Ready for some early summer football talk? I'm not one that likes to spend a lot of time talking about the NFL at least until training camp or preseason starts. But this story was crying out to me. The fact that a young 25 year-old quarterback, who was a first round pick just a few years ago, and has proven that he can lead a team and win in the playoffs, was not only cut, but also been on the market for over a month and no team has picked him up is egregious to me.
I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I should start where you think I will start. Many people know that I'm a born-again Christian, and am very passionate about my faith. It's not something I try to hide from anybody. Do people say that I am too upfront about my faith and I need to keep it to myself behind my back? Maybe. I don't know. It's not like when I was in high school a year ago, I was walking up and down the hallways yelling at people about Jesus, or acting self-righteous and saying I was better than people or anything like that. I was just living my life. And if people asked me about it and wanted to know about it, I would tell them about it. The same thing goes for Tebow. How is he too in-your-face about his walk with Christ? So what if he prays on the field? Or so what if he expresses his faith in his interviews. We as Christians are told to be bold in our faith, and to live it every second of the day. What he is doing is in no way harmful to anybody else. The people that know Tim will tell you just how much they like him. He's one of the nicest guys in all of sports.
Some people have treated Tebow differently just because of his faith. And if he was a follower of Islam, or some other religion today, I doubt we'd be hearing anyone complaining about his faith. It's interesting because about a month ago NBA player Jason Collins came out as being gay. He was the first athlete in any of the four major team sports to come out as gay. Many were calling him a hero. President Obama even took time out of his day to call him. The act was very courageous. But how is this different from a Christian verbally expressing their faith? How come if you don't agree or speak out against the first thing, you are "bigoted", but if you speak out against the second thing, it isn't a big deal? Stereotyping or mocking either way is wrong for the same reasons. I could go much further in to this issue but I need to stay on the topic of Tim Tebow.
Anyway, Tim has taken some heat for his faith. I have also dealt with people who have had a problem with me expressing mine. And because Tebow and I believe the same things, many have automatically assumed that I am a passionate Tim Tebow fan. While he is one of my favorite quarterbacks in the league, and I have nothing but respect for the man, that doesn't change the fact that I was at once critical of him, and I am able to look at him with objective eyes.
Many had a lot of questions about him entering the league. And I did too. After seeing the way he led his team after his junior season at Florida, I knew that he had a good upside. But I still had some questions. Many questioned his throwing motion and his accuracy, just to name a couple. Josh McDaniels drafted him with the #25 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. I was extremely happy for the guy and I really wanted to see him play like the exciting player he was in college (one of the greatest college football players ever who won a Heisman and came close to winning a second- in fact he had the most first place votes for the 2008 Heisman, and yet that wasn't enough for him to win... one of the biggest robberies in sports). In his rookie season, his Broncos team fell to a 3-10 record, and gave him a chance to start the last three games of the year. In his second start, his team was down 17-0 at halftime against the Texans. He led his team back to an impressive 24-23 comeback victory in just his second start.
The following year, Hall of Famer and former Broncos QB John Elway took over the operations of the Broncos franchise, and John Fox was hired as the new head coach. And from the start, you got a feeling that they didn't like Tebow. They named Kyle Orton the starter to start the season. The team got off to a 1-3 start. And what did Elway do? He threw Tim Tebow in to a situation where he didn't think he would succeed. At all. The team was showing no signs of life, and looked like they could be going 4-12. He figured he could throw Tebow in, watch him fail, and then have a reason to start from scratch in the off-season. And we all know what happened after that.
Tebow led the Broncos to a 7-4 record over the last eleven games. That record was 7-1 before the team looked like the same bad team they did over the first four games of the season. And boy did he not look good. I started to doubt the guy more. I had a tougher time defending his sloppy play, that we would often see in the first half of games before he would turn it on and he would come back in the fourth quarter, which we saw in three full consecutive games.
The Broncos looked weak. They were 8-8 entering the playoffs against the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Everyone that knows me personally knows that I am a passionate Steelers fan. I felt good about our chances in the playoffs. I thought we could get back to the Super Bowl, just as long as we can get past New England. But something had me a little worried about playing the Broncos. Yes, on paper, they had the weakest team in the playoffs. But there's something about Tebow's competitive nature. It's that you can't count him out. After falling short in a game against Ole Miss his junior season, Tebow delivered a powerful speech (if you want to call it that) to the press about the team and the season. Some may call it cheesy, but it's one of my personal favorite inspirational speeches in sports. Take a look.
Tebow was on the verge of tears. He was crushed by the loss. His will to win is so great. What happened after that? Well, he led to the team to what he was shooting for: a National Championship win. At halftime of that game, he showed his passion. We've been told that he's a great leader. But we just always picture this smiling, churchy, home-schooled boy. Well that home-schooled boy turns in to the Hulk on game day.
So as I was saying, I didn't feel like this game was going to be a "bye week" as many of the NFL "experts" were saying it was. I was picking the Steelers, but I was afraid of TebowTime. And I had every reason to be afraid. Because Tebow's team took an early commanding lead and controlled the game until the end. The game went to overtime and in OT, Tebow brought us this play to end it.
