Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preseason Is Done, Thank Goodness

"The kid is impressing me. I would like to see him get more reps. I feel like I'm running a campaign for him..."

Former Buc John Lynch on Josh Freeman during WFLA telecast

Thank goodness it is over, done, in the books.

Buccaneer preseason 2009 ended with a 27-20 loss to the Houston Texans Friday night, as if that really matters.

The Bucs won one, lost three of these practice games.

Doesn't matter.

What matters is that the Bucs must now find their 45-man roster and eight-player practice squad.

What matters is that GM Mark Dominik came on the tube during the game and declared that this team will probably have all four quarterbacks on its roster come Saturday afternoon.

How very Jon Gruden-like.

Former Buccaneer safety John Lynch was emphatic during his work in the broadcast booth Friday night. He likes rookie Josh Freeman and thinks he should be closer to the lead, rather than projected as the third quarterback on the Tampa roster.

Freeman shook off a couple of interception Friday night and managed to throw his first touchdown pass as he ran a nifty two-minute drill that ended with a perfect 23-yard bullet of a pass to Cortez Hankton for the touchdown. That score made it 17-10, Houston at the half.

Josh Johnson looked good as well. He played with enough poise to make a case for not keeping Luke McCown on the roster. Johnson finished with 187 yards passing and a TD, going 12-for-21.

When all was said and done, these were some key points:

The Buccaneer first-team defense got in some early work and was again, impressive.

The Bucs' second-team defense made Rex Grossman look like an All-Pro quarterback. Gross threw for 197 yards. He hit a long 87-yarder to Jacoby Jones, who got behind Tanard Jackson for a touchdown.

Jackson, beaten on that long one, played most of the game. It will be his last time in uniform until week five of the regular season.

Head coach Raheem Morris had predicted at halftime that his team would come out and win the game in the second half.

Didn't happen.

Didn't matter.

What matters is that he must now choose his roster and get this team ready for Dallas.

He has eight days.