POTD Tim Tebow, QB - Mobile Passers
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=== Tebow's Game Style: the Mobile QB ===
And yet here we are, Tim Tebow is heading to the divisional round of the playoffs because of what? Poise? Moxie? Leadership ability? Character? Unique Physical Gifts? Divine intervention?
Tebow is in that class of quarterbacks whose biggest positive, in their first five years, is that they get more time to throw than other quarterbacks do. Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Vince Young, Bobby Douglass, Fran Tarkenton...
You know who was the 1980's prototype of this? John Elway!
Most of you amigos weren't around when John Elway was beating the Seahawks with .... moronic downfield decisions, stupefyingly inconsistent passing, (what seemed like) outrageous luck, and .... great mobility combined with eternal optimism and confidence.
John Elway had a rookie QB rating of 54.9 ... he had 7 TD's all year, 14 interceptions, and a whopping 4.5 yards per pass. John Elway didn't get better any time soon. Ten years later, at the age of 32, he was still running ratings in the 50's and throwing 10 touchdowns against 17 picks. It was really only those last couple of Super Bowls that rehabilitated Elway, even made him this living legend figure that he never was during his first ten years.
Moe and Mariner Analyst will back me up. The quintessential Broncos-Seahawks play, in the 1980's, would be John Elway dropping back to pass, coming under pressure .... tearing out of the pocket, LOOKS - LOOKS - LOOKS, somebody comes at him, he tears over to the other hash mark, LOOKS - LOOKS - LOOKS, and after (literally) 7 or 8 or 10 seconds, firing a pass 30 yards downfield for the only score of the second half.
John Elway, his first 10 years, couldn't read a defense to save his life. He was big, strong, and fast, and he bought himself time, and with his boundless optimism he made some plays. That's all.
Tim Tebow, in his second year, can't read a defense to save his life. He's big, strong, and fast, and the option threat gets him long looks downfield, and with his boundless optimistm he makes some plays. That's all.
Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Tebow's quarterback rating already comparable to Elway's career rating?
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You know who else was like that? Terry Bradshaw. The guy was never a sophisticated passer. He won four Super Bowls because he was big and strong, and he tried stuff.
Tebow is never going to be Drew Brees. Never in a million years. The recent blizzard of great pocket passers -- Manning, Brady, Rodgers, Brees -- has been great. But a mobile quarterback causes the problems for the defense to proliferate, sometimes past the point of containment. If we get off of the idea of Tebow some day becoming Peyton Manning, and we get onto the idea of Tebow some day becoming John Elway, we'll be fine.
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