Why Tim Tebow Stinks

Ever since he's been starting for the Broncos, I've been insisting that Tim Tebow is a horrible quarterback.  Now, the media is all over how great Tebow is now, since the Broncos are 5-1 since he became the starter, compared to 1-4 before he became their guy.  But let's be clear-- the Broncos are winning despite Tebow, not because of him.  To figure out why, all you have to do is watch Tebow play.  And it's not unfair to say that the guy is awful.  The job of the quarterback is to complete passes and move his team down the field.  And Tim Tebow is in the discussion for the worst in the league at doing that.  He's had one game in which he's completed half of his passes.  For the season, he's completed 45%.  In the NFL, 55% is a bad completion percentage for your quarterback.  JaMarcus Russell is widely recognized as a massive bust.  For his career, he's completed 52% of his passes.  Tebow hasn't completed more than 50% of his passes in a single GAME.  But, you might say, Tebow can run.  Doesn't that have value? Well sure.  But this isn't college, where you can run the option.  Vince Young can run, too.  He was benched by the Titans and let go because the team wasn't moving the ball.  But Vince Young's completed 58% of his passes for his career.

Now, the nicest thing you can say about Tebow is that he doesn't throw interceptions.  And it's true-- he's only thrown 1 pick in 143 attempts.  But it goes a little deeper than that if you watch the games.  Tebow's only thrown 1 pick largely because he's so inaccurate, he doesn't just put the ball where his receiver can't get it-- he puts it where NO ONE can catch it.  Tebow's the quarterback who's not allowed to throw.  Which is a completely absurd concept-- it's the equivalent of an NBA point guard who isn't allowed to dribble.  Against the Chiefs, he completed TWO passes.  And they won.  They're second to last in the league in passing yards (to the Jags, who threw an overmatched rookie QB into the fire on a team with no line).  They lead the league in rushing, but are STILL 25th in the league in offense because Tebow's such a terrible passer.

Tebow defenders say two things.  First, that he's winning games.  And yeah, that's true.  But football's a team sport.  And he's actually got pretty good pieces around him.  The Broncos' offensive line is terrific (as I mentioned, they're leading the league in rushing).  Their defense, led by rookie stud Von Miller (who wears sweet hipster glasses; see pic below) has really stepped it up lately.  And the teams they've been playing just aren't particularly good (the only good team they played was the Lions; they got run out of the building).  The offense, since Tebow took over, is actually playing worse.  We can exclude the first Chargers game (since both QBs played). The 4 games before that, the Broncos scored 20 or more points 3 times.  Since then, they've scored more than 20 points once.  And that included a one-play drive that was a touchdown run and a punt return for a touchdown.  The defense has also been much better.  In the first 5 games, they allowed fewer than 20 points once.  In the last 6, they've allowed more than 20 twice (and one of those wouldn't have gotten to 20 if it hadn't been for a Denver turnover handing Oakland the ball on the Denver 15).  In the last 3 games, they've allowed 10, 13, and 13.  So the defense has really stepped it up.

                                               Von Miller, Superstud

The other defense Tebow loyalists have is that he just "wills his team to victory."  Well that's stupid.  By that standard, Rudy was a great player because he made everyone else at Notre Dame work harder.  At the end of the day, being "inspiring" is great if you're a good player.  If you stink, it doesn't go very far.  And if guys aren't giving 100% when someone else is playing quarterback, when those guys are professional athletes, well, they're not earning their paychecks.  So let's be clear-- Tim Tebow is a terrible football player.  If the Broncos want to be a player, they should be pushing to replace him.  Of course, it's possible to win despite your quarterback-- the Bears went to the Super Bowl with Rex Grossman under center (though it's unfair to compare Grossman to Tebow; Rex might be a turnover machine, but, unlike Tebow, he can move the ball); the Ravens won it with Trent Dilfer as their starter.  But no one in their right mind thinks those teams were winning because of their QBs.

So let's be real-- Tim Tebow is a terrible QB who the media is making a big deal of because he was a Boy Scout and is on a team that's winning despite him stinking it up.