IMO those who criticize Tebow based on his stats or his relative physical ability - or inability - as a starting NFL QB are missing the point of his popularity with sports fans. Likewise, those who believe that he is the single player responsible for his team’s wins, or that he a great NFL QB in the making do not understand what makes him popular among sports fans. I completely discount the opinions of conservative Christians, who have their own agendas and beliefs re: Tebow, unrelated to what happens on the field. A recent poll by a supposedly credible polling agency showed that he’s the most popular player in the NFL (or maybe the most popular athlete, period, I can’t recall). I love the guy for a lot of reasons, none of which have anything to do with his stats or his potential as a QB in the NFL. Having played the game at a decent level a hundred years ago, I still understand the intangibles it takes to compete hard, to be a good teammate, and to win in the face of adversity. He’s a supremely talented athlete with the proven heart of a lion. The fact that he is not a prototypical NFL QB and that he lacks the talent and savoir faire of the better QBs in the NFL only enhances his attractiveness as an intense competitor who – by the way – has contributed immensely to several dramatic comeback wins this season. Note, I said contributed. He’ll be the first to make sure you understand it’s a full team effort when they win, and he’ll be the first to take the blame on himself when they lose. Anyone who has played the game and who would not want him as a teammate simply has forgotten what they once learned. In a world of divas and prima donnas and me-first attitudes (cite: New York Jets), he shines as a guy whose competitive drive enables him to – at times – overcome his shortcomings as an NFL QB to help bring unity to his teammates, which in turn helps to propel them to victory. Lest anyone jump my case, by no means am I implying that these characteristics don’t exist in other NFL athletes. The only difference is that the others have the proven talent and stats at their positions to get the job done that’s expected of them. The irony of Tebow’s popularity is that it’s the critics and the so-called “haters” who have propelled his popularity by proclaiming his lack of ability and by their words dooming him to failure, in essence making him the proverbial underdog. Include me among those who love an underdog. Bottom line: Like it or not, this year's story of Tim Tebow is an NFL fairy tale. Tebow is Cinderella, and the media and anti-Tebow folks are the wicked stepsisters. Whoa! Does that mean that John Fox is the handsome prince? :shock: :lol: My Colts had a horrible season, but thanks to the Tebow story, the second half of the season has been fun for me. If he never takes another snap as a starting QB, he has won the hearts of millions of sports fans like me.
Good post, Sid. I would add but one thing, and that is I would love to have him as a teammate and leader. I would hope I could find a more productive QB and still work in Tebow's intangibles into the team chemistry.
As an owner/coach of an NFL team, I would love to have TBow......as a resurrection of John Riggins, or A TE.......QB = No.
This was said about Michael Vick? How many times in his whole career has he shown the heart of a winner.....come from behind as has Tebow in one season?? "Just because he is a Gator, he has to be superior in your eyes." Tom.....I don't at all compare Tebow with the Qb that PM has become. It's just exactly that......look at the NFL Qb that Peyton developed into but his first year starting resulted in numbers similar to Tebow's.....except in wins and playoff appearances. Peyton's first year starting resulted in 575 passes and he had a 4.9% interception percentage whereas Tebow so far has had 353 attempts with only a 2.5% int. percentage. But the real kicker is that Tebow has run for 880 yards and 12 touchdowns......plus numerous key third down runs for 1st downs to keep drives alive in those thrilling wins. Tom.....I only get tired of Tebow's detractors not looking at the true stats by comparison to a great like Manning at the same stage of his career. And here is the team that Tebow had to work with this year.....the 2011 season: 'After the worst season in team history, the Denver Broncos have begun the rebuilding process by hiring John Elway into the front office, and John Fox as the new head coach. The next step? The 2011 NFL Draft, where the Broncos have their highest first-round pick ever, and three of the first 46 picks.' Or this: "The Denver Broncos are going to be drafting second overall in April when the 2011 NFL Draft rolls around after having finished the 2010 season with a 4-12 record, their worst record in franchise history." And finally....after a 1-4 start before Tebow took over this season the Broncos certainly didn't look any better than last year. And last night.....looking at their defense get annihilated by Brady and realizing Tebow has scarce weapons with which to work with on offense it is even more amazing he was able to lead the Broncos into the playoffs and beat the Steelers.
