Player Signing Why did this team sign Tebow?

[Demosthenes]

Belichick has a great sense of humor according to many players. Past and present. I do agree with the troll thought. He's trolling the media. You're an amateur in every sense of the word compared to Belichick.

nice try sunshine

 

[larryo]

nice try sunshine

Ahh a Sudfeld fan. Good for you. You're growing as a Patriots fan.

 

[Demosthenes]

Ahh a Sudfeld fan. Good for you. You're growing as a Patriots fan.

You still yapping Sunshine ?

 

[SDI_Gator]

You still yapping Sunshine ?

This thread has become my daily entertainment. It just gets better every day.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

4. I'm a little disappointed at all the obsession over that 53rd spot. That's always a tough call, and the coaches have to decide what they think they need. A 3rd QB always displaces another position player, and most 3rd QB's are a wasted roster spot in some sense. To see fans here saying "My main thing is I cherish that 53rd roster spot" is a little bit non-productive. If the coaching staff thinks they can work Tebow into a backfill for Mallet, he's worth that 53rd spot. REasonable people can disagree, but it's kind of disingenuous to act like that's the issue.

Nobody's saying they "cherish" the 53 rd spot. It's all about earning the spot. The Patriots under BB have almost always made players earn their job year in and year out, from Brady to the 53rd guy on the roster. Chad Johnson may be the other exception.

It appears that if Tebow does indeed make the team, it won't be based on merit, it will be based on favoritism and maybe JMD's shot at redemption. He will be held to a lower standard than everybody else and a more deserving player will be out of a job. It's not the way they've conducted business, it's not the Patriot way they've asked other players to buy into.

 

[Brady6]

4. I'm a little disappointed at all the obsession over that 53rd spot. That's always a tough call, and the coaches have to decide what they think they need. A 3rd QB always displaces another position player, and most 3rd QB's are a wasted roster spot in some sense. To see fans here saying "My main thing is I cherish that 53rd roster spot" is a little bit non-productive. If the coaching staff thinks they can work Tebow into a backfill for Mallet, he's worth that 53rd spot. REasonable people can disagree, but it's kind of disingenuous to act like that's the issue.

We build our roster around depth; therefore the 53rd player is important, despite your belief otherwise. Let’s look some of the players that have been rumored as candidates to be cut –

Develin – FB
Cunningham – DE/DT
Bolden – RB/ST
Bequette – DE/OLB
Cole – CB/ST
Fells – TE
Hooman – TE
Buchanan – DE/OLB
Beauharnais – LB/ST
Dowling – CB
Ebner – SS/ST
Wilson – SS/ST

Now ask yourself these 3 questions –

1. Is Tebow more likely to be signed by another team if cut than any of these players, if so please name which players?
2. Is Tebow more likely to contribute more to the Patriots in 2013 than any of these players, if so please name which players?
3. Is Tebow going to fill a role or a specific need in 2013 more than any of these players, if so please name which players?

 

[Oinko]

Nobody's saying they "cherish" the 53 rd spot. It's all about earning the spot. The Patriots under BB have almost always made players earn their job year in and year out, from Brady to the 53rd guy on the roster. Chad Johnson may be the other exception.

It appears that if Tebow does indeed make the team, it won't be based on merit, it will be based on favoritism and maybe JMD's shot at redemption. He will be held to a lower standard than everybody else and a more deserving player will be out of a job. It's not the way they've conducted business, it's not the Patriot way they've asked other players to buy into.

You're prejudging -- if he gets the spot, he earned the spot. They would have decided that he brings enough to the table to make it worth it.

The coaches have to decide whether that 6th DE or DB or LB or whatever is more likely to make a contribution. A lot of teams carry a 3rd QB, and they have to go through a similar thought process (because most 3rd QB's will never see the field as QB, yet somehow take up a spot). Tebow at least changes the math with his ability to play punt protector. He had the Texans leaving their starting defense in last year when he was at punt protector. (Again, up the coaches whether they want to go that direction).

 

[ATippett56]

Tebow at least changes the math with his ability to play punt protector.

Which led to a blocked punt for the NY Jets special teams.

 

[larryo]

This thread has become my daily entertainment. It just gets better every day.

Oh inside joke. Gotcha. They must write themselves as great as the Tebow jokes do. ManFan Trolls fascinate me. I'll keep watching.

 

[Demosthenes]

Which led to a blocked punt for the NY Jets special teams.

Thnk the blocked punt was against Miami. Against the Texans, it was a fake punt play that failed due to a missed block on the line.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

You're prejudging -- if he gets the spot, he earned the spot. They would have decided that he brings enough to the table to make it worth it.

The coaches have to decide whether that 6th DE or DB or LB or whatever is more likely to make a contribution. A lot of teams carry a 3rd QB, and they have to go through a similar thought process (because most 3rd QB's will never see the field as QB, yet somehow take up a spot). Tebow at least changes the math with his ability to play punt protector. He had the Texans leaving their starting defense in last year when he was at punt protector. (Again, up the coaches whether they want to go that direction).

Ah, the old he has a job therefore he earned the job argument. He's incapable of running the Patriots offense and apparently incapable of running plays designed for him. I can't believe anyone can say he has earned a job up to this point. If he doesn't dramatically improve but still gets a spot, he will not have earned it.

 

[Ironman44]

And if he gets cut will the Tebowites accept that he's crap or will they move on and claim that he didn't get a fair shot?

I needed to revisit this and answer it properly:

I think all you have to do is read the post on here, every single tebow fan said he played pretty much like crap the last two games.

