Buccaneers Bench Byron Leftwich For Josh Johnson
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have benched starting quarterback Byron Leftwich and have named second-year pro Josh Johnson as the starter.
Johnson replaced Leftwich in Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants. Johnson played in one fourth-quarter series against New York. He completing 4 of 10 passes for 36 yards and led a drive that stalled on at the Giants’ 5-yard line When the Bucs turned the ball over on downs.
The winless Buccaneers had struggled on offense in all three of their games. Johnson finished as Tampa Bay’s leading rusher, scrambling for a 15-yard gain on his only attempt.
Coach Raheem Morris made it clear that he did not blame Leftwich for the loss, explaining that he just felt Johnson had earned a chance to start.
“I hate to make this about Byron,” Morris said. “I don’t want us as an organization to say that game was all Leftwich … but Byron is suffering the consequences.”
Morris added that the entire team played poorly against the Giants.
Posted on September 28, 2009 in ourFootballcategory.