Tebow has been named the starter for 2012 going into camp, and John Elway is going to coach him during the off-season. Tebow Named 2012 Starter
Well at this point, he had a good run and their only other option is Brady Quinn who is apparently going to be a career NFL backup. So why not work with him, worse thing that happens is that they try and fail, or maybe that they try and succeed just enough to be competent but not enough to put them in serious contention for the SB.
Terry, based on the following sentence at the end of the article..... ....two things are evident: 1) Brady Quinn is an unsighned free agent, and 2) there currently is no other QB besides Tebow to contest for the position. Hence, by default,, he is the starter. :lol:
Tebow is good for one thing right now for certain........with this announcement today the NFL....ESPN...and most especially the Broncos will enjoy a financial windfall because of his presence and because he will be high profile all off-season.....and expect the Broncos to be a season sell-out well in advance of deadlines. No other Qb in the NFL can generate that kind of buzz and cash. Certainly there will no Qb prospects available that can do the same and prospects are only that....prospects......and there are no guarantees what kind of NFL Qb they will ultimately become.
Wow, sorry I was basically away for a few days. Let me put in my 2 cents. First Tebow never claims to be responsible for any wins and handles his fame with class and grace. And he is the first to credit his team mates. Secondly until he came into the lineup as a starter this year the Bronco's were 4 - 1 and widely thought of as a bad team. When he started the Bronco's ended up 8 - 8 and won one playoff game. While a lot of his wins, most in fact, were low scoring affairs there is no denying that under pressure he came though many times. Tebow never asked for all the publicity he has gotten, and frankly a lot of it has been brought about by self styled talking heads who find it necessary to knock the guy. I have really been gratified by the comments on this topic and in the past by Sid, Krebsy and BT. That's about all I have to say.
As a QB he has a long way to go but there have been many before him that were worse and went on to fine careers. He reminds me a little of Phil Simms as a young-un. He went on to do pretty well. Terry Bradshaw was a joke his first couple of seasons. Ditto Troy Aikman. I could go on. What I find sad and disgusting is the attacks on him because of his spirituality. That is out of bounds. We celebrate all kinds of thug behavior out of our athletes. Here's a guy that does all the right things and gets mugged for it by the intelligencia in Hollywood and by some of the more cretinous in the NFL.
Troy Aikman threw 18 interceptions in each of his first two seasons and yet I don't recall the young man being raked over the critical coals for it. Good post George...
2011 regular season: Tebow: 12 games played QB rating - 72.9 Passing yds - 1729, on pace for 2309 passing y/g - 144, worst in the NFL attempts/game - 22.6 completions/gm - 10.5 comp % - 46.5, worst in the NFL (nobody else was <50%) INTs - 6, on pace for 8 passing TDs - 12, on pace for 16 fumbles as a passer - 7, on pace for 9.3 Rushing yds - 660, on pace for 880 total y/g - 199 fumbles as a runner - 6, on pace for 8 total turnovers - 19, on pace for 25.3 turnovers/game - 1.6 Orton: 8 games played QB rating - 77.8 passing yds - 1758, on pace for 3516 passing y/g - 220 attempts/game - 31.4 completions/gm - 18.75 comp % - 59.5 INTs - 9, on pace for 18 passing TDs - 9, on pace for 18 fumbles as a passer - 2, on pace for 4 rushing yds - 14, on pace for 28 fumbles as a runner - 0 total turnovers - 11, on pace for 22 turnovers/game - 1.4 While Orton was universally jeered and mocked, and a big sigh of relief went up in Denver when he was traded, he was the better QB this year. It isn't even a CLOSE comparison. Denver needed a change since Orton wasn't getting the job done. Great, I understand that. But Tebow is not a fantastic QB. He wasn't even the better QB on the roster. He isn't even an AVERAGE QB. He is in the lower 20%, being generous, of all starting QBs in the league. Tebow was originally given accolades because he took care of the ball, but in the end he actually had more