This is going to be the final time that I post about Tebow.
If PatsFans.com did a poll asking the question:
If the Patriots starting quarterback had a completion percentage that was below 50% and was among the league leaders in 3 and outs, do you believe that the Patriots coaching staff and Bill Belichick would keep that quarterback, whomever that may be, in the starting lineup?
Common sense would tell you which side of that poll (yes or no) would win.
I watched the Broncos in 2011 because of where I live (I live in the Broncos market and had to deal with watching that team with Tebow as their quarterback). Anyone that supports Tebow can make all of the claims that they want about him.
He has never been to a Super Bowl. He never beat the Patriots. I have to tell you that watching the Broncos that season was painful because you pretty much knew that nothing was going to happen until the 4th quarter.
The Broncos, as far as I am concerned, were the worst league representative in the playoffs that year even though they beat the Steelers because they allowed D. Thomas to run a route where there was no safety.
Back in the day, the Broncos would have not even made the playoffs in 2011 (i.e. back in the 1970s and 1980s) when there were only two teams getting a wild card birth and the league divisions were more concentrated (three divisions in comparison to four divisions).
Case in point - if the Broncos had the season that they had in 2011 in 1980, do you know who would have won the AFC West just based purely on season record? It wouldn't have been the Broncos.
It was by the grace of the league that they expanded the playoffs in order for teams like the Broncos to go 8-8 and claim a "divisional title".
If it was any other quarterback on the Broncos or any other team that brought their squad to an 8-8 season with one playoff win at their stadium, this whole thing would be a much ado about nothing story. But since this is Tim Tebow and because he won a Heisman in his sophomore season, its' something because fanatics want it to be.
With that said - if the Broncos had a season like they had in 2011 back in the 70s and 80s, it would have been a mere formality that the Broncos were not a playoff team and in this league, it is simply not good enough.
Howdy Belichick. Along with the book recommendations I made for you last night, I'll go ahead and provide you with some one on tutoring.
The subject that we will start off with is vocabulary. Here's the word of the day:
CONTEXT
con·text
[kon-tekst] Show IPA
noun
1. the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect: You have misinterpreted my remark because you took it out of context.
2. the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.
Pay particular attention to definition #2 as it's germane (relevant) to the discussion.
Tim Tebow was seen as a 2-3 year project when he was drafted.
In his second NFL season, he took over as the starter for a team that had gone 5-22 under the previous starter. (Psst, that means that in the starter's 27 prior games, they had won a measly 5 of them while losing 22.) ****Disclaimer, I'm going from memory here, so there's a chance that my numbers might be slightly off, but not enough to matter.
Could also throw in there that this particular year, there was a lockout so the "preseason" was seriously abbreviated.
At any rate, Tebow came off the bench and took over as the starter in game 6. At this point, the previous starter had already racked up a record of 1-4.
By the end of the season, Tebow had led the team to a final record of 8-8, to be sure, BUT, HIS record as a starter was 7-4 which is a winning % of 63.4%.
Remember again, this is a kid who was seen as a 3 year project, who came off the bench after just over 1 year into that "project" and went 7-4.