Highlights

[HORSEPOWER 56]

Here are the Tebow Highlights for those of us who couldn't watch the game.


http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81d0b5df/Week-15-Tim-Tebow-highlights?module=HP_video

I didn't get to see the Lance Ball drop or Gaffney catch on the post-game shows so they were new to me. I don't know about you guys, but it looks like we've got a winner here.

[Day1BroncoFan]

Thanks for that. I didn't get to see the game either.

[topscribe]

That was a gorgeous TD throw. One person mentioned that he floated the
ball. Had he not "floated" it, however, he would not have gotten it over the
defenders. That was a touch pass I had not seen from him before. Truly,
though still raw, he still has developed nicely . . .

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[The Glue Factory]

Hopefully they unleash Tebow more next week. He's ready to take the reigns imo. That passing TD was fantastic! I doubt Orton could have done much better with healthy ribs and Tebow isn't going to get caught behind LOS nearly as much as Orton will either. I will go as far to say that Tebow is the best QB Denver has seen since Elway.

[topscribe]

Where the rubber meets the road is how well he will do after opponents have
gathered some film on him. That is what I want to see . . .

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[HORSEPOWER 56]

Hopefully they unleash Tebow more next week. He's ready to take the reigns imo. That passing TD was fantastic! I doubt Orton could have done much better with healthy ribs and Tebow isn't going to get caught behind LOS nearly as much as Orton will either. I will go as far to say that Tebow is the best QB Denver has seen since Elway.

That's pretty strong praise. I've watched a lot of Tebow in college (go figure, Jacksonville FL) and I've never seen the dude just "suck" or even have "bad" games. I will say this, he will keep the team motiviated and he'll be the most fiery leader we've had since Elway, that's for sure. Nobody will out work him at practice and none of his teammates will be able to ever call him out for dogging it or not leading by example.

I really like the guy. I really hope he succeeds here. He's a winner.

[camdisco24]

We can start throwing around Elway comparisons after a few meaningful games next season... Today was amazing and SOOO much fun to watch, but idk that we can make that connection yet.

Don't get me wrong, I hope we can. I want Tebow to be the star in Denver just as much as the next guy!

[Tned]

Another factor that nobody has really talked about was the rain. At times, it was really pouring hard. The footing was not good. Both kickers fell on their asses partially missing the ball on kickoff attempts.

Even with the refs trying to keep the balls dry with towels, you have to figure more times than not they were wet.

Anyway, combine that with the fact that 3-4 of his 7 incompletions (not counting the Ball drop) were either throw aways or heaves as getting hit from the pass rush that the Broncos could barely slow down.

[HORSEPOWER 56]

Another factor that nobody has really talked about was the rain. At times, it was really pouring hard. The footing was not good. Both kickers fell on their asses partially missing the ball on kickoff attempts.

Even with the refs trying to keep the balls dry with towels, you have to figure more times than not they were wet.

Anyway, combine that with the fact that 3-4 of his 7 incompletions (not counting the Ball drop) were either throw aways or heaves as getting hit from the pass rush that the Broncos could barely slow down.

Not to mention, but he seemed to improve as the game went on. His first 3 passes were incomplete little screen type dump offs. He started out 0-3 and ended up 8-16 for ~130 yds, a TD, and no INTs, in bad weather, with little O-line help. One of those incompletes was a bullet thrown right to Ball who dropped an easy TD catch, too.

[cuzz4169]

Ive said this before I'll say it again...I have been a Gator fan since 1992. I watched every single game of Tebow in college. I think people get this misconception that he's just a running back that can throw the football a little....well that's wrong the kid can pass the Ball. I mean for gods sake the kid held the Florida state high school TD passing record. The kid is a QB!!!

He had a nice game today and IMO the game plane sucked for him. So many things on the offensive side of the ball we can do with him. He is Al Wilson at QB.

[robert ethan]

We can start throwing around Elway comparisons after a few meaningful games next season... Today was amazing and SOOO much fun to watch, but idk that we can make that connection yet.

Don't get me wrong, I hope we can. I want Tebow to be the star in Denver just as much as the next guy!

Elway was 1 for 8 passing in his debut. 0 TDs, 1 Int. Passer rating probably about 25 or less. At one point he went to the line of scrimmage and bent over behind one of the guards and not the center.

Neckblubber Cutler was 10 for 21 (less than 50%) 2 TDs 2 Ints. Passer rating of about 50 probably.

So, with no other points of reference, you can say that Tim is twice as good as Cutler was and 4 times as good as Elway at a comparable point in their career.

[honz]

This is going straight to my rotation.

[honz]

The only throw that Tebow noticeably struggles with, that I have noticed, is short throws across his body. He really struggles with his accuracy on those. Also, I actually think his best throw is dropping it in the basket on deep throws. It seems strange that he would have such good touch on deep balls but zero touch on short throws across his body.

[topscribe]

The only throw that Tebow noticeably struggles with, that I have noticed, is short throws across his body. He really struggles with his accuracy on those. Also, I actually think his best throw is dropping it in the basket on deep throws. It seems strange that he would have such good touch on deep balls but zero touch on short throws across his body.

You show a lot of insight in this. The area of the field to Tebow's right is
indeed his weakest area.

