PatriotSeven
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2011
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I give Tebow a little more credit than the other poster you quoted, but Broncos/Tebow fans REALLY need to stop with this "if you criticize Tim Tebow it's because you have something against him personally" bull****. Really, guys, it's wearing thin.
I give Tebow a lot of credit for the win against Pittsburgh. Really, I do. But let's be honest for a second here. Had the Steelers played any other QB in the league, do you really think they'd be lining up in Cover-0 and Cover-1 Robber with as many as 9 guys in the box for a good portion of the game? Props to Tebow, when he had a guy beating man coverage deep he got him the ball, but those chances were only there to take because he isn't respected as a passer in the first place. I've never seen a professional quarterback get that little respect in a playoff game, seriously it was astounding.
I think there has been a huge overreaction to the Pittsburgh game. People are hopping on the "see what happens when you let him loose??!!" bandwagon, but I just don't see it. I don't think for a second he'd be more successful in a traditional offense, or if he was allowed to air it out for prolonged period of time. He is a tough kid who has trouble completing a lot of the passes that an NFL quarterback has to make. His best attribute as a passer is throwing an accurate deep ball, and that's how he'll complete the majority of his passes and make his mark passing the football, but in the end, that's a very limited skillset in this day and age.
Tebow is a very nice young man, and I have absolutely nothing against him personally. Actually, I find myself rooting for him a lot, because he's exciting as a player and likeable as a human being. That doesn't mean I can't think he is a below-average quarterback, though.
Look, Denver didn't win because Pittsburg's defense played bad. You can always make that argument in any game that takes place. You can say that about Tom Brady if you want. Tom Brady didn't really make those great passes and great decisions under pressure. It was really just the other team's defense messing up and didn't cover their receivers well enough. This happened throughout his entire career and he's a total fraud. I mean, how ridiculous does that argument sound?
-It's even more ridiculous when you don't consider Pittsburg's defense has been carrying that offense all season long.
-It's even more ridiculous when you don't consider Ben's ridiculous amount of interceptions including the one he had in this game when Tebow didn't.
-It's even more ridiculous when you don't consider Pittsburgh's offense finished 27th in the league in efficiency.
-It's even more ridiculous when you saw with your own eyes Ben's below average and typically failing NFL QB passer rating, making inaccurate passes, throwing picks and making the critical error of forcing a pass he shouldn't, getting sacked, and barely escaping the pocket versus Tebow's 125.0 passer rating, 3 total touchdowns and no interceptions.
-It's even more ridiculous when you consider Denver's average defense kept Ben to only 6 points in the first half. I mean what if Denver and Tebow would have only put up 6 points in the first half? Pittsburg's offense completely sucked in the first half, and Ben played as sloppy throughout most of that game as he did most of the season even if he made a decent effort to come back. It was too little too late and also got some timely breaks to make it happen. It's not good enough QB play at the playoffs level. Your big name and label can't save you when you play like that. Thank God for their D who allowed them to even comeback in the second half.
-It's even more ridiculous when it was completely predictable that Ben would play bad, because of his injury, has been playing so-so all season, and he played bad against Denver's defense. It's even more ridiculous when you consider that a more efficient offense will generally beat a team with a bad one, even if the bad one happens to have a good defense. It wasn't Pittsburgh's defense that failed them. It was their elite QB who was anything but elite against the Broncos compared to Tebow who did in fact play like an elite playoff QB.
The better offense won that game and the better playoff quarterback against a tougher defense. Yes, Tim Tebow, outclassed Ben Rothlisberger, not just as a quarterback, but as a decision maker, and a NFL passer with a no-name group of receivers and not nearly as talented a defense. It happens. People were wrong and they need to get over it. And the reason Tebowmania continues is because some people just continued to be "shocked" by this while others have long ago conceded and accepted this guy is completely capable of doing it.
I don't understand why some don't want to accept what the same criteria of numbers and stats people use to criticize Tebow indicate. Seems like a double standard. You can make a million excuses for it, but in the end, that's just what happened. All they are doing is fueling the Tebowmania fire.
Frankly I'd love for it to go away, so we can actually talk about true upsets instead of one where the expected outcome took place, as indicated even by the most popular stats. I mean Tebow may be able to pull off wins with a bad passer rating, but how often does a pretty traditional quarterback win a football game for his team with a 75.0 QB passer rating and an interception in the playoffs? Not very often right?
And if some think I'm just saying all this in hindsight.... here's what I predicted a couple of weeks ago about the Steelers:
Remember when Bret Farve played on a bad ankle? Remember when Ben played on a bad angle? Wait, wasn't that just last week? Mike T's got a big decision.
Ben's leadership + guaranteed interception + poor completion % - scrambling ability
VS
Back-up + better completion % + possible interception - leadership
Which one would you choose if you were Mike T?
Start Ben and he throws picks = Why did you start Ben knowing he has a bad ankle?
Start the back-up and they lose = Why didn't you start Ben knowing what his leadership can bring?
I'm going to say Ben has too much influence on the Pittsburg Steelers and will start and Mike T. is in a losing position no matter what he does, but he will look better by sticking with his vet. No matter who the Steeler's opponents are, they are going to benefit either way unless Mike T sits Ben, and the back-up ends up nailing it. If Ben starts, he's going to throw an interception. He was already throwing them before his ankle got this bad.
So what does this mean? It means Mike T and Big Ben will betray their defense, snub their back-up, and help Tom and the Patriots make the Super Bowl Thanks guys!
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...343-our-d-we-one-done-page11.html#post2864867
Am I shocked in the least Ben did what I completely expected? Nope. Is Skip a nut because he's even better at predicting like this than I am, a mere amateur in comparison to him? Not at all. He does this a lot of times, not simply to purposely stir up a lot of controversy, but because his predictions just do that by default cause he's a much better analyst than your average fan or football enthusiast who sees beyond the simple stats most people focus on.
So when Ben put up a mediocre passer rating in the playoffs why is everyone so hell bent on blaming Pittsburgh's defense when it should be pretty obvious who messed up? That interception wasn't an amazing play by Denver D you know. Neither were those sacks when Ben was hobbling around the pocket. Or the bad snaps which was simply what we would call poor, unexcused execution. The interception was just a terrible pass by Ben. Something Tebow avoided, as a good NFL passer should, even if it is at the expense of a completion %. Not surprising in the least, it worked!