The Hangover, Part 2: So, Now What?

In the end, it wasn’t faith or a lack thereof that led those who don’t like Tim Tebow the Quarterback to dislike Tim Tebow the Quarterback.

Maybe it was a lack of ability. 34% passing against the 31st ranked defense in the league displayed it for all to see.

Or maybe it was Tebow’s inability to do anything other than run the option which, once figured out, was dead in the water.

Maybe it was the 10 points. 10. 10 of them. | | | | | | | | | | < That many. Against a team that had put up 14 points after only one Bronco possession.

Of course the defense deserves blame. They were playing against one of the best offenses in the league, knew they had to reach the quarterback, knew they had to play lights out. And they didn't. And it was awful to watch.

But for right now, we're looking at one place and one place only. The Offense.

What I’ve noticed from Bronco fans is that we’re expected to pile on an injured defense playing against the best quarterback of our era, against a team with one of the top two offenses in the league this year. Clearly THEY are to blame. Yet the Bronco offense, Tim Tebow in particular, get no blame for putting up 10 pathetic points against the 31st ranked defense in the league.

Obviously, the Denver defense should have held the league’s top-scoring offense to 9 points or less. That seems about right. Anything to distract from Tebow’s dismal performance.

Look, this isn’t a column about whether or not Tim Tebow will start next year, or whether he should, or whether he shouldn’t, or anything else. I think he will, and I think he should, as I think he’s earned it. This team wouldn’t be where it is without him; his faith, leadership and strength has been the glue to the amazing end-of-season run.

I just wonder if we’re going to look back at the Pittsburgh game as the high water mark of a career that teams seem to be figuring out. Because at some point, you’ve got to beat your opponent on the field, and having faith alone isn’t going to do it. You’ve gotta complete more than 34% of your passes in big games.

I’ve been called all sorts of names for daring to debate whether Tim Tebow is the greatest offensive force in the entire world, despite not being able to throw the ball accurately as a quarterback. I’ve been told that it wouldn’t matter if Peyton Manning were directing the Broncos’ offense last night, as we still wouldn’t have won. Folks, this game was over in the first quarter because our quarterback isn’t good at throwing the ball. We didn’t even have a chance in hell of sticking with the Patriots, because we don’t have a quarterback who can throw accurately. I love to win as much as the next guy, we’re not going to win every game, and I would really rather not lose in such embarrassing fashion.

The Patriots had a three point plan: 1. Get a two score lead. 2. Sit on Tebow’s face. 3. Fart.

Bill Belichick, like most commentators around the league and a majority of fans who don’t have their heads in the sand, had a good plan based around the notion that Tim Tebow isn’t an accurate passer, that he doesn’t make decisions quickly, that if you take away his legs, his “magic” is subdued completely.

The man who knows Tebow’s weaknesses more than most had a hand in this as well. Josh McDaniels, the kid who drafted Tebow in Denver, tried to mold him into a quarterback, then immediately extended Kyle Orton’s contract because he could see Tebow wasn’t even close, was hired last week to be an offensive assistant coach for the Patriots. He knows better than anyone not on the Broncos coaching staff what Tebow can and cannot do, and I’m quite certain he was consulted while the game plan was being installed last week.

So we go back to the drawing board. We’ll add more weapons for Tebow’s arsenal. Unfortunately, unless we get him an arm transplant, it’s unlikely to do much good.

In the end, quarterbacks have to be able to throw the ball. This is one of the three perpetual truths in the world (the others: 1. It’s hard to pee with a woody, and 2. Bewbs are good) that cannot be overlooked, debated or hidden behind large walls of faith and piousness.

Can Tim Tebow improve enough to actually get in line with that perpetual truth? He’s got so far to go just to reach the level of an average quarterback, and it’s more than just “improve throwing,” or “get better making decisions,” because it’s both of those things and there’s only so much time in the day.

Teams in the NFL go as far as their quarterback can take them. What we saw throughout this year of Tebow Exposition was that he’s able to beat the bad teams, but not easily, and he’ll always lose to the best teams by a lot. Which means he’ll be just good enough to play 8-8 football, and if we do make the playoffs, we’ll inevitably play a team with an elite quarterback and will probably lose in spectacular fashion, like we did last night.

I have this misguided hope that we as Bronco fans will go into next season with our eyes open and our heads on straight. I have this hope that we’ll be able to evaluate Tebow performances, good and bad, without name calling.

What Will Tim Tebow Do? Hopefully he’ll work on his game.

There is much work to do.