Tebow's Stat Line: 10 completions for 316 yards

[Ring 6]

Same moron who drafted Robert Ayers and Tim Tebow

And 2 starting OL

 

[Rob0729]

Even with those players missing there is more talent on that Steeler D than the Patriots D at full stength.
The Broncos don't turn the ball over they will give the Patriots problems all game long.

I don't know about that. That is over a third of their defense. Besides, the Pats had some success with man to man last week. The Broncos exploited breakdowns in the Steelers' zone. It might have been as much of a match up thing as anything. Just like the Pats always pick apart the Steelers when they are in a zone.

I mean the Broncos went 22 straight drives without a TD over the last three weeks. Their sudden emergence as a passing team after the Pats exposed their offense seems to be a coincide with Kiesel and Hampton going down.

Let's not forget before today, everyone thought Tebow's days as a starting QB were just about over and the reports earlier today was that Brady Quinn would be the third down QB and Tebow would have a very short leash and would be pulled quickly if he didn't respond. He also played like crap until Kiesel and Hampton went down getting something like 10 yards in the first quarter. One game later, people are talking Tebow is Brees like. Sorry, he faced a depleted Steelers' defense and until he proves otherwise, I think his passing prowess today was a fluke. I don't think he sucks, but I think this may be a career day for him that he never recreates.

 

[Metaphors]

Here are a couple of other Tebow-related numbers:

325 - The number of passing yards in the last 4 games to anyone other than Thomas
202 - Most yards passing in a road game
30 - The latitude of both Jacksonville and Gainesville. Also a temperature not likely to be reached on Saturday.
1 - Number of games with 20 completions
0 - Number of Patriot losses to a QB with under 20 completions

 

[goheels22002]

10/21 for 3:16 and no interceptions is okay. Four big plays make up the bulk of those yards. The thing the Pats should focus on is the awful red zone execution and the Broncos 30% success rate on 3rd downs - 3/10 by the Broncos. If you keep the receivers in front of you, these guys struggle.

Belichick is probably on the phone with Romeo right now.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Patriots gave up a league leading 79 plays of 20+ yards in the regular season.

Thanks for finding the stat. I scratched my head at the original post but knew I had to leave for work and didn't have time to throw anything at it.

 

[Triumph]

To counter, Brady needs to go 6 att - 6 comp for 66 yards and everything will be fine.

 

[Kid~Brady]

Patriots gave up a league leading 79 plays of 20+ yards in the regular season.

I was gonna say I could have sworn I saw somewhere where it said the Patriots give up the most 20 year + plays.

 

[larryo]

Here are a couple of other Tebow-related numbers:

325 - The number of passing yards in the last 4 games to anyone other than Thomas
202 - Most yards passing in a road game
30 - The latitude of both Jacksonville and Gainesville. Also a temperature not likely to be reached on Saturday.
1 - Number of games with 20 completions
0 - Number of Patriot losses to a QB with under 20 completions

Didn't Flacco only have 4 or 5 completions in the playoff game last year?

 

[Rob0729]

All this talk about the Pats and 20+ yard plays, one caveat to throw out there is that the Pats were relatively low in plays allowed over 40 yards which they gave up ten which makes them around 14-15th in the league in fewest given up. I know that isn't much of a comfort, but considering most of the big plays the Steelers gave up were well over 20 yards (several way over 40 yards) this needs to be brought up.

This is fairly important in that the Steelers got burnt in a Cover 0 formation a lot yesterday where the Pats usually play to keep the play in front of them in a Cover 1 or Cover 2 which means they can give up a lot of 10-20 yards plays, but rarely over 30 yards plays.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Didn't Flacco only have 4 or 5 completions in the playoff game last year?

But TB had 23 and was arguably the best player for the Ravens.

Edit: D'oh and that was 2 years ago.

 

[larryo]

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"

that... that explains EVERYTHING!

Nothing works better than a good old fashioned child sacrifice to calm down the savages.

 

[SeymourTrophies]

The read and react defense we play is far more suited to play Denver than the blindly aggressive defense that Pitt played yesterday. I thought Rex Ryan was calling the defensive plays for the Steelers it was so bad yesterday. The Broncos consistently got stuffed when they ran, and Pitt still bit so G-D hard on the play fakes.

I was ambivalent going into the game, but I immediately started pulling for the Tebows when Harrison went for Decker's knee. There's only one way that kind of hit can end. Some of the anger was vented when Harrison constantly overpursued. Did he come to any of the film sessions last week?

The Decker injury really helps us though.

