It was one thing when former quarterback Boomer Esiason accused Josh Freeman of “clubbing” too much and spouted seemingly baseless allegations that Freeman was not properly committed to his job a few weeks ago.

Joe thought that was ugly rumormongering by the CBS Sports analyst. But Esiason, even after Freeman has put up huge numbers the past three games, is continuing to smear the Bucs quarterback.

Esiason joined WEEI-FM sports radio in Boston yesterday and said he hoped Freeman has “turned that corner” and isn’t “running the streets at night.”

“Nobody is talking about is what Greg Schiano is doing down in Tampa. You know, Josh Freeman the last four weeks has all of a sudden become the quarterback that he was two years ago,” Esiason said. “Now all of a sudden, under a significant structural change in that organization with Greg Schiano taking over for Raheem Morris, he’s become the player that he was two years ago, even better than he was two years ago. The only thing I say about him is that if you want to be an elite quarterback, and I said this about Joe Flacco [Sunday] on the NFL today, you gotta make the commitment. You gotta make the commitment mentally. You gotta make the commitment physically. You can’t be out running the streets at night. You gotta make sure that you take care of yourself and that your teammates have to believe that you do really care about what you’re doing on the field, and hopefully he’s turned that corner and he’s going to be serious about it.”

As Joe wrote after Esiason spouted off last time, there’s no evidence to support that Freeman isn’t thoroughly committed to his job; and he has been for a while. Joe even recalls an interview with workhorse and former Bucs captain Barrett Ruud, when Ruud talked about how Freeman was the only guy to ever beat him to One Buc Palace to start the workday.

“Physically, I don’t know if there is a more talented quarterback in the NFL. But as you’ll see, to be the very best quarterback, it’s all the mental things, the preparation,” Ruud said. “The good thing with Josh is he has the attitude and work ethic to get to that level.” “By 6:15 I’m going to be here alone or he’ll be here …either his car or my car is going to be there first. I take a lot of pride in my preparation, and he does the same thing. He’s just not relying on, you know, the rocket he was touches with when he was a baby. He’s got a lot of natural talent, but he also puts a lot of work in.”

Joe believes it’s high time Freeman’s agent steps in to try and muzzle Esiason and stop him from running around the country questioning Freeman’s commitment without any sources to back it up.

Don’t think Esiason has a big platform audience to worry about? Well, he hosts a daily radio show in New York, does weekly interviews on sports radio in Boston and around the country, broadcasts Monday Night Football on radio, and he’s in the CBS-TV national studio every week.

Joe’s had enough of the Freeman smearing. Esiason should be ashamed.