Tim Tebow is getting a second coming—it’s about time people realize the man can play football.
—
Beneath the Surface is peeling back the layers of this onion we call sports.
As a student at the University of Kentucky in 2007 I hated Tim Tebow. My Cats had just beaten #1 ranked LSU and climbed into the top 10 in the country. For a Kentucky football fan, it was the best football times since before we lost Bear Bryant to Alabama.
Just as we thought Andre Woodson was going to lead us to a great season of football, Tim Tebow shows up. He zigged when our players zagged and in the last seconds of the game, at the moment when we thought we’d David had defeated yet another giant, he completes a jump pass over the goal line. A JUMP PASS!
A JUMP PASS!
It was in those final moments I knew I could never support any Tim Tebow endeavor.
At least, until he became the greatest college football player ever. In four years as a college quarterback, Tebow combined for 12,232 total offensive yards and led the SEC in passing completion percentage three out his four years and is fourth in career passing percentage all-time in the SEC.
◊♦◊
It’s hard to refute given his passer rating in the NFL. In three seasons, his NFL passer rating is a mere 75.3.
|
The problem with Tebow and the NFL was his passing motion. His release wasn’t quick enough, so they claim. It’s hard to refute given his passer rating in the NFL. In three seasons, his NFL passer rating is a mere 75.3. Compare that to someone like Andy Dalton, who has managed no lower than 80 in any season and a career average in four seasons of just over 85. But let’s take it a step further, in four seasons Cam Newton has managed a passer rating of just over 85 as well. And he was considered a running quarterback, much like Tim Tebow. Newton has also managed over 2,500 yards rushing while Tebow failed to reach 1,000. Granted, Newton played several more games, it’s not even half.
NFL Quarterbacks live and die by statistics. And that’s a problem for players like Tim Tebow in the realm of professional football. Tim doesn’t look good on paper. Even despite the 8-4 run he made as a starter in 2011 with the Broncos, going on to win his first playoff appearance and seven out the last ten games of that year after he replaced Kyle Orton. Several of which were come-from-behind victories.
Tim Tebow does something to his teammates unlike any other football player. He’s a catalyst for players to become better, and yet he’s one of the most scrutinized players ever to enter the draft.
I think Tim Tebow could be a decent NFL quarterback, but I don’t think there is any reason for him to be. Tim Tebow is a great football player. He doesn’t have to be a great quarterback to be a great football player. He doesn’t to take snaps in order to propel his team to victory. Ray Lewis did it for an entire career making quarterbacks piss their pants. I have no idea what Chip Kelly is thinking, but if I were Chip Kelly, Tim Tebow would be on my roster as a full-back.
A full-back who can run a nasty flee-flicker.
◊♦◊
Cobb, like Tebow, is a great football player. The Packers adapted Cobb’s game and tweaked their offense to make him fit.
|
The NFL needs to adapt. I’ve said since Tim Tebow was released by the Broncos that someone could build an offense around that guy. It may not be an offense around a pocket quarterback, but you don’t have to have a pocket quarterback to put points on the board. I get that you can’t run the option, but Tim Tebow also doesn’t have to be a quarterback.
Randall Cobb was a quarterback at Kentucky. And a good one, but since he was drafted by the Packers, he’s played receiver, and he’s a good one. Cobb, like Tebow, is a great football player. The Packers adapted Cobb’s game and tweaked their offense to make him fit. And though Cobb wasn’t the only factor to them winning a Super Bowl, the kind of thinking that put Cobb in the best position for his skill, was a huge factor.
Tim Tebow knows what it’s like to win. He’s a competitor. And the intense competition tends to get lost in professional sports from time to time. The type of thinking and coaching to spark the competitiveness that makes these athletes great doesn’t always show through, maybe Chip Kelley is on to something. Maybe his crystal ball is showing him a resurrection.
Either way, it’s going to be interesting, and I think it’s a good move. After all, Tim Tebow is a great football player and an even better person.
◊♦◊
Even if he doesn’t breath new life into the Eagles offense, isn’t it worth it to have him around the locker room? I mean, we’re always screaming about how athletes don’t live up to their responsibility of being role models. Tim Tebow is the epitome of what an athlete should be as a role model. Even if I do hate the jump pass.
—
Photo: Flickr/Intel Free Press
Tebow wasn’t released by the Broncos; he was traded. And as a Broncos fan, I can tell you that W-L record was a fluke. He took over from Orton just as the defense was getting healthy. He’s never been able to reliably do the main thing a QB needs to do: pass the ball. He just can’t do it at an NFL level. As to his switching positions, that’s intriguing, but as already noted, Tebow has refused in the past. It’s possible he might have succeeded as a FB or TE, but he wants to be a QB or nothing.… Read more »
If you read Tim Tebow’s book, he hates playing any position other than QB.
My guess is that Tim stays the course of QB or nothing.