All over the internet this past week every sports blog, analyst, and armchair quarterback was going on and on about how Tim Tebow was overrated, or how he was going to crumble against the pressure of playing against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Guess what? I'm big enough to admit that I in no way thought that the Broncos were going to beat the Patriots, but you better be damn sure I was following the box score of that game anyways.
My original intent was to watch the game, but I got sidetracked by a nap and wound up pre-occupied when I woke up, so I wasn't watching live. More than anything I wanted to see how Tebow stacked up against the vaunted Patriots.
Here are his stats for the game:
11/22 for 194 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
12 rushes for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns.
His quarterback rating for the game? 80.5
What does this boil down to in my mind? Quite simply, Tim Tebow played just fine. Sure, another 100 yards throwing might have been nice, and perhaps a couple of touchdowns through the air, but let's be honest, he certainly didn't lose the game for the Broncos. That was the fault of the Broncos defense which fell completely flat after being fairly dominant all season long.
Something about Tebow just makes me smile. The man tries as hard as anyone I've ever seen play the game of football. He absolutely dominated in college and upon arriving in the NFL he has always been criticized for a variety of performance related issues. So what does he do? He winds up getting the starting job, and over the course of the past 8 weeks has found a way to not only will his team to a 7-2 record behind center, but also find a way to slowly but surely improve his presence as a passer behind center.
I can't wait to see what happens if he actually gets the Broncos to the playoffs. I very much hope that it means the starting job is his for next season. I feel if he gets that kind of promise from the front office and they are willing to ride a few ups and downs for a season or two they could really build something special in Denver.
The only problem will be the "win it now at all cost," attitude that would prevent them from giving him a real shot over the long term.
