One week later, one more post about ... Tim Tebow
Sunday, January 22, 2012 | General, Football, Chris Harry
Here it is, conference championship Sunday in the NFL, and all things orange and blue have had a week to decompress from a season when Tebowmania became an international sensation -- or fixation, depending on which way you lean relative to the most polarizing athlete in America.
But this is GatorZone and we know what side most of our readers reside. That's all well and good, but as a guy who spent the last decade covering the NFL (“The King,” as some of my colleagues and I called it), I figured this was an appropriate time for some real talk about Tim Tebow, rather than the sort of reactionary rubbish we often heard during the former Florida icon's breakout season with the Denver Broncos.
Found it interesting that Broncos president and Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway announced in the wake of the team's blowout loss at New England in the divisional round he would work with Tebow during the offseason. Maybe that's because Elway can recall how difficult the game can be for a young guy playing the most demanding position in sports.
Flashback: Elway was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1983 draft. As a rookie, he completed 47.5 percent of his passes for just seven touchdowns, 14 interceptions, was sacked 28 times and finished the season with a 54.9 QB rating. The Broncos, nonetheless, went to the playoffs that year, losing 31-7 to Seattle. Elway was benched in that game ... for the immortal Steve DeBerg.
Elway has a reference point to work from, and it happens to be his own.
For what it's worth, here's mine.
* Is Tebow a franchise quarterback?
Right now, of course he is.
His distractors can discount Tebow's intangibles package all they want, but the fact is when battle-tested veterans like Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins gush about the will and want-to that Tebow radiates in the Denver locker room and on the sidelines, it can't be ignored. There's a reason the Broncos came from behind in five games during 2011 and three in overtime, including that pulsating one-play wonder against Pittsburgh in the wild-card round. They would not give up. That determination has to start somewhere and I don't remember seeing it from Kyle Orton.
As a starter, Tebow is 9-7 over the last two seasons, including a 1-1 mark in the playoffs. In games he did not start since arriving as a controversial first-round pick, the Broncos went 4-14.
Players respond to him. They overachieve, which also says something about Denver's talent. We'll get to that.
* Are there flaws in his game?
Absolutely. Big ones.
All the mechanical issues with Tebow's delivery that so-called draft experts picked on -- and later said were vastly improved, remember? -- reared themselves at times during the season. He holds the ball too low. And too long. His motion is elongated. His feet often are not set upon delivery. He's indecisive.
All of these things contributed to that 46.5-percent completion rating, which is absolutely unacceptable (and just 4 percent behind Elway's that first year as a first-year starter, but I digress).
Tebow had a big hand (and left arm) in the Broncos' offensive problems -- comical in their ineptitude, at times -- when they struggled. No argument.
* Will he work to improve his game?
Raise your hand if you don't believe Tebow (in between visits to hospitals and missions to the Philippines) isn't going to put in the time necessary to become a better quarterback. Waiting. Waiting.
Remember, Tebow was drafted by then-coach Josh McDaniels in April 2010. He signed in August, so with the exception of a couple mini-camps he had no offseason to prepare for his rookie season. Last offseason, the NFL was locked out. Again, no offseason to prepare.
And even when the league returned to work, the Broncos were running an altogether different offense than the spread-option system that evolved after Tebow replaced Orton.
They say players (in all sports) are made in the offseason. Let's see what Tebow can do after actually having one.
* Will the Broncos improve their offensive talent?
When Eric Decker is your go-to guy in the passing game, goodness, let's hope so.
Decker, who is a poor man's version of Ed McCaffrey on a career day, had 44 catches (and his share of drops, too). Demaryius Thomas had that monster game (as did Tebow) and epic 80-yard overtime touchdown in the playoff shocker against the Steelers, but the former first-round pick caught just 32 balls during the regular season. After those receivers? Try Daniel Fells (19 catches), Eddie Royal (19) and Matt Willis (18).
Not exactly the “Three Amigos.” Give him some guys who can't actually, you know, get open.
Now, that lack of passing-game production has a lot to do with Tebow's inaccuracy, but the Broncos need to put some playmakers around No. 15 and that includes a running back. Willis McGahee (1,199 yards) had a great year, but he's now 30 and set to enter his 10th season. That's high mileage. Knowshon Moreno, the club's first-round pick in 2009, can't stay healthy, having missed large chunks of the last two seasons. Serious durability concerns there. Of his last 12 games, Moreno has double-digit carries in just one.
A tight end would be nice, too.
Give Tebow some weapons to work with.
* Still skeptical?
Turn on the NFC Championship Game today. That's Alex Smith playing quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Remember him?
Smith was the star quarterback for Urban Meyer at Utah, which went 12-0 and won the Fiesta Bowl during the 2004 season. He played in Meyer's spread offense, was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and had to deal with the all the questions about making the adjustment to a pro-style scheme.
His first season, Smith completed 51 percent of his passes for one touchdown and 11 interceptions. Repeat: 1 and 11. He was sacked 29 times, fumbled 11 times. His QB rating was 40.8. He got a little better the second season (16 TDs, 16 INTs), but was sacked 35 times and fumbled 10 more time. The third season, Smith was benched for Trent Dilfer and Shaun Hill.
Today, behind a confident coach with a plan, Smith is playing to go to the Super Bowl.
Tebow bashers still basking in the afterglow of the route in Foxboro (where in '04 and '05 I covered two hideous playoff performances by Peyton Manning against the Patriots) need to gain a little perspective.
But so do the Tebow backers. The kid has a lot of work to do.
So do the Broncos.
