Denver Post: Concerns about Tebow's ability to stay healthy sparked Broncos' pursuit of Manning and subsequent trade

[Cugel]

According to the Post this morning:



Concerns about Tebow's ability to stay healthy sparked Broncos' pursuit of Manning and subsequent trade
(http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_20228248/concerns-about-tebows-ability-stay-healthy-sparked-broncos)
This may be difficult to digest given Peyton Manning's highly publicized neck injury, but the Broncos believe he may be less of a health risk as an every-down quarterback than Tim Tebow.

It was Tebow's rib and sternum injuries suffered during the Broncos' 45-10 playoff loss at New England in mid-January that convinced management to rethink its quarterback position, according to NFL sources. The result was the Broncos' pursuit of Manning, the acclaimed free-agent quarterback, who despite missing all of last season with a neck injury was signed Tuesday to a five-year, $96 million contract. On Wednesday, the Broncos traded Tebow to the New York Jets.

In his final start of the 2011 season, Tebow was rocked by the Patriots, leaving him with injuries so serious he would not have been able to play in the AFC championship game a week later had the Broncos won. If an NFL team is going to have its season fall its way, it needs its starting quarterback to be there at the end. Initially, the Jets are planning to use Tebow as a part-time player.

I always argued that Tebow was going to be hurt, that serious injury was inevitable given his aggressive playing style. If you run as much as he does, you're going to be hit and hit hard. And a certain percentage of those hits would result in injury. It's just a numbers game, when your number is going to come up.

Most fans remain unaware that, as noted in the article, Tebow's injury was severe enough that he would have been ruled out of playing in the AFC Championship by the team physicians. Most fans have refused to accept this truth arguing "Tim's a tough guy, he'd start."

But, that just brushes the injury concerns under the rug. Since the Broncos lost the game nobody can PROVE that Tebow wouldn't have started, but doctors have all said that he couldn't play with those kind of injuries.

If the Broncos had been able to advance past the Patriots this issue would have received national attention. Since they lost it was buried.

But, now we're learning that (logically) injury concerns DID play a big role in the Broncos decision to get rid of Tebow.

As I said all along, the Football insider view is that he's just not going to last playing like that and therefore no matter how exciting he is in the short run it makes no sense to base your long-term future around a running QB. :coffee:

[rjent]

1300

[TimHippo]

According to the Post this morning:



I always argued that Tebow was going to be hurt, that serious injury was inevitable given his aggressive playing style. If you run as much as he does, you're going to be hit and hit hard. And a certain percentage of those hits would result in injury. It's just a numbers game, when your number is going to come up.

Most fans remain unaware that, as noted in the article, Tebow's injury was severe enough that he would have been ruled out of playing in the AFC Championship by the team physicians. Most fans have refused to accept this truth arguing "Tim's a tough guy, he'd start."

But, that just brushes the injury concerns under the rug. Since the Broncos lost the game nobody can PROVE that Tebow wouldn't have started, but doctors have all said that he couldn't play with those kind of injuries.

If the Broncos had been able to advance past the Patriots this issue would have received national attention. Since they lost it was buried.

But, now we're learning that (logically) injury concerns DID play a big role in the Broncos decision to get rid of Tebow.

As I said all along, the Football insider view is that he's just not going to last playing like that and therefore no matter how exciting he is in the short run it makes no sense to base your long-term future around a running QB. :coffee:

That's fine if you want to believe that but then why go out and spend 90 million dollars on a guy with a swan like neck that might snap in half on first contact. At least stay consistent.

[jhildebrand]

Denver trying their best to sell this any way. Damage control. If the FO was smart they would just let it all die and be done with it.

[Northman]

Its a valid issue, dont know how much a part it played but because he is a scrambler at least 80% of the time he takes far more shots than he should for a QB. Hurt himself in pre-season his rookie year and then hurt his ribs before the NE game so i can see the concern.

