It’s the Tebow factor.
Good luck defining that one, Urban Dictionary.
Because “Tebow time” is running out.
Look, the guy is a great story. I really enjoyed watching him play for the University of Florida and seeing him being a part a huge part of two national titles in four years (and winning a Heisman). He seems like a nice enough person that obviously possesses great leadership skills and is undeniably charismatic, but this guy doesn’t have what it takes to be an NFL quarterback.
When you have a less than accurate arm, zero pocket presence, no clues on how to read a blitz and throw one spiral out of every 15 passes, sooner or later you’re going to struggle in the NFL.
Better quarterbacks have tried and ultimately, failed. Intangibles can only get you so far.
Yes, being able to rush for 50 yards and a touchdown a game is nice and I suppose it helps your fantasy team, but if your completion percentage is hovering around 40 percent, moving the ball down the field and giving your team a chance to score points isn’t happening. If you want to run the ball, and you’re 250 pounds, become a fullback.
And yet, somehow, all this turns into a 7:1 touchdown: interception ratio, three wins in four games and only a one game deficit in the AFC West.
Time to start the parade.
Are you kidding me?
Let’s take a look at who Tebow and the Broncos have played in his four starts this season (in no particular order). Dolphins (2-7), Chiefs (4-5), Raiders (5-4) (all wins) and the Lions (6-3) (loss).
Only the Lions, who gave the Broncos a 45-10 beat down, and arguably the AFC West leading Oakland Raiders are contenders in the NFL. In that game, the Lions returned both a fumble (by Tebow), and an interception (by Tebow) for touchdowns. Several Lions defenders were also quoted after the game that it wasn’t even fair, and they felt like they were playing a high school quarterback. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Ol’ Timothy.
The Raiders and Chiefs are middle of the pack teams at best, and the Dolphins were well on their way to “Sucking for Luck” before winning two in a row. Not to mention that win last week against the Chiefs showed that head coach John Fox has less confidence in Tebow than he does in Kim Kardashian having a meaningful relationship anytime soon, running the ball 58 times and passing it only eight (where Tebow responded to the conservative play-calling by completing a whopping 25 percent of those eight passes).
Yeah, I guess we could point at those three wins against marginal opponents and declare Timmy the new pope of football, but to really find out what kind of direction you want your franchise to go in at what is widely considered the most important position on the field, I tend to try to dig a little deeper.
What I see is a guy who has yet to complete half his passes in any given game this year.
A guy who routinely misses wide open receivers by large and embarrassing margins. A guy who throws wounded ducks as the regular and not the exception. A guy who consistently makes John Elway and Steve Young cringe with his footwork.
A guy who cannot and will not succeed in the National Football League as a starting quarterback.
Shawn Ferris can be reached at sferris@spartans.ut.edu.
Those who love little Timmy have no sense of reality. Have you actually watched this guy play. HE IS NOT GOOD. Good guy, good person, no doubt. But we’re not talking about him as a person, but simply as a quarterback, and in that regard he sucks.
Another hater writes and rehashes an opinion that has already been out there for two years. My question is, will all these guys write new articles if Tebow continues to prove them wrong. Its funny how most of these articles are written by guys who have never stepped out on a football field as a player, nevermind professional football.
If you look at john fox’s history, he he has a strong history of being a extremely conventional when it comes to quarterbacks and has a verteran obsession. However, somehow Tebow got him to buy into him as a football player. They could have trotted Tebow out each week in a conventional offense and let him fail…and got a new qb the following year. Why go through all this trouble, and its been a lot, to totally rewrite an offense and potentially set his team back for years? What he is doing puts his job on the line. The result: 2-0 since installing the option offense and now the jets have mark brunell running opposite the first string defense. Conventional Wisdom better pray New York wins…
Hater gonna hate.