Regardless of what happened in the next round, I now believed Tim Tebow was here to stay. The guy can play football. He wins in the craziest ways. People want to criticize him because he makes some throws that are five feet off from the receiver on a close throw. His accuracy hasn't been good. But in the fourth quarter, something takes over him. His accuracy becomes deadly, pinpointing wideouts down the field. He also has the clutch gene, something a lot of players don't have. Some players shy away when everyone is watching and counting on them for the big play. Tim embraces it.
And let's not forget about the situation he was put in to. Elway was making snarky comments about Tebow to the media. His own GM wasn't backing him. He was just throwing him to the wolves. And yet in all this adversity, Tebow continued to win.
In the next round, the Broncos got destroyed by the eventual AFC Champions, the New England Patriots. But hey, the season they had was an accomplishment. Nobody thought they would make the playoffs. Let's say they don't put Tebow in. They win five games at best, and probably less. Tebow came in, and regardless of his play, he brought an extra spark to a team in search of its soul, that ignited them and got them in to the playoffs.
Now let's talk about what happened this past year. After the crazy season, the Broncos signed Peyton Manning in free agency and said goodbye to Tebow. The team was in trade talks with the Jets and the Jaguars, and they said they would put him in the best position for him to be in. Which ends up being the Jets? How? That didn't make any sense to me. First of all, is there a place where someone can have more pressure on them? The big city of New York has the spotlight on you and watches everything you do. The Jets also have been under poor management (in my opinion). But most importantly, he was going to be a backup quarterback. This made no sense to me. The guy just put together one of the most magical seasons ever, and his reward is to sit behind Mark Sanchez.
He was used in wildcat plays, and came in every now and then for a run. But he looked sloppy. And that's because he didn't get to stay in the game, and settle in. Even worse, as the Jets continued to free fall, head coach Rex Ryan wouldn't give him a start at quarterback. Jets fans I know were upset by it. They were calling for TebowTime. I mean why not? You just went out and traded for him, why else would you do that? Instead, Tebow never got to start or take over a game, and third-stringer Greg McElroy saw action before Tebow got a chance.
What might have happened is that the Jets could have been turned off to Tebow by seeing him in practice. Many say he doesn't look great in practice. But still, that shouldn't mean anything. There is nothing to lose with starting him. At least throw him out there like Elway did if you think he will fail. Give him a chance. Sadly, he didn't get that chance.
After the season, I told my friends that Tebow would be a great option for a team that is in need of a quarterback. This was expected to be one of the weaker quarterback drafts, so my suggestion was that a team should go out and sign him for a season, and if the experiment doesn't work, they'll be right back there with a top pick next year and can draft a quarterback then. Also, having Tebow could help them sell tickets. Instead, no one has taken a shot on him now that he is without a job.
It seems the reason teams aren't going after Tebow is because he didn't get in at NY and because they see him as a distraction. The media won't stop bothering him and highlighting him, and teams fear that that will be a distraction to their players. It simply isn't fair. No quarterback has come in and done as much as Tebow, to get treated like this, and not being signed for a reason he can't control.
Going back to the Denver trade. Some have wondered if something was up with that deal. Could Denver have been sending him there because they didn't think he would get to play much there, and that way they could assure that he would never come back to bite them in the butt? Could be. Could the Jets have brought him to blacklist him and keep him from playing somewhere else? I really don't think so, but some people have crazy theories like that. I think they brought him in thinking he could help mend their fractured locker room with his leadership. But you can't lead a team when you aren't starting or getting a chance to play. I don't know why they traded for him and then never used him. If they brought him and were unimpressed with him, then that makes them look dumb in my eyes. At least give him a chance. There is nothing to lose.
Something else I should add is that while people were criticizing him constantly for his blemishes, many failed to recognize the fact that it was only his second year in the league, and really it was like his rookie year based on the amount of starts he had (when it comes to season with the Broncos). How come we don't hear NFL experts talking about how bad Blaine Gabbert plays? At this point Tebow was only in his second season, and given time, he could improve and become an even better player. We know how hard the guy works. Something recently that I've been seeing is the big improvement Joakim Noah has made over his career. Noah, also a former Gator (only basketball), faced the same types of questions Tebow faced when entering the NBA Draft. Many didn't think he could be an NBA player. But what they failed to recognize is the fact that you can measure a guy's wingspan, his vertical leap, or whatever, but you can't measure a guy's heart. And Joakim Noah is a hard worker. He's not the most talented guy, but he's made himself in to one of the best big men in the NBA. Tim Tebow could do the same thing.
This past year was an interesting season in the NFL. Quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, and Robert Griffin III electrified stadiums and arenas by running their "run and shoot" offenses. The option became a bigger trend in the NFL, and if teams want to replicate it, Tebow is perfect for it. He ran the same offense in college, and he's very mobile and a great runner. And he's also as tough a quarterback as you can find. As a junior in college, Tebow believed he had bad cramps in his leg. But it turned out he had actually broken his fibula. He stayed in the game, led his team to victory, and even ran for a 29 yard touchdown. Tebow is a warrior.
So what is the ideal situation for Tim Tebow? Tebow needs a coach that will stand behind him and believe in him. He needs a coach that will defend him and have his back. He needs to be given a season to start at quarterback. But unless someone gets hurt, I don't see him starting for a team next year. But at the very least, Tebow should be on an NFL roster.
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