[vandammage13]

Not buying it...Perhaps it was a small reason among a plethora of reasons, but it certainly wasn't a catalyst for the move.

It makes no sense to think that injury concerns sparked the move if the alternative they went to was a guy who didn't play a down last year due to injury.

The move was made because Manning is better than Tebow...Lets not read too much more into it than that.

[Ravage!!!]

Not buying it...Perhaps it was a small reason among a plethora of reasons, but it certainly wasn't a catalyst for the move.

It makes no sense to think that injury concerns sparked the move if the alternative they went to was a guy who didn't play a down last year due to injury.

The move was made because Manning is better than Tebow...Lets not read too much more into it than that.

I agree with this 100%. I don't personally think the injury concerns were what inspired the move, at all. I think Elway wants a passing QB in a passing league, and one of the greatest passers of all time came onto the market.

[vandammage13]

Sounds like a highly speculative article with hollow sources that was just written to garner web hits....

Pointless Tebow articles are written all the time for this reason, so you add Manning's name into the equation and its a perfect storm for pointless articles.

Expect to see many more of these in the coming months.

[jhildebrand]

Elway had a chance to get the biggest FA ever and make an unknown at a position a known. You do that 100% of the time.

[Cugel]

That's fine if you want to believe that but then why go out and spend 90 million dollars on a guy with a swan like neck that might snap in half on first contact. At least stay consistent.

Obviously you're confusing two separate things:

1. FIRING Tebow.

and

2. Hiring Manning.

As to #1. According to this article, the decision to get RID of Tebow seems to have been independent of the decision to get Manning. That means that even if they failed to get Manning, they were going to look for another starting QB (they might be stuck with Tebow this season though). In short, they didn't view him as a long-term answer.

I don't know why that truth is so controversial. In fact many, many writers have said that it was "obvious that Elway wasn't comfortable having Tebow as his starting QB."

As for #2. The decision to get Manning was because it was Manning. Potentially greatest of all time. He's worth the risk (considering his durability up till his injury). They don't view his neck as "ready to snap in half" or they wouldn't have signed him.

But, the point is that the decision to get rid of Tebow came BEFORE the Colts decided to release Manning. In fact it came in January after Tebow's serious injury. Thus that decision could not have been directly due to the decision to sign Manning. Signing Manning simply placated the Tebow fans.

But, if this article is correct, Elway was going to get rid of Tebow and find another starter REGARDLESS (though perhaps not this season).

[BroncoStud]

Tebow got injured throwing from the pocket... It was a jail-break all game long against our OL, any QB would have been killed.

[Ravage!!!]

As to #1. According to this article, the decision to get RID of Tebow seems to have been independent of the decision to get Manning. That means that even if they failed to get Manning, they were going to look for another starting QB (they might be stuck with Tebow this season though). In short, they didn't view him as a long-term answer.


But, the point is that the decision to get rid of Tebow came BEFORE the Colts decided to release Manning. In fact it came in January after Tebow's serious injury. Thus that decision could not have been directly due to the decision to sign Manning. [/B][/COLOR]

Yeah, not buying it. I know we'll never know how things would have turned out, but I don't think the two decisions were independent of one another. For one thing, everyone knew that Manning wasn't going to be in Indy way back in January.

[TimHippo]

As for #2. The decision to get Manning was because it was Manning. Potentially greatest of all time. He's worth the risk (considering his durability up till his injury). They don't view his neck as "ready to snap in half" or they wouldn't have signed him.

But, the point is that the decision to get rid of Tebow came BEFORE the Colts decided to release Manning. In fact it came in January after Tebow's serious injury. Thus that decision could not have been directly due to the decision to sign Manning. Signing Manning simply placated the Tebow fans.

But, if this article is correct, Elway was going to get rid of Tebow and find another starter REGARDLESS (though perhaps not this season).

I agree the decision to get rid of Tebow was made last year when Elway took over. He wanted to get rid of Tebow (McDummy's Folly) from day 1. But it had nothing to do with ability to stay healthy, lets not kid ourselves.

