Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tim Tebow in the NFL


I have written about Tim Tebow as a college football star for the Florida Gators in a previous blog http://nonomaca.blogspot.com/2009/10/tim-tebow-15-florida-gators.html and needless to say---I'm a fan.

He was picked up 25th over-all during the 2010 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos.  Unfortunately, he lost his sponsor in Josh McDaniels who resigned prior to the 2011 season and he got stuck in a quarterback toss up that  pitted him with Kyle Orton.  Former Bronco's John Elway's entry as the organization's vice-president did not help in Tebow's cause.  Elway led the Broncos to back-to-back Superbowls in the 90's and he was a pocket QB with arm strength and pinpoint accuracy.  Tebow is a a running quarterback.  So I guess it's quite obvious who Elway leaned on.  Orton eventually got the number 1 spot.

Poor Broncos---Orton proved unable to lead the team and after 5 games, they were 1-4.  Call that divine providence.  If you must know, the Tebow family is a religious lot.  Tim's mother and father are Christian missionaries.  Well, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.  Needless to say, Tim is outspoken in terms of his faith so much so that during his football days as the Florida Gator's quarterback, he would paint bible verses on his face.  How's that for a show of faith?

Tebow got the go ahead to start in game six and after six games the Broncos are 5-1.  Statistically, Tebow's passing percentage is a little more than 45% for 852 yards with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception.  He ran the ball 78 times for 455 yards (gaining 5.8 yards per carry) and 3 touchdowns.  His 143 pass attempts did not qualify him to be on the NFL pass rating list but his 80.5% is better than Michael Vick, Joe Flacco, and Matt Cassel so I'd say that he's faring well against some of the veteran passers this season.


The Broncos offense has since designed running plays for Tebow and has so far given them dividends.  However, can Tim sustain the long term punishment of running the ball so much?  No quarterback has run so much for the longest time and by today's quarterback standards Tebow is by no means conventional.  Which is why the defense of other teams were caught off-guard---they had no defensive scheme to stymie this new quarterback role.

As I've mentioned earlier, Tebow is a running quarterback---mind you, I did not say a scrambler.  A scrambler is a quarterback who runs the ball if he does not find a receiver open with the pressure closing in.  Tebow's running is a designed play.  He is suppose to run the ball.

Tebow is built like a tight end, tall and muscular but with the speed and power of a running back.  However, this does not make him invincible.  During his college days, he as suffered several concussions playing this role.  The NFL is a much tougher arena to be in with more vicious tacklers.  To survive the game, he needs to be wise in carrying the ball and avoid the hits as much as possible.  On the side, he should really start working on his passing game and become a double threat to the opposing team. 

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