What we're witnessing is a team with an improving young defense hitting an incredible streak of luck against a succession of bad/struggling teams. Tebow is terrible -- he's not just bad, he's historically bad. I can't remember a worse passer ever playing the quarterback position in the NFL. He repeatedly bounces balls to wide open receivers right in front of his face. He rifles fastballs to wideouts standing four yards away from him. He's constantly throwing directly over d-linemen instead of sidestepping into an open passing lane. The guy literally could not be a worse passer.
Now, is he winning games? Sure. But you could take any one of a hundred NFL running backs or college-option QBs, stick them under center, tell them to run the same offense, and get the same results. You don't think Josh Cribbs would have managed ten points against the Jets last night? How about Brad Smith? Or Josh Johnson? Heck, I bet Julian Edelman could have managed a field goal and a touchdown in that game. In the big play in the game last night, Tebow outran Eric Smith to the corner and then ate up twenty yards of open field to the end zone. You don't think Josh Johnson could have made that play? You don't think mobile ex-college QBs like Antwaan Randle-El or Hines Ward could have made that pass to Rosario?
The referendum shouldn't be on Tim Tebow, it should be on that style of offense. Denver is relying on a tough defense and an option offense because it doesn't have a good passing game. They're winning because they're playing crappy teams with (up until last night) bad run defenses. They're basically committing to a run-only offense, and there are a hundred guys who could play Qb at at least the same level of effectiveness in that system.
These gimmick offenses work for a little while, and are particularly effective against weak competition, since it's a low-turnover scheme that shortens the game by eating up the clock. If you hang in there against any bad team, and just possess the ball and wait for the opponent to beat himself, he will, about half the time. We saw this with Miami a few years back.
The problem is that you can't play from two scores behind with that kind of offense, so those gimmick teams end up losing to good teams that have pro passing attacks. It just doesn't work, in the long haul.
But in the short run, you can steal a game or two here and there, which is what Denver is doing. But it doesn't have much to do with Tebow. If Fox stuck Josh Johnson back there, or Joe Webb, or any other athletic option QB type, he'd be getting the same result. He might even get a better result. Webb and Johnson at least have NFL arms and can complete a ball or two downfield. They'd also probably gain more yards on those keepers, since Tebow is slower than guys like those two or Brad Smith by a lot.
This is a fun story, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking Tebow is an NFL quarterback. He's just a stand-in for a gimmick ploy that will run its course pretty quickly, just like the Wildcat did.
the Jets offense stinks and Denver's defense is good.