[Dzone]

wow!!! This shines a new light on the situation. Anything that helps to ease the pain of losing Tebow is good..LOL...Ok, maybe its good we got rid of him since he is going to probably end up injured. Naw, it doesn't help. I still am going to miss Tebow. I was devastated when we lost Cutler and losing TT2 is just as tough, if not more so.
Is it being a bad Bronco fan to hate the loss of Tebow?

[TimHippo]

Yeah, not buying it. I know we'll never know how things would have turned out, but I don't think the two decisions were independent of one another. For one thing, everyone knew that Manning wasn't going to be in Indy way back in January.

Yup. Everyone knew he was gone when the Colts won the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. No one would be stupid enough to pay a $25 million escalator bonus for a guy with a swan like injury prone neck.

[SOCALORADO.]

Oh well, Tebows gone forever. No use cryin over spilt milk.

[Cugel]

Yeah, not buying it. I know we'll never know how things would have turned out, but I don't think the two decisions were independent of one another. For one thing, everyone knew that Manning wasn't going to be in Indy way back in January.

Nobody can PROVE that this is true, although it seems to be what Broncos sources are telling Mike Klis (who has pretty excellent contacts inside Dove Valley).

However, the Colts were not automatically going to release Manning THIS season. They could have kept him and paid him this year and kept Luck on the bench for a season to learn behind Manning. That's what a lot of people (me included) expected them to do.

And if Luck struggles early in the season (like Elway did as a rookie) then that course will appear to have been the better one. The Colts just felt "we're so bad there's no hope for the playoffs this year so why not just get rid of all the holdover veterans and start completely fresh with young players to build around Luck."

But, you can't argue that it wouldn't have helped Luck's career to study and learn behind Peyton Manning for a season!

[ShooterJM]

Tebow got injured throwing from the pocket... It was a jail-break all game long against our OL.

This.

[jhildebrand]

Oh well, Tebows gone forever. No use cryin over spilt milk.

Why not? :confused:

The Cutler babies are still crying. In fact I still hear whimpers from the Plummer crowd too :lol:

[ShooterJM]

Oh well, Tebows gone forever. No use cryin over spilt milk.

And this.

[jhildebrand]

"we're so bad there's no hope for the playoffs this year so why not just get rid of all the holdover veterans and start completely fresh with young players to build around Luck."


They didn't do just that. That got rid of every remnant of Manning. Any connection to him on the team was sent packing.

[Cugel]

wow!!! This shines a new light on the situation. Anything that helps to ease the pain of losing Tebow is good..LOL...Ok, maybe its good we got rid of him since he is going to probably end up injured. Naw, it doesn't help. I still am going to miss Tebow. I was devastated when we lost Cutler and losing TT2 is just as tough, if not more so.
Is it being a bad Bronco fan to hate the loss of Tebow?

It is if Manning leads us to the promised land. . . . . and I was going to say something else but I forget what it was after looking at DZone's signature picture. :confused:

[Cugel]

They didn't do just that. That got rid of every remnant of Manning. Any connection to him on the team was sent packing.

When you're 2-12 that pretty much says a LOT about the talent you have on your team. Why would they keep them around? To avoid losing more games? How much worse could it possibly be without them? :coffee:

[silkamilkamonico]

These are just getting f'n retarded. People need to quit justifying this.

Tebow simply wasn't the QB style management wanted to go with. They choose to move on.

It ain't because of health concerns. It ain't because he can't win games because we know that isn't true. It's because an organization traditionally known for having an explosive dynamic offense wanted to get back to it.

Simple as that.

[TimHippo]

Nobody can PROVE that this is true, although it seems to be what Broncos sources are telling Mike Klis (who has pretty excellent contacts inside Dove Valley).

