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Tim Tebow Madness Going Overboard

There are the wins, which no one can deny, or argue against. Tim Tebow, since taking over for Kyle Orton at quarterback, has won six out of the last seven games. The Broncos suddenly lead the AFC West, along with the Oakland Raiders, with a 7-5 record. People are even talking about Tim Tebow as an MVP, and that’s just too much.

The Florida Gators didn’t win just because of Tebow. They were loaded with speed and talent, built around by Urban Meyer. Yes, Tebow was an excepetional talent, one of the best ever in the college ranks. But Heisman winners and great NCAA QB’s don’t usually become great as Pros. It’s a different game, that requires a different set of skills. I’m not sure Tebow has what it takes to be a good quarterback in this league. He’s winning, but that’s not the whole story.

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First of all, if there’s one proof for MVP this season it has to be Peyton Manning, as the Indianapolis Colts simply crumbled to pieces without him. Whether he’ll stay to guide Andrew Luck or find himself elsewhere, that’s a different question. If it’s taking the award’s name literally, it has to be Manning, who proved how valuable he is to the organization.

Kyle Orton is the perfect example for not making Tim Tebow the second coming or something. Orton started 15 games for the Chicago Bears in 2005 after Rex Grossman went down early. Orton finished with a 10-5 record while the Bears’ defense ate everybody up. Orton had a 59.7 QB rating, a 51.6% completion rate and a 9-13 TD-INT ratio. No one thought he was the reason the Bears were winning. When he did good, he usually had great field position to work with thanks to Urlacher and the gang.

Now Tebow? Stats in football usually tell a very good story. He’s better than Orton, but nothing spectacular. An 87.9 QB rating, a 47.5% completion rating. He is the worse passing quarterback in the NFL with over 100 passes thrown. Baline Gabbert of the Jags is the other one with more than 100 passes and less than a 50% completion rate. In touchdowns and interceptions he’s doing fine, with 10-1 so far, so that’s a plus. But to give him all the credit for the Broncos’ revival? That’s pretty much lying to everyone.

The Broncos schedule has been relatively soft. The AFC West might be the weakest division in the land, and wins over the Raiders, Jets, Chiefs, Chargers and Vikings have yet to make anyone Super Bowl material.

He does turn game around. He does create fourth quarter comebacks, but in recent weeks, it has a lot to do with the defense giving him a shot, keeping teams at 13 points or less in three of the last four games. The Vikings game was an anomaly. But so is Tim Tebow’s success. You don’t have to be a huge expert to see the many things wrong with how he plays. He’s hard to take down is one of the better athletes at the position in years. It doesn’t make him, yet, a quarterback the franchise can build on for years to come.

I’m not hating on Tebow as anyone trying to point out his flaws is getting blamed for doing recently. Yes, the guy is loved as much as he’s hated, and the media seems to love him. The Christianity, Tebowing and all that. Media-wise, he’s great for the game. But when you talk actual football? I’m far from convinced I’d like him to be my quarterback.

Ehud Riven

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8 responses to “Tim Tebow Madness Going Overboard”

  4. I don’t know man. I am starting to think that maybe the reason it was “Great to be a Florida Gator” from 2006-20010 was Tim Tebow. They didn’t exactly set the SEC on fire before he got there with Chris Leak as the QB and Urban Meyer had been coach since 2004. In 2005 Alabama with Brodie Croyle and Mark Shula as coach beat the crap of them. Then Tebow shows up and they go the SEC championship 3 years running and win the BCS twice. Then the year after he leaves, Florida collapses and two years later, Mark May declares them irrelevant in the SEC today and for years to come. Urban Meyer leaves for “health and family reasons” then only one season later takes the Ohio State job. Everyone can say what a “dream job” that Ohio State is, but frankly I think living in Gainesville, coaching in the SEC, and being the first choice of all of those Florida athletes is pretty dreamy also. I realize Urban grew up in Ohio and cut his teeth as a coach in that neck of the woods, but I find it all too convenient that he was ready to duck out of town when Tebow left Florida and stuck around one more year before actually leaving and then resurfacing again without having the collapse of Florida without Tebow on his resume. There is this sort of weird reverse logic that coaches make QBs when it reality it is the other way. Montana and Young got tons of guys head coaching jobs and they never amounted to anything at the new jobs. Elway got Reeves, Kubiak and Shannihan jobs. Brett Farve got Gruden, Holmgreen, Dennis Green, and tons of guys jobs. Brady makes Belichick look like the genius, and got Romeo and Charlie Weiss and well as Todd Haley coaching jobs.

    A QB is like that, a good one lifts the whole team. Normally he lifts the defense by controlling time of possession and letting them rest and by moving the ball into the other side of the field. But he can also inspire them. I imagine that after weeks of Kyle Orton losing the close games, when Tebow started that comeback against San Diego when he replaced Orton, it was a turning point for the Broncos. A bartender in New York, after watching the reaction of the patrons in the Bar, down after the elimination of the Yankees from the baseball playoffs and the NY Giants had lost the earlier game, said the bar came alive and started rooting for Tim. He said he had never seen anything like that reaction in over twenty years of owning that bar. And if Tim would have 30 seconds more, he would have done it. So, yeah. I am sure that those Broncos believe that if they just keep it close, just make a play, just get him the ball back, or just squeeze another few yards out on a run, or dive for a pass, or take a hit to catch the ball, in the end, he will get them that victory.

    In the final 4 games, Denver has 3 winnable games and only New England as a potential loss. Oakland has both Detroit and Green Bay remaining on its schedule. Suh will be back in the lineup of the Detroit game. Denver currently has a better division record and a much better conference record. I would say the pressure is on Oakland. And then we all can watch Tim Tebow in the playoffs.

    Can you imagine how berserk the pundits will be if Denver beats New England at Mile High. Yesterday, Chris Carter, Keyshawn Johnson, and Merrill Hodge were defiant in trouncing Tebow. The two guys that supported Tim where Bill Parcels and Mike Ditka. When one of the other guys said “He can’t continue to take the pounding from running the ball so much”, Ditka replied “I’d worry more about the pounding he is giving the other guys”.

    I guess I’ll summarize with this, during a Florida game with the Gators behind in the late fourth quarter, my 10 year old son (at the time), who really knows his football, said

    “And here comes Superman”.

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  5. Great perspective from Mark, I guy who knows Tebow well from his college days. I would like to offer my perspective from going to school with Elway at Stanford, and shed some light on his current quandary with Tebow.

    Elway did not have the success Tebow did in college, and yet he was drafted #1 because of his potential. Tebow with the Heisman and two national championships was drafted #25 for not having potential. This is the paradox, and yet we must drill deeper to see how the two are very similar.

    Elway knows better than anyone the potential it takes to be successful in the NFL. In my mind, Elway embodied the quintessential package for the successful NFL quarterback—arm strength/accuracy, great mobility, good vision, leadership and the will to win. As VP of Personnel, Elway only evaluates the tangibles of a quarterback’s potential.

    What I see in Elway is a change from executive to player, and as a player he understood the intangibles that made him great—leadership and will to win. Elway’s position has softened towards Tebow because he has recognized the intangibles in Tebow. Sure, he knows there is room for improvement in Tebow, but the intangibles do not come with coaching.

    For me, a guy who makes a living building measurements and intelligence around a business to succeed, I know that in the end it comes down to the employees and their will to succeed beyond a pay check. I believe this is what appeals to me when I watch Tebow play and the effect he has on his teammates.

    In the end, Tebow will always be a great story and a much needed personality in the NFL.

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