turnovers than Orton, the gimme-matic. Even on turnovers, Orton is the better QB. The biggest beef I have with the raptorous Tebow crowd is their mantra that all he does is win. What, based on his performance, does he do to contribute to the win?? I can definitely see from the stats above that he contributes to Denver being a low-scoring, non-possession offense which would put a huge responsibility on the defense to keep games close. And in an unbelievable number of close games this year, Tebow has come through. But how can you label someone a hero that puts their team in the positioin of almost losing in the first place? If I shove a piece of gum down someone's throat so they choke, then perform the heimlich, am I the hero that saved the day??? No, I'm the bastard that caused them to choke in the first place. In response to "many great QBs had sub-par early years", I'm all in favor of watching to see how he develops. But PLEASE stop trying to tell me how great this guy is. He isn't a good QB. Period. He's going to put in the time and effort to see if he can develop his throwing motion, his accuracy, his reading of defenses, his grasp of the offense, his 3-5-7 step drops, holding onto the ball too long, etc. He will work hard, but even his fundamentals are flawed so it will be a huge uphill climb to even get to average. That is a lot of development work for the amount of money (and first round draft pick) that has been invested in him already. I have nothing against Tebow and none of the mania and HYPE is directly his fault. However, it is just as fair to be critical of his abilities as it was for those that were/are critical of Orton. Be realistic about his performances is all I ask.
The Qb position is the team leader on offense........responsible for leading the team down the field for winning scores. It involves one hell of a lot more than just pure passing...... i.e. INTs - 6, on pace for 8 ( relatively few by comparison ) passing TDs - 12, on pace for 16 fumbles as a passer - 7, on pace for 9.3 Rushing yds - 660, on pace for 880 Rushing TDs - 6 avg. per rush - 5.4 yards And how many drive extending runs did Tebow make vs. drive killing sacks would Orton get? There's a big reason why Tebow wons games at Denver and Orton didn't and it involves a whole lot more than just being a passer.
I think that the upside for Tebow is probably not that great, he will no doubt work as hard as anybody or harder! But he's just not an elite NFL QB and never will be, they were 8-8 this year and made the playoffs, next year they could easily be worse. I give him his leadership and motivational skills, but I just can't see him developing into a top 10 NFL QB. I like that the Broncos have given him a vote of confidence and both he and the Broncos are talking about off season workouts to try to improve his skills. But like Kes I can't see it happening, unless the become a team like that Balt team that won a Super Bowl, they had a no name QB and an all-world defense...it was that all world defense that overcame an average offense and won the Super Bowl. Running Game/Defense and low turnovers might be how Tebow gets it done. As opposed to NE this year where the entire fortunes of the team are on Brady who is obviously an elite QB.
Well, I would rather compare like for like. For instance: Tebow was sacked 33 times for 225 yards in 12 games, on pace for 44 times for 300. Orton was sacked 10 times for 54 yards in 8 games, on pace for 20 times for 108. Looks to me like Tebow needs to not hang onto the ball so long, as well as not running backwards trying to elude the would-be tacklers. Advantage: Orton. Who put their team in scoring position more often per game, I'd have to go with Orton based on the fact that he accrued more yards. Hmmm...like quality of play of the defense? Or comparable level of competition? Tebow isn't the reason. Period. He has intangibles, great. He is a fine leader. But how did he perform? Answer: Worse than Orton. The ONLY, and I mean ONLY benefit to Tebow over Orton is that you could argue that the team had given up on Orton. If it was time for a change for Orton, then Tebow hasn't done anything to think that it's still not time for a change.
The only stat that means anything in professional football is Ws. That's why Orton hangs his hat in another city now.