So, after Denver Broncos' starting quarterback, Tim Tebow, led his team to a 4th quarter comeback against the winless Miami Dolphins a week prior, he made his second start of the season yesterday against the now 6-2 Detroit Lions and the outcome was completely different.
In his first start of the year, Tebow was ineffective for about 3.5 quarters, only playing well for the final few minutes of the 4th quarter. This was the case again yesterday against the Lions, but unlike the previous week, Tebow's effective last half quarter came in garbage time, when the Lions gladly sacrificed yards for time, as they were up 6 touchdowns (45-3) at that point in the game. So, even with how awful Tebow's numbers are from yesterday's game, they should actually be a heck of a lot worse.
Again, like I say with all young, inexperienced quarterback, we should all give Tebow some time to get in more reps, improve and see what his long-term value at the position is or could be. On the day, Tebow was 18 for 39 passing the football for 172 yards. That's an average of 4.4 yards per attempt. He threw for one touchdown in garbage time and had an interception run back for 6. His quarterback rating for the day was 56.8. The quarterback ran the ball 10 times for 63 yards, an average of 6.3 per carry. Again, though, a lot of these yards came in garbage time. In addition to all of this, Tebow fumbled the ball three times and the one he lost was run back for a Lions' touchdown. He was also sacked 7 times.
On the season, Tebow is 35 for 76 (46.1%) throwing the football for 412 yards (5.4 p/att), 4 touchdowns, 1 pick, 2 fumbles and a rating of 75.1. For his career, he's completed 76 of 158 passes (48.1%) for 1,066 yards (6.8 ypa), 9 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 2 fumbles and a quarterback rating of 78.7. His rushing stats for the season are as follows: 26 rushes for 159 yards (6.1 avg), 1 touchdown and 2 fumbles. For his career, he's carried the ball 69 times for 386 yards (5.6 avg), 7 touchdowns and 3 fumbles. It's difficult to compare a majority of Tebow's stats with other quarterbacks in the league, since he's only started two games, but this isn't the case with regard to a few categories. Tebow is currently ranked 33rd in the NFL in completion percentage (46.1%, leading only Jaguars' rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert by 0.4%. Gabbert has attempted 97 more passes than Tebow, however. In yards per attempt (5.4), Tebow is again only leading Gabbert and by 0.2 ypa. Largely due to decent numbers in garbage time, Tebow's rating isn't quite as poor when comparing him to other starting quarterbacks. It's still not great, though; that's for certain. Tebow would rank 23rd in the league in this category (78.7), with Gabbert again being the cellar dweller at 62.0. Another stat that is interesting is the fact Tebow is currently ranked 23rd (out of 40) and tied with Redskins' rookie quarterback John Beck in being sacked 13 times thus far in the season. Beck has 9 more pass attempts than Tebow. Jason Campbell has thrown 89 more passes than Tebow and been sacked 8 fewer times. Josh Freeman has thrown 196 more passes than Tebow and has been sacked 4 fewer times. The leader in being sacked is Ben Roethlisberger, with 25, and he's thrown 208 more passes than Tebow. So, when Tebow drops back and either passes the football or intends to pass it but is sacked, there's a 14.6% chance he'll be sacked. Ben Roethlisberger, on the other hand, is sacked 8.1% of the time in such situations. At this rate, if Tebow were to throw the ball 284 times like Roethlisberger has, the Broncos' quarterback would be sacked 49 times, almost twice that of the leader in this categery, Ben Roethlisberger.