 

[Rob0729]

The read and react defense we play is far more suited to play Denver than the blindly aggressive defense that Pitt played yesterday. I thought Rex Ryan was calling the defensive plays for the Steelers it was so bad yesterday. The Broncos consistently got stuffed when they ran, and Pitt still bit so G-D hard on the play fakes.

I was ambivalent going into the game, but I immediately started pulling for the Tebows when Harrison went for Decker's knee. There's only one way that kind of hit can end. Some of the anger was vented when Harrison constantly overpursued. Did he come to any of the film sessions last week?

The Decker injury really helps us though.

Yeah, agressive defenses can definitely really get burnt by play action especially when they play a team known to run first. This is another good point.

 

[lillloyd]

The Pats' defense is as healthy as it has been all season and the Steelers lost two starters on the d-line in game. It is always harder to recover from a loss of players in game than going into it. Look at the Giants' game, the Pats' defense was handling Manning and the Giants' offense very well until the last two drives after the defense lost Spikes, Chung, and Barrett just before those drives.

The Steelers didn't record a single QB hit today. Don't you think that it had a little to do with them losing 2/3 of their d-line in the first quarter?

I think injuries factor into it a bit, and we have been a bit snakebit this year. But injuries are always part of the game, for every team.

Credit the Broncos and Tebow. Tebow played lights-out, particularly on his deep balls. As a Steelers fan, to say that they won "because of injuries" seems a disservice to the Broncos, who played extremely well and deserved to win.

I don't know if Tebow can repeat this performance on the road at NE next week though. It seems unlikely (although with Tebow, who can tell LOL). I think you guys are in a good position for a strong playoff run in any event.

 

[Metaphors]

Didn't Flacco only have 4 or 5 completions in the playoff game last year?

I was only talking about this year. Numbers that occurred when Timtebow was at UF don't seem overly relevant. My points with those numbers:

- The majority of Timtebow's yards passing are going to Thomas, most of those on downfield passes. You think Belichick might have a plan to deal with that?

- Timtebow on the road has racked up wins, but they haven't been pretty. Except for the Vikings game (worst in the league with a 107 QB rating against) he hasn't passed over 50% or above 185 yds on the road.

- Timtebow is a Florida boy that has almost no experience playing in freezing weather. Near as I can tell, he has played 2 games in his life with the opening temperature under 40 degrees...the losses at Buffalo and against KC week #17. It is a different animal trying to grip and spin a frozen ball, particularly when his success has been on downfield throws. Add in denser cold air, the likely breeze at the Razor and the proximity of Foxboro to sea level and his long passes should look like punts. His shorter passes are inaccurate in the best of conditions.

- If you want to beat the Pats, you are going to have to pass to do it. Timtebow only has 2 games with 30+ attempts...the wipeout against the Lions and the Chicago win (the Hanie/Barber game). Of the Pats losses this year, Manning's 39 attempts were the lowest...and that came in a game where he was shut down pretty well until the last two (PI-influenced) drives.

I see almost no trends that favor the Broncos. They expended everything against the Steelers, have limited time to rest/regroup/prepare before travelling cross-country on Friday and have a need to implement something new on defense to slow down the Pats.

The Pats are relatively healthy (think Chung and Spikes will help against the run?), have first-hand info on the Broncos, haven't boarded a plane in over 3 weeks, have Gronk/AHern/Welker completely healthy (didn't have that in the Ravens and Jets losses) and are hyper-motivated to avoid another one-n-done at home with that MHK painting in their locker room.

I know "any given Sunday" and all...but they aren't playing on Sunday. And the last time Timtebow played on Saturday the Bills won 40-14. I see a similar result this Saturday.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Let's not forget before today, everyone thought Tebow's days as a starting QB were just about over and the reports earlier today was that Brady Quinn would be the third down QB and Tebow would have a very short leash and would be pulled quickly if he didn't respond. He also played like crap until Kiesel and Hampton went down getting something like 10 yards in the first quarter. One game later, people are talking Tebow is Brees like. Sorry, he faced a depleted Steelers' defense and until he proves otherwise, I think his passing prowess today was a fluke. I don't think he sucks, but I think this may be a career day for him that he never recreates.

Yep - I admire his tenacity but I think the rumors of Quinn coming in were to reaffirm to Pittsburgh that he was not going to attack them deep - yet with such soft coverage Tebow took advantage of that too.

Neither team impressed me much in the beginning of that game - in the end both showed a helluva lot of tenacity.

