- I have never played a down of football personally in my life. I admit that freely.
- I have watched games as a fan since I was 5 years old, and since the age of around 14, have enjoyed watching the Xs and Os side of life - why teams do what they do when they do it.
- I am, technically, a member of the Catholic faith. I have not been inside a church in at least 20 years.
The big hangups on Tim Tebow are his religious beliefs and his throwing motion. I will tackle both of those here. First up, the religious beliefs.
Usually I have an issue with people I term as "happy-clappies" - overly zealous religious people who seek to, in my humble opinion, sway you to their position on issues of faith or become self-righteous about their view on an issue that could involve their faith. This is not everyone that is religious, but the majority of people I encounter of this ilk are like this. I do know people that can have calm conversations about "sensitive" topics where they have differing beliefs but can see the other point of the argument, even if they disagree. They are rare, but they do exist.
Back to Tebow. Tebow has made no secret of his religious views since his days at Florida. This is not a shock to people, or should not be. But religion is one of those "taboo" topics that people are always uncomfortable talking about, or hearing about. People get crazy when they get uncomfortable. But I personally look at it from the other side of the coin: Tebow's genuine. To paraphrase a famous comedian, George Carlin, Jesus is on every athlete's lips when they win, but never mentioned when they lose.
How does Tebow start almost every press conference? "First off, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...". Win or lose. Blown out by the Patriots and Tom Brady? Same line. Overtime win against Pittsburgh in the playoffs? Same line. Consistency I respect a lot. It takes true faith to believe in God when times are tough. Normal people just fold. Myself included.
I respect that about Tebow. I may not share his fervor for Jesus, but I respect that he does because he does it consistently.
Next is the attitude on the field. NOTHING rattles this guy on the field. If Tebow makes a mistake, he owns up to it and promises better results in the next series. If a teammate misses a key play, Tebow is the first to be there and promise better times and results for that teammate ahead. This is his makeup thanks to his religious foundation - Tim Tebow sees the larger picture of life, and football is a small part of his life. That is blasphemous to football worshippers. I respect it, personally. But this foundation of religion makes Tebow unshakeable on the field. With that faith in God, himself, and his teammates, you cannot rattle him ever. There is nothing you can say or do to him to shake his belief that he will triumph in the end. I think if there wasn't a timekeeper, Tebow would just keep going until he won or was told to stop.
Personally, I would rather have a quarterback with supreme intangibles over supreme athletic ability to play the position. Which will lead me to my final thought on Tebow: his mechanics.
ESPN has dissected this kid down to the minute details. "He can't do this....He needs to improve his throwing motion...." Tebow is not perfect as a pocket passer. He's never been asked to do that, though. He's always been a spread option quarterback, or a read-option quarterback. He's never been asked to be a true pocket quarterback.
Is he rough around the edges? Absolutely. Is he consistent as a passer? Absolutely not.
But he's getting better.
He reminds me a bit of another left handed, mobile quarterback who started off kinda rocky in the NFL and USFL (remember that league, kids?). A guy who, honestly, had a better release, but was a run-first type quarterback when he got onto the scene. He got some solid tutelage from a future Hall of Famer, and, when he got his chance, made it count.
Guess who I'm talking about yet? Steve Young.
If the Broncos continue to take care of Tebow with John Elway providing some tutelage while getting Tim some great coaching, Tebow could be better than Elway was.
I knocked Tebow's mechanics when he came out of college and said, at best, he would be a backup quarterback in the NFL. Just like any of Tebow's critics, he is proving me very wrong, and I personally love it. I also said that if Tebow succeeded in any form, I would be the first to line up and say I was wrong.
To this stage in Tebow's career, I was wrong.
Tebow's religious foundation builds his extreme intangibles, and those intangibles, along with his athleticism, wins games. His religious foundation builds his work ethic, which in turn will make him better in the long term.
Josh McDaniels, former Broncos head coach, may have gone crazy with drafting Tebow in the first round. But ultimately he may have the last laugh if Tebow is successful in the long run.
No comments:
Post a Comment