Can we play the hyperbole card and ultimately say that due to yesterday's performance (and his play so far in general) will lead to him being a back-up quarterback for many years to come or that he may not even be in the league two years from now? No, it's too early for that. Let's give the guy some reps, some time to show us what he's learned and how he's able to showcase that knowledge on the field of play. However, Tim Tebow has a lot and I mean a LOT to work on in the coming weeks and months if he wants to illustrate he can be an effective quarterback at the NFL level. First off, the guy needs to improve his accuracy. The Broncos may not have the most gifted receiving corps, but have a couple capable wideouts in Eric Decker and Eddie Royal. Also, they have a very solid running game, which should be able to free up some receivers on the play action. But, his percentage isn't due to dropped passes. He badly misses his targets on a fairly regular basis. The guy has to improve his percentage at least 7 points to 55%. He has to work on his throwing mechanics to do this and also to cut down on the sacks, fumbles, batted balls and interceptions. As I've said time and time again, the guy has a windup delivery more pronounced than a major league pitcher. This lengthy windup gives defensive linemen a better chance at raising their hands and batting balls, which would likely lead to incompletions, but could also lead to interceptions. The long windup also gives defenders a better chance of knocking the ball away and/or getting to the quarterback for a sack. Sure, it could be argued that Tebow hasn't received great protection from his offensive line, but Kyle Orton, who had started for the Broncos for their first 5 games, was sacked 9 times, 4 fewer than Tebow, when attempting 89 more passes. So, it can't be all on the o-line. Tebow needs to work on his decision-making, not hold onto the ball for too long and either get rid of it or take off and run early enough where he's able to gain positive yardage. Another thing I think Tebow supporters don't seem to understand is that Tebow isn't that quick of a runner. For a quarterback, yes, he's very athletic, but the guy is more of a short-yardage runner than one that could bust a run for 30-40 yards at any point in a game. Tebow lacks the speed of a Michael Vick or a Vince Young. Heck, I think Aaron Rodgers is quicker than Tebow. So, unlike Vick, for example, Tebow is not going to be able to consistently make something out of nothing with his legs on broken plays. The guy will have to throw the ball better in order to be an effective NFL quarterback and for teams to respect his arm enough that he's able to become a more effective runner.
In closing, one thing that really bothers me about ardent Tebow supporters is hearing them clamor on and on that the likes of Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning and John Elway got off to similarly slow starts like Tebow and they all had or have Hall-of-Fame careers (going for them, in Manning's case). Aikman, Manning and Elway learned pro-style offenses in college at UCLA, Tennessee and Stanford. They were always very accurate in college in these pro-style offenses. They all had solid passing mechanics which didn't need to be tweaked much, if at all, when they arrived onto the NFL scene. Tebow never played in a pro-style offense under Urban Meyer at Florida and has never had good passing mechanics. Numbers wise, Aikman, Manning and Elway did get off to slow starts, but that was solely due to inexperience. Tebow has an even higher mountain to climb, because he's dealing with inexperience, altering his passing mechanics and trying to be effective in a completely different system than he's been used to the rest of his career. We'll see in the coming weeks if Tebow is able to improve much, but I honestly don't think that's going to happen.
In his first start of the year, Tebow was ineffective for about 3.5 quarters, only playing well for the final few minutes of the 4th quarter. This was the case again yesterday against the Lions, but unlike the previous week, Tebow's effective last half quarter came in garbage time, when the Lions gladly sacrificed yards for time, as they were up 6 touchdowns (45-3) at that point in the game. So, even with how awful Tebow's numbers are from yesterday's game, they should actually be a heck of a lot worse.
Again, like I say with all young, inexperienced quarterback, we should all give Tebow some time to get in more reps, improve and see what his long-term value at the position is or could be. On the day, Tebow was 18 for 39 passing the football for 172 yards. That's an average of 4.4 yards per attempt. He threw for one touchdown in garbage time and had an interception run back for 6. His quarterback rating for the day was 56.8. The quarterback ran the ball 10 times for 63 yards, an average of 6.3 per carry. Again, though, a lot of these yards came in garbage time. In addition to all of this, Tebow fumbled the ball three times and the one he lost was run back for a Lions' touchdown. He was also sacked 7 times.
