It is currently August 25th, 2011. The lockup ended a couple of months ago. Football season is gearing up and my favorite football player is under attack from the media.
Tim Tebow is getting lambasted for his poor preseason performance and his fall down the depth chart from projected starter to third string QB, behind former first round QB Brady Quinn. Everyone is starting to pile on and it’s getting a bit ridiculous. Here are the quotes I want to record:
Boomer Esiason:
"The kid is a tremendous character kid,…"If he said he wanted to marry my daughter, I'd be happy as hell, because he's that kind of person. But I wouldn't want him to be my first-round draft choice starting quarterback, which he's not capable of being right now. If he was drafted in the fifth round, we wouldn't be talking about this. But the fact he was drafted so high ... it's one of the reasons in my opinion Josh McDaniels was fired…I think what I said was accurate, and I'll stand by it…I'm not backing away from it or apologizing for it. It's unfortunate he got drafted so high because a great deal of scrutiny and criticism comes with that…He can't play. He can't throw,… (comparing Tebow to Russell) JaMarcus Russell, for different reasons (than Tebow), couldn't play in the NFL,…if JaMarcus Russell had the work ethic and desire to be great and to really put the effort forth and he had what Tim Tebow had in intangibles, he probably would be a winner. If Tim Tebow had the god-given ability that JaMarcus Russell had, he'd be a Hall of Fame quarterback." "But you can see the accuracy, you can see the struggle that he has going through the progressions and understanding the offense. And it's indicative that (new Broncos coach) John Fox has said that Brady Quinn is probably outplaying him right now." Tim Tebow is just a player that doesn't have the fundamentals, the arm and the natural ability at this point to be a franchise quarterback."
Michael Silver:
(On Tebow being the worst QB in camp) “If you’re wondering about the plight of that other inexperienced passer on the Broncos’ roster – how far and fast he has fallen in the eyes of his bosses – consider that at least some people in the organization believe that Tim Tebow is the fourth-best quarterback on the roster. As one highly knowledgeable member of the organization told me Monday: ‘If everything was totally equal, and this were a competition based only on performance at this camp, Tebow would probably be the fourth-string guy. Kyle [Orton] is far and away the best, and Tebow’s way behind [Brady] Quinn too. And I’m telling you, Adam Weber is flat-out better right now.’”
Merrill Hoge:
“You’ve got to look at a couple flaws that Tim Tebow had at Florida and still has in the National Football League that I don’t believe ever get better…First of all, his delivery is such an elongated motion that you have to have a complete, clear pocket for him to be successful down the field. If you don’t have that, you’re going to struggle. Yes, he completes it, but that’s a perfect setting, In the National Football League, almost 50 percent of all throws are under duress. So you’re not going to have that every time…(On his throwing motion) That will never change — that will always be there…if they start Tim Tebow, players are not stupid. That coaching staff will have no respect from the players.”
I don’t take umbrage with the media being the media. They can criticize whoever they feel they should and I am going to remember when they are wrong. And I know that they won’t always be right and are in fact usually wrong. From Brian Brohm to Patrick Peterson – issues big and small – they are all pretty poor at their jobs in general. Even the good ones like the guys at Rotoworld.com are not impervious from reading the tea leaves too closely. I posted an online mock of the 2011 draft comparing my picks to Evan Silvia’s and he finished with only a few picks more correct than mine.
But the reason I am writing this is because if I don’t get this opinion time stamped now, people won’t believe me later on. I will get no credit and no one will care.
Here are/was my predictions:
1.) I said Tim Tebow was going to be a first round pick as a QB and mocked him to the Vikings. (They never got a chance to pick him because Denver traded up to get him.)
2.) I said that he would play QB in the NFL. (So far, he has played no other position.)
3.) I said that he would win lots of games in the NFL. (He has 1 of 3 in the win column thus far. Not a great start, but the Broncos were no well oiled machine either.)
4.) I said that he was fast enough and elusive enough to run on NFL defenses as a dual threat QB. (So far, his gameplay has been limited to mostly goal line work, but if you search for “Tim Tebow scores a long rushing TD in first start” you will see him weave 40 yards down the field for a TD on a third at 24 play in his very first game starting. A little wild but not too shabby.)
5.) I am saying that he will be voted to a Pro-Bowl.
6.) I am saying that he will win a Superbowl as a QB and will be an important part of the offense.
I have been saying this stuff for a while and I have yet to incorrectly predict anything. Outside of injury, Tebow should see starts this season and I think he will have some modicum of success. How he makes the Probowl and gets the ring has yet to be seen, but so far my predictions have all outshined the critics. And I haven’t seen a single thing out of Tebow that has made me want to change any of my predictions.
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