Patriots will contain Tebow but it will still be a hard fought game.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

I was only talking about this year. Numbers that occurred when Timtebow was at UF don't seem overly relevant. My points with those numbers:

- The majority of Timtebow's yards passing are going to Thomas, most of those on downfield passes. You think Belichick might have a plan to deal with that?

- Timtebow on the road has racked up wins, but they haven't been pretty. Except for the Vikings game (worst in the league with a 107 QB rating against) he hasn't passed over 50% or above 185 yds on the road.

- Timtebow is a Florida boy that has almost no experience playing in freezing weather. Near as I can tell, he has played 2 games in his life with the opening temperature under 40 degrees...the losses at Buffalo and against KC week #17. It is a different animal trying to grip and spin a frozen ball, particularly when his success has been on downfield throws. Add in denser cold air, the likely breeze at the Razor and the proximity of Foxboro to sea level and his long passes should look like punts. His shorter passes are inaccurate in the best of conditions.

- If you want to beat the Pats, you are going to have to pass to do it. Timtebow only has 2 games with 30+ attempts...the wipeout against the Lions and the Chicago win (the Hanie/Barber game). Of the Pats losses this year, Manning's 39 attempts were the lowest...and that came in a game where he was shut down pretty well until the last two (PI-influenced) drives.

I see almost no trends that favor the Broncos. They expended everything against the Steelers, have limited time to rest/regroup/prepare before travelling cross-country on Friday and have a need to implement something new on defense to slow down the Pats.

The Pats are relatively healthy (think Chung and Spikes will help against the run?), have first-hand info on the Broncos, haven't boarded a plane in over 3 weeks, have Gronk/AHern/Welker completely healthy (didn't have that in the Ravens and Jets losses) and are hyper-motivated to avoid another one-n-done at home with that MHK painting in their locker room.

I know "any given Sunday" and all...but they aren't playing on Sunday. And the last time Timtebow played on Saturday the Bills won 40-14. I see a similar result this Saturday.

Should the Broncs even bother to show up??

BTW a close hard fought game will serve the Patriots better than a 40 - 14 blowout. This team needs to develop playoff toughness with their next opponent, Hou or Blt, being very physical teams.

 

[Metaphors]

Should the Broncs even bother to show up??

Absolutely. Belief and desire can go a long way. My real issue is the media infatuation with taking the last thing they see and projecting it indefinitely into the future. Uh oh. Now the Pats can't stack the box or Timtebow will throw for 400 yards against them. Nonsense. In fact, Timtebow may feel pressure to go deep more often now despite a less aggressive Pats defense.

BTW a close hard fought game will serve the Patriots better than a 40 - 14 blowout. This team needs to develop playoff toughness with their next opponent, Hou or Blt, being very physical teams.

Totally disagree. The last thing you want heading into a physical game is another physical game. The Pats need to a) stay healthy and b) execute at a high level. The Pats want this to turn into a 7x7 scrimmage rather than hard-hitting, earn every yard type of game.

 

[goheels22002]

Tim Tebow is now the greatest post-season passer in NFL history.

His 125.8 passer rating blows away former record holder Aaron Rodgers' 112.6 passer rating and dwarfs Tom Brady's pedestrian 85.7 post-season career passer rating.

Tebow also holds the NFL career post-season YPA record with 15.0 yards per attempt - a favorite of the boys at Cold Hard Football Facts.

This guy, who has never lost a playoff game, is re-writing the NFL record books while you scoff.

 

[AzPatsFan]

All this talk about the Pats and 20+ yard plays, one caveat to throw out there is that the Pats were relatively low in plays allowed over 40 yards which they gave up ten which makes them around 14-15th in the league in fewest given up. I know that isn't much of a comfort, but considering most of the big plays the Steelers gave up were well over 20 yards (several way over 40 yards) this needs to be brought up.

This is fairly important in that the Steelers got burnt in a Cover 0 formation a lot yesterday where the Pats usually play to keep the play in front of them in a Cover 1 or Cover 2 which means they can give up a lot of 10-20 yards plays, but rarely over 30 yards plays.

The very essence of why 'Bend but don't Break' works. Even with the large number of pass completions into the sideline gap weakenss of the Cover 2, few went for TDs. The poor Safety play, never being there on time, to handle the overlong throws, made MCourtey look bad, to the fans, while he was correctly playing 'inside behind' technique, for the underthrows; but he closed and made the tackle or the late arriving Safety did, before the WR broke away for a score, after the completion.

It explains the 20 yard completions, and not the 30-50 yard completions that they might have become.

Having a real Safety in Chung back healthy, helps lots.