Skip to main content

I really didn't want to write any more about Tim Tebow...

Why won't the articles about Timothy Tebow end? He and the Denver Broncos' season is over. The Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints lost this weekend. We have two classic strength-in-offense vs. strength-in-defense match-ups next weekend: Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots and NY Giants vs. San Francisco. I'm definitely pulling for San Francisco in their game (really? Who honestly expected the no-name 49ers with first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh to be one game away from making the Super Bowl?) and am unsure about the other. I'd love to see a defensive slugfest between San Fran and Baltimore, yet would also enjoy seeing Tom Brady and the Patriots offense face the Niners' staunch defense. In any case, why are we still writing/talking about Tim Tebow?

One Bill Williamson wrote the following article on ESPN.com this afternoon - http://espn.go.com/blog/afcwest/post/_/id/38834/sticking-with-tebow-is-the-right-call

John Elway has come forward and stated that going into training camp, Tim Tebow will be the Broncos' starting quarterback. Okay, that's no surprise. Tebow is young and the fans love him, which makes him good for sales. But was the final paragraph really necessary?

Williams closed his "piece" (that can be taken in multiple manners) with this - "It’s the right move. Yes, he was up-and-down in 2011, but he’s young. He has started just 16 games in the NFL. His first-year totals compare favorably to those of Hall of Famers Elway and Steve Young."


Seriously? We're comparing Tim Tebow to John Elway and Steve Young, after only 16 starts? I will agree that we can't make an accurate prediction on Tebow's future based solely on the small sample-size. HOWEVER, must we resort to such ridiculous comparisons and statements?


Let's compare the three, shall we? 


Games Started: Tebow - 14, Elway - 231 (+217 or 13.56 seasons), Young - 143 (+129 or 8.06 seasons)


Wins: Tebow - 8, Elway - 148 (+140 or 8.75 seasons), Young - 94 (+86 or 5.38 seasons)


Completion Percentage: Tebow - 47.3, Elway - 56.9 (+9.6), Young - 64.3 (+17.0)


Passing Yards: Tebow - 2,383, Elway - 51,475 (+49,092), Young - 33,124 (+30,741)


Touchdown Passes: Tebow - 17, Elway - 300 (+283), Young - 232 (+215)


Quarterback Rating: Tebow - 75.1, Elway - 79.9 (+4.8), Young - 96.8 (+21.7)


Rushing Yards: Tebow - 887, Elway - 3,407 (+2,520), Young - 4,239 (+3,352)


Rushing Touchdowns: Tebow - 12, Elway - 33 (+21), Young - 43 (+31)


Super Bowl Rings: Tebow - 0, Elway - 2 (+2), Young - 1 (+1)


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElwaJo00.htm


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Y/YounSt00.htm


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TeboTi00.htm


So, let's put this into its proper perspective. Tim Tebow would need to start 16 games for 8+ seasons to equal the number of games Steve Young started and over 13.5 seasons to equal John Elway's total in the category. Tebow would need to lead his team to undefeated 16-0 seasons for almost 5.5 years to equal the number of wins Steve Young led and almost 9 full seasons to equal John Elway's win total. He'd need to lead his team to an average of 10 wins a season for over 8.5 seasons to equal Young's total and exactly 14 seasons to equal Elway's. In terms of passing yards, Tim Tebow, who only has 2,383 such yards in 14 career starts, would need to throw for 3,000 yards for almost 13 seasons to equal Steve Young's total and he would need to do this for over 20.5 seasons to equal Elway's. Tebow has just 17 touchdown passes to his credit in 14 starts. He'd need to throw 20 touchdown passes in almost 11 seasons to equal Steve Young's total and over 14 season to match Elway's. Tebow is well behind the two in rushing statistics as well and has three fewer Super Bowl titles.


Williamson may be accurate in saying that statistically speaking, Tim Tebow is off to a similar start as John Elway and Steve Young, but it's also absurd to make that claim when it's insinuating that Tebow, given these similar starts to the before-mentioned Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks, will develop similar numbers to them. Tebow would need to have solid passing numbers for between 10 and 20 years to equal Elway and Young statistically and based on what I and many others have seen to this point, there's no way Tebow is going to accomplish this. Tebow will need to drastically alter his passing mechanics if he's going to even be a long-term starter in this league, let alone a successful one, and as history has showcased, that is a very difficult change to make

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun...

Face guarding is legal in college football and the NFL

I just wanted to remind fans and announcers especially, that face guarding is legal in both college football and the NFL. It all comes down to contact. So long as a defender doesn't make contact with an intended receiver, he doesn't have to turn around to play the ball. I can't tell you how many times every week I hear announcers talk about face guarding being a penalty. It's not. I even heard one announcer yesterday state, "If the defender doesn't turn around and play the ball, the ref will call pass interference every time." That's simply not true. Courtesy of referee Bill LeMonnier, he says this with regard to the rule at the college level (answered on 8/12/13): "NCAA rules on pass interference require the face guarding to have contact to be a foul. No contact, no foul by NCAA rules." In the NFL rule book, this is written:  "Actions that constitute defensive pass interference include but are not limited to: (a) Contact by a ...