If Tim Tebow ends up becoming the franchise quarterback for my beloved Broncos, I will probably end up writing somewhere in the area of 100 bajillion posts about him by the end of his career. To call him an enigma is insufficient; I feel as if we need to make up an entirely new word to describe him. After all, how can you explain his perpetual in game vacillation between playing like a pro bowl quarterback and a watered down version of Akili Smith?
I want Tim Tebow to succeed, badly. I believe in intangibles and his are off the charts. I have an incredible amount of admiration for his insistence upon being a role model first and a football player second. An effective Tim Tebow is the best possible outcome for the Bronco franchise. However, I am still unconvinced that Tim Tebow is the Broncos quarterback of the future.
Tebow's failure to achieve more than one first down in the first half against the Vikings proved to not be as catastrophic as it seemed at the time. With this defense and Tebow's clutch ability (damn straight SABR-heads, it exists, small samples be damned), he can probably get by beating up on bad teams. But here in Broncoland, we do not pride ourselves on simply beating up on the dregs of the league. The bar is set much higher. Bronco fans have been some of the most loyal in the NFL and we believe that the team should function like Elway's 90's Bronco teams instead of his 80's Bronco teams. Tim Tebow has proven that he is a good enough quarterback that can make you pay if you let him hang around. What concerns me is what happens when the Broncos play a team that does not let him hang around.
Miami, Detroit, Oakland, Kansas City, New York Jets, San Diego, and Minnesota. Tebow is 6-1 this season versus that crop of mediocre teams. Come January, all but one or two of these teams will be out on the golf course so having to come back late to beat them is not exactly the most overwhelming accomplishment in the world. As far as I'm concerned, Tebow has not proven that he is unequivocally "The Guy" through this stretch. Matt Moore has had a similar stretch of five games this season versus Kansas City, Washington, Buffalo, Dallas, and Oakland and you're not hearing any franchise quarterback chatter around him.
Tebow's first measuring stick game will come in two weeks when Tom Brady and his band of Uggs visits Mile High. If Tebow can only manage one first down in the first half in that game, the Broncos will be toast. If Tebow is "The Guy" in Denver, then he needs to show that he can trade blows with the best of them. The problem for Tebow is that this year is a very good year for college quarterbacks. Even if the rest of Tebow's season resembles the second half in Minnesota more than the first half, the Broncos are still likely to draft a quarterback. The Broncos look like they will have potentially the best tandem of pass rushers in the NFL over the next several years. I cannot help but think about how devastating they could be if they had a high octane offense that put up points and enabled Doom and Gloom to play a large part of the game in obvious passing downs.
Tim Tebow is a great dude and he embodies everything that a role model should be. Every game he makes a couple plays that only a handful of quarterbacks in the league can make. His ball protection has been elite and his running ability forces the other team to read the play longer than they are comfortable which can open up big lanes in the secondary. Ultimately, people are going to think what they want to think about Tim Tebow. If you think he sucks, you point to the first half against the Vikings as evidence. If you think he's awesome, you point to the second half against the Vikings. Me? I'm going to remain skeptical until he plays a full 60 minutes. Doesn't mean I can't still be hopeful when he makes plays like this one.
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