Regarding short passes, that is a different world. Different mechanics, and
the action is a lot faster. Short passes look easy to us, but excelling at it is
indeed an accomplishment . . .

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[zbeg]

The thing about Tebow that I noticed that was the most different from his college (and even preseason) days is his footwork. So much was made during the draft about his long release, but I don't think a perfect release is necessary for NFL success. Phillip Rivers, Steve Young, and even Dan Marino have/had less than textbook mechanics with the release, but the thing is that their footwork is so precise. You can succeed with suboptimal arm mechanis, but not with suboptimal footwork.

I went back and watched Tebow's college days and compared to today. He didn't drop back a lot (16 pass attempts and all), and some of them were hard to evaluate because he was under pressure and had to get rid of the ball quickly, but he has clearly worked on that part of his game and it's dramatically different now. He's not exactly Steve Young yet, but he's improving in the area that, to me, was the biggest area of concern when the Broncos drafted him (and I was initially not a fan of the pick).

When it comes to on-field performance, these are the factors that go into being a good passer.

Arm Strength
Size
Ability to run downfield
Ability to evade the rush when in the pocket (Marino for example was uncommonly good at evading the rush - he was not fleet of foot, but he was quite nimble in the pocket and could move around)
Speed of release
Footwork
Accuracy
Play/pocket awareness/decision-making (defense reading, audibles, finding the hot receiver, etc.)
Leadership

Arm strength, size, downfield speed, and leadership have never really been
called into question. Ability to evade the rush isn't really an issue either, although that ties into awareness to some degree.

Some of these traits are dependent on others, especially accuracy. If you don't have good footwork, you will never have good accuracy. Look at Vince Young. He's the same QB he was five years ago because he never put the time and effort into his footwork. Compare that to Steve Young, who went from wildman scrambler in Tampa Bay to one of the most accurate quarterbacks ever, and it has everything to do with the fact that when he got to the 49ers, he focused on his fundamentals.

Tebow's clearly making strides in improving the things that matter. Without good footwork, nothing else he does really matters; he'll never be successful without it. It's the single most important trait in being a passer in my opinion. His mechanics (release and footwork) were the biggest obstacle for him becoming a quality NFL quarterback. He still has a lot of work to do before he's Steve Young, but the progress he's made was remarkable, and have eased many of my worries. There's plenty of reason to believe that this area will continue to improve.

It's early, of course. Maybe he won't ever be able to read defenses very well, or maybe he'll be "solved," much in the way Rick Mirer was solved (Mirer had a very good rookie year for the Seahawks, but in later years defenses realized he was really bad at throwing to his left, so the blitzed him from the right and he got annihilated). He could get injured. Lots of things can happen.

But what I did see was a physically talented quarterback who demonstrated the ability to make some pretty sophisticated throws, and when you couple that with his work ethic and leadership, there's plenty of reason to be optimistic.

[Nomad]

Thanks!

I watched the last part of the game on atdhe.com.

Up here, BRONCOS get bumped again next Sunday for the Jets/Bears game!!:tsk:

[Nomad]

That's pretty strong praise. I've watched a lot of Tebow in college (go figure, Jacksonville FL) and I've never seen the dude just "suck" or even have "bad" games. I will say this, he will keep the team motiviated and he'll be the most fiery leader we've had since Elway, that's for sure. Nobody will out work him at practice and none of his teammates will be able to ever call him out for dogging it or not leading by example.

I really like the guy. I really hope he succeeds here. He's a winner.

Yes he is and I'm glad he is out of the SEC!! They're going to have to trust his arm though because the QB draw will not work as well when he was at Florida

[tripleoption]

It's early, of course. Maybe he won't ever be able to read defenses very well, or maybe he'll be "solved," much in the way Rick Mirer was solved (Mirer had a very good rookie year for the Seahawks, but in later years defenses realized he was really bad at throwing to his left, so the blitzed him from the right and he got annihilated). He could get injured. Lots of things can happen.

But what I did see was a physically talented quarterback who demonstrated the ability to make some pretty sophisticated throws, and when you couple that with his work ethic and leadership, there's plenty of reason to be optimistic.

One big difference between Mirer and Tebow is that Tebow's work ethic and dedication is way better than Mirer's was. If memory serves me correct, word out of Seattle back then was that Mirer's work ethic was very questionable and that he got caught up in the whole 'grunge rock' scene which was strong in Seattle at the time. He preferred hanging out with grunge bands and not putting in the time to be a good QB. Your last statement though I think is spot on.

[HORSEPOWER 56]

I know one thing for sure... I want Gus Johnson calling all of the Broncos games from now on. I love his enthusiasm (and he's not even the color commentator). I only got a little of his calls from the highlight reel but he seems like he'd be fun to listen to. I heard him call a Jags game a few weeks ago and he was awesome.

[Nomad]

I know one thing for sure... I want Gus Johnson calling all of the Broncos games from now on. I love his enthusiasm (and he's not even the color commentator). I only got a little of his calls from the highlight reel but he seems like he'd be fun to listen to. I heard him call a Jags game a few weeks ago and he was awesome.

Johnson's great!! He seems to get all the 'crap' games though!!