Tebow fans saying he played great just does not exist. Its a made up argument that is not real.

Also most (I cant say all because i have not read every post) tebow fans on here have said that no matter what happens the patriots have been fair and if he gets cut it is what it is.

The question you posed has been answered already by the majority of Tebow fans on these boards (all 7 of them)

 

[Boogs]

Ah, the old he has a job therefore he earned the job argument. He's incapable of running the Patriots offense and apparently incapable of running plays designed for him. I can't believe anyone can say he has earned a job up to this point. If he doesn't dramatically improve but still gets a spot, he will not have earned it.

That's Bill Belichick's decision. I'll respect his decision if Tebow gets cut. But you and few other internet wanna be coaches will not respect Bill's decision if Tebow is still on the roster this season.

 

[Oinko]

I think all you have to do is read the post on here, every single tebow fan said he played pretty much like crap the last two games.

Tebow fans saying he played great just does not exist. Its a made up argument that is not real.

Also most (I cant say all because i have not read every post) tebow fans on here have said that no matter what happens the patriots have been fair and if he gets cut it is what it is.

The question you posed has been answered already by the majority of Tebow fans on these boards (all 7 of them)

Forget it, man. It's like talking to a brick wall.

 

[Oinko]

Thnk the blocked punt was against Miami. Against the Texans, it was a fake punt play that failed due to a missed block on the line.

Against the Texans, they left in their first string defense on 4th and 3. The Jets still faked it, Tebow with the keeper (shocker), and he drove the line for a first down anyway. They knew it was coming and he still got it.

The point is, maybe you do that 2 or 3 times a season. But if he can capably hold down the blocking part, it will help compromise the other team's return team. Because either they will make a personnel change or change how they block for the return.

The punt protector thing totally worked last year. Nobody seemed to care, but the Jets had a very high rate of success on faked punts with Tebow at punt protector.

 

[sb1]

I get what you are saying and I agree for the most part. But you are focused on the details of Sabermetrics (the numbers/stats) while I'm talking about the underlying philosophy of it and why it was developed.

I understand that. I just think the kind of analysis into who would make a great player is a completely different animal in football compared to baseball.

 

[SDI_Gator]

Thnk the blocked punt was against Miami. Against the Texans, it was a fake punt play that failed due to a missed block on the line.

Don't bother Demo, it's Tebow's fault no matter what. Even if Westoff came out and actually said it wasn't..

 

[Brady6]

Yes an no. Why did Sabermetrics even come about ? Because guys in baseball were looking at certain characteristics/stats and basing their decisions off of them. In short, it was baseball's "conventional wisdom". Sabermetrics went against that.

"Conventional wisdom" is also prevalent in the NFL, only in a slightly different form. You MUST be X tall and weigh Y amount to play at a given position. Look at Russell Wilson, one of the reasons he went low in the draft because @ 5'11" he doesn't have the "prototypical" QB Height.

The theory for money-ball places no emphasis on the player body or his physical tools. Tebow does not fit that segment at all; saber-metrics is basically designed to identify players who skillsets go unnoticed, their contributions are undervalued and they’re not considered elite or even impact players; in a nutshell it identifies the underdogs. Tim Tebow is the furthest thing from an underdog this world has ever seen –

1. Named Florida’s Mr. Football and multiple other awards during his high school career.
2. 5-star college recruit who elected to player for one of the most well-known teams in the country.
3. Heisman Trophy winner and dozens of other awards during his NFL career.
4. Featured on ESPN and SI more times in/on more times than any other college athlete in history.
5. First round draft pick in the 2010 NFL draft.
6. Forbes 2013 most influential athlete in the world.

Aside from the fact Andrew Luck was more of an underdog than Tim Tebow, the other reason why saber-metrics do not apply to Tebow is he is physically gifted, more gifted than many NFL QB’s. If Billy Beane or Bill James were building an NFL franchise using saber-metrics I can assure you Tim Tebow would fall into the top 1% of players they would not want.

 

[supafly]

Ah, the old he has a job therefore he earned the job argument. He's incapable of running the Patriots offense and apparently incapable of running plays designed for him. I can't believe anyone can say he has earned a job up to this point. If he doesn't dramatically improve but still gets a spot, he will not have earned it.

Let me start by saying that I'm actually in agreement with you.

I don't think Tebow deserves to make the team based on what we've seen; however, Belichick sees a lot more and will base his decision on more than just preseason performances. We've actually even heard him come out within the past few days with his comments about how he believes Tebow is progressing in certain areas.

Therefore it's hard to definitely say that "he hasn't earned his job," because we aren't privvy to any behind the scenes practices, film study, improvement in recognition/mechanics, or corrections that Tebow may have made anywhere else.

I definitely hear what you're saying...I'm just pointing out some other things that may often come into play when Belichick attempts to assess these situations, that's all. We've certainly kept developmental players in the past who didn't look too hot (at all) in their preseason action at first.

 

[Oinko]

Thnk the blocked punt was against Miami. Against the Texans, it was a fake punt play that failed due to a missed block on the line.

And I just double-checked as best I could. There was no failed fake punt against the Texans. But the time the Jets played the Patriots, the Jets had succeeded on 3 of 3 faked punts with Tebow running twice and throwing once. It was noted that the Patriots changed their punt defense and essentially defended every punt as if it was a fake.

I'm actually not sure the Jets ever faked one again. I just can't remember. According to his statline, he only had 2 rushes on 4th down for the whole season.