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