However, the Colts were not automatically going to release Manning THIS season. They could have kept him and paid him this year and kept Luck on the bench for a season to learn behind Manning. That's what a lot of people (me included) expected them to do.

And if Luck struggles early in the season (like Elway did as a rookie) then that course will appear to have been the better one. The Colts just felt "we're so bad there's no hope for the playoffs this year so why not just get rid of all the holdover veterans and start completely fresh with young players to build around Luck."

But, you can't argue that it wouldn't have helped Luck's career to study and learn behind Peyton Manning for a season!

They were not going to pay the $25 million escalator bonus to have Manning as an insurance for Luck.
Every sign indicated that Manning was gone. Firing Polian, and other staff, etc.

I'm not sure why you are harping on this point that even the majority of pro Manning/anti Tebow people immediately see as BS.

[Dzone]

Oh well, Tebows gone forever. No use cryin over spilt milk.
yep, thats right. I think Im going to go to the Jets board and go bullgator on them and say Elway is a jerk. I think I will feel better thenLOL

[Ravage!!!]

Nobody can PROVE that this is true, although it seems to be what Broncos sources are telling Mike Klis (who has pretty excellent contacts inside Dove Valley).

However, the Colts were not automatically going to release Manning THIS season. They could have kept him and paid him this year and kept Luck on the bench for a season to learn behind Manning. That's what a lot of people (me included) expected them to do.

And if Luck struggles early in the season (like Elway did as a rookie) then that course will appear to have been the better one. The Colts just felt "we're so bad there's no hope for the playoffs this year so why not just get rid of all the holdover veterans and start completely fresh with young players to build around Luck."

But, you can't argue that it wouldn't have helped Luck's career to study and learn behind Peyton Manning for a season!

Ideally. But with the amount of money that they would have been paying Peyton, in a year where the new GM is trying to 'rebuild' everything on the team.... it was pretty obvious that Manning was not going to be a part of the new "regime" in Indy.

[Npba900]

Tebow got injured throwing from the pocket... It was a jail-break all game long against our OL, any QB would have been killed.

This may be true somewhat, however, how many of those hits-sacks Tebow took was the result of this inability to pull the trigger? Tebow was known to hold on to the ball way to long b/c of his inability to make the correct reads to throw to the open receiver or just throw the ball away b/c no one is open.

[jhildebrand]

Tebow simply wasn't the QB style management wanted to go with. They choose to move on.

Simple as that.

/thread. Lock thread.

[Cugel]

I agree the decision to get rid of Tebow was made last year when Elway took over. He wanted to get rid of Tebow (McDummy's Folly) from day 1. But it had nothing to do with ability to stay healthy, lets not kid ourselves.

You really think that if Tebow had turned into a pocket passing QB Elway wouldn't have changed his mind? But, if Tebow is going to be a running QB, the fact that he was injured becomes relevant.

That's not just my opinion. NFL player personnel executives (read GMs) who were contacted for a story for ESPN yesterday said bluntly "Tebow is an option QB in my opinion."

Whether you accept that or not, they believe it.

[TimHippo]

Ideally. But with the amount of money that they would have been paying Peyton, in a year where the new GM is trying to 'rebuild' everything on the team.... it was pretty obvious that Manning was not going to be a part of the new "regime" in Indy.

Yup I agree with Ravage.

[Cugel]

/thread. Lock thread.

Don't like it, ignore it and don't post in it. :coffee:

[jhildebrand]

I didn't say I didn't like the thread. I simply implied that Silk hit the nail on the head. :coffee: Try to Keep up.

This continued insistence to paint the Tebow picture as anything other than upgrading the QB position, as some way of protecting Elway and the FO, is simply silly. In fact the insinuations being made would open him up to some serious scrutiny if what the OP surmised as well as the Tebow having a choice. If they were true Elway would deserve some serious questioning not only locally but nationally.

[Cugel]

This may be true somewhat, however, how many of those hits-sacks Tebow took was the result of this inability to pull the trigger? