Is John Elway Afraid Of Tim Tebow?
What’s His Deal? Is John Elway Afraid Of Tim Tebow?
(AP Photo/ Eric Bakke)
By: Toby Christie – @Tobalical on Twitter
John Elway just will not put his stamp of approval on Tim Tebow as his franchise quarterback yet, even though Tebow has proven to be a miracle worker as he’s methodically worked the Denver Broncos back into playoff contention from what was the NFL equivalent of hell at a 1-4 record. The Broncos now sit at .500 with a 5-5 record thanks in large part to Tebow’s bruising playing style, and clutch performance late in games… yet it’s not enough for Elway – yet.
During John Elway’s weekly radio show on KDSP-FM (102.3 the Ticket) on Monday morning, the Broncos’ chief of football operations was asked if he was “any closer to feeling if you have your quarterback on this team?”
Elway took a moment to think and emphatically answered, “No.”
Elway would go on to say that Tebow has to make strides on being a better passer, and improve on third down. He even said that his team can’t win a world championship going 3-13 on third down. World championship? Woah John slow your roll a bit.
Tebow is the equivalent of an NFL rookie after just eight starts in the NFL, and you’re already judging him as if he should be in the Super Bowl? Maybe he would be better on third down had you not stupidly traded away his No. one target (Brandon Lloyd) for what? a fifth round pick?
It seems that after Tebow has racked up four wins in his five starts since Kyle Orton was supplanted, and the fact that he’s doing it with little to no weapons around him that something else has to be keeping Elway from praising his quarterback… Is it jealousy? I think so.
No Denver Broncos quarterback had ever been cheered before or after No. 7 (John Elway) came through Denver. He was the only toast of the town as far as football players go due to his late game heroics and winning pedigree (sounds familiar huh?) – that is until Tebow marched into town.
Fans immediately bought No. 15 jerseys after draft day last year and chanted for Elway and the Broncos staff to place Tebow as the starter instead of the fledgling Kyle Orton. The fans have gotten their wish, and Tebow is now the hottest topic in the entire league… and all of a sudden Elway can’t keep his mouth shut. Why? Because he enjoys the spotlight too, and he is getting jealous.
I did some research and have concluded that Elway (a hall of fame quarterback) should know better than anyone not to judge a quarterback by a rough start to their career. Elway had a rookie year to forget back in 1983, but just for the sake of comparing apples to apples, here are Elway’s and Tebow’s career statistics through their first eight NFL starts of their careers – you be the judge of who is off to a better start.
John Elway
Record: 2-6 (25% winning percentage)
87-181 Passing (48%), 1,175 Yards, 4 TD, 10 INT
22 Rushes, 112 Yards, 1 TD
Not too impressive, now let’s look at the “horrible mess” that is Tim Tebow:
Tim Tebow
Record: 5-3 (62.5% winning percentage)
97-207 passing (47%), 1,363 Yards, 12 TD, 4 INT
99 Rushes, 615 Yards, 9 TD
Oh wait Tebow’s stats outside of completion percentage are pretty damn good… Hmm maybe it’s time for everyone on ESPN and the front office of the Denver Broncos to sit back and enjoy the show, instead of picking it apart every week. The guy is winning football games – period, and Elway should realize that this does nothing but improve his legend in Denver as he is in the front office for all of this.
posted by WestEnd @ Friday, March 23, 2012
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