On the season, Tebow is 35 for 76 (46.1%) throwing the football for 412 yards (5.4 p/att), 4 touchdowns, 1 pick, 2 fumbles and a rating of 75.1. For his career, he's completed 76 of 158 passes (48.1%) for 1,066 yards (6.8 ypa), 9 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 2 fumbles and a quarterback rating of 78.7. His rushing stats for the season are as follows: 26 rushes for 159 yards (6.1 avg), 1 touchdown and 2 fumbles. For his career, he's carried the ball 69 times for 386 yards (5.6 avg), 7 touchdowns and 3 fumbles. It's difficult to compare a majority of Tebow's stats with other quarterbacks in the league, since he's only started two games, but this isn't the case with regard to a few categories. Tebow is currently ranked 33rd in the NFL in completion percentage (46.1%, leading only Jaguars' rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert by 0.4%. Gabbert has attempted 97 more passes than Tebow, however. In yards per attempt (5.4), Tebow is again only leading Gabbert and by 0.2 ypa. Largely due to decent numbers in garbage time, Tebow's rating isn't quite as poor when comparing him to other starting quarterbacks. It's still not great, though; that's for certain. Tebow would rank 23rd in the league in this category (78.7), with Gabbert again being the cellar dweller at 62.0. Another stat that is interesting is the fact Tebow is currently ranked 23rd (out of 40) and tied with Redskins' rookie quarterback John Beck in being sacked 13 times thus far in the season. Beck has 9 more pass attempts than Tebow. Jason Campbell has thrown 89 more passes than Tebow and been sacked 8 fewer times. Josh Freeman has thrown 196 more passes than Tebow and has been sacked 4 fewer times. The leader in being sacked is Ben Roethlisberger, with 25, and he's thrown 208 more passes than Tebow. So, when Tebow drops back and either passes the football or intends to pass it but is sacked, there's a 14.6% chance he'll be sacked. Ben Roethlisberger, on the other hand, is sacked 8.1% of the time in such situations. At this rate, if Tebow were to throw the ball 284 times like Roethlisberger has, the Broncos' quarterback would be sacked 49 times, almost twice that of the leader in this categery, Ben Roethlisberger.
Can we play the hyperbole card and ultimately say that due to yesterday's performance (and his play so far in general) will lead to him being a back-up quarterback for many years to come or that he may not even be in the league two years from now? No, it's too early for that. Let's give the guy some reps, some time to show us what he's learned and how he's able to showcase that knowledge on the field of play. However, Tim Tebow has a lot and I mean a LOT to work on in the coming weeks and months if he wants to illustrate he can be an effective quarterback at the NFL level. First off, the guy needs to improve his accuracy. The Broncos may not have the most gifted receiving corps, but have a couple capable wideouts in Eric Decker and Eddie Royal. Also, they have a very solid running game, which should be able to free up some receivers on the play action. But, his percentage isn't due to dropped passes. He badly misses his targets on a fairly regular basis. The guy has to improve his percentage at least 7 points to 55%. He has to work on his throwing mechanics to do this and also to cut down on the sacks, fumbles, batted balls and interceptions. As I've said time and time again, the guy has a windup delivery more pronounced than a major league pitcher. This lengthy windup gives defensive linemen a better chance at raising their hands and batting balls, which would likely lead to incompletions, but could also lead to interceptions. The long windup also gives defenders a better chance of knocking the ball away and/or getting to the quarterback for a sack. Sure, it could be argued that Tebow hasn't received great protection from his offensive line, but Kyle Orton, who had started for the Broncos for their first 5 games, was sacked 9 times, 4 fewer than Tebow, when attempting 89 more passes. So, it can't be all on the o-line. Tebow needs to work on his decision-making, not hold onto the ball for too long and either get rid of it or take off and run early enough where he's able to gain positive yardage. Another thing I think Tebow supporters don't seem to understand is that Tebow isn't that quick of a runner. For a quarterback, yes, he's very athletic, but the guy is more of a short-yardage runner than one that could bust a run for 30-40 yards at any point in a game. Tebow lacks the speed of a Michael Vick or a Vince Young. Heck, I think Aaron Rodgers is quicker than Tebow. So, unlike Vick, for example, Tebow is not going to be able to consistently make something out of nothing with his legs on broken plays. The guy will have to throw the ball better in order to be an effective NFL quarterback and for teams to respect his arm enough that he's able to become a more effective runner.
In closing, one thing that really bothers me about ardent Tebow supporters is hearing them clamor on and on that the likes of Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning and John Elway got off to similarly slow starts like Tebow and they all had or have Hall-of-Fame careers (going for them, in Manning's case). Aikman, Manning and Elway learned pro-style offenses in college at UCLA, Tennessee and Stanford. They were always very accurate in college in these pro-style offenses. They all had solid passing mechanics which didn't need to be tweaked much, if at all, when they arrived onto the NFL scene. Tebow never played in a pro-style offense under Urban Meyer at Florida and has never had good passing mechanics. Numbers wise, Aikman, Manning and Elway did get off to slow starts, but that was solely due to inexperience. Tebow has an even higher mountain to climb, because he's dealing with inexperience, altering his passing mechanics and trying to be effective in a completely different system than he's been used to the rest of his career. We'll see in the coming weeks if Tebow is able to improve much, but I honestly don't think that's going to happen.
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