While Tebow is a winner, and a competitor, and a grinder, and a football player....he is NOT a good NFL QB.
Let's think about the job of an NFL QB. The #1 responsibility of a QB is to get to the line of scrimmage, make the correct read of the defense, and make sure the team is in the best play given (a) what the coaches called in, and (b) what audible options he has available. Guys like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady obviously have essentially the whole playbook available to them as options (given the personnel that's in the huddle), so their audible options are much more varied than Tebow's. Nevertheless, his first job is to make sure the team, at the line of scrimmage, is in the best possible situation.
Now, right there we are talking about a skill that has nothing to do with the physical act of throwing a ball. It's about football IQ. It's about understanding the game, being able to read a defense, and having the courage to call a specific play that you think will work. And it's about your team having the confidence in you that you are making the right call.
Some guys in the league are really, really good at that. Others aren't very good. It is, like any other skill set, something that there's probably a bell curve distribution in the league. Some guys are great, some guys suck, and a bunch of guys are in the middle.
Then, if he has called a running play, with Denver's offense he is asked to make several more reads as the play is in motion. He can hand off, he can pitch, he can keep it himself. That's the nature of the option. He is, by all accounts, really good at all these things. It's not what most NFL QB do, but it's what Denver does, to take advantage of what Tebow's strengths are, and to minimize his weaknesses. Any coach will seek to do that, wherever possible.
On passing plays, Tebow has to know where to go with the ball and deliver an accurate throw. This is his weakest aspect of QB play. And it's a big weakness, make no mistake about it. He had unbelievable completion percentages in college (he graduated as the most accurate passer in the history of the SEC), so we know he has the ability to deliver a ball to a receiver. But in the NFL, the margin for error is so much smaller that so far he hasn't shown *that* kind of accuracy. Ok, major weakness.
But suppose the pass options break down and he's forced to run. He's one of the best running QB in the league, whether on a designed run or on a scramble, so he has a superb ability to make something out of nothing.
And most importantly, perhaps, the QB is responsible for taking care of the football. Turnovers are the biggest game-changer of any measurement - that's a statistical fact. And Tebow does not turn the ball over. A 7 yard three and out followed by a 43 yard net punt is a FAR better outcome than the QB throwing a pass 12 yards and having it intercepted. It's not even close. Three and outs are not positive, but coaches can live with them. What you can't have is a QB who turns the ball over, and Tebow excels here.
And he's tough, durable, and - by all accounts...not just something I'm making up - he's a great leader. Guys believe in him. His teammates have confidence that if they just keep it close, somehow he'll find a way to win. It's obviously an intangible...cannot be quantified or measured, but game after game his teammates say things along these lines. Either they're spouting one hell of a company line or -gasp- they really believe it.
So he has one major (and it is major) weakness, but he has a significant number of strengths. So far, those strengths have outweighed that weakness and the Broncos are winning. Yes, it's a team sport so clearly he needs help from his line, his RB, and his defense. But that's true for any QB. Peyton Manning has a ring not because he played well in that 2006 postseason, but because his defense, which had been horrific all season long, magically played brilliantly in the playoffs, and carried him to the Lombardi. Tom Brady doesn't get his first ring unless Seymour stuffs Zach Crockett on 4th down and inches in the snow bowl game, or unless Vinatieri drills a 45 yarder in the snow and wind to send the game to OT, or unless Ty Law makes a pick-six against Warner.
None of this is to say that Tebow will ever amount to anything resembling a HOF quarterback or even that he'll be able to win consistently over a 3 year period. Who knows? This offense might (as I have predicted) run its course within 2 years and then Tebow becomes an afterthought. Or maybe, given some time, he becomes a more accurate passer and, with all his other strengths, becomes a bona fide star and wins a ring on a last-minute drive in the Super Bowl. It could go either way.
But to say that he's not a good NFL QB because he's inaccurate doesn't take into consideration everything that an NFL QB is tasked with doing, most of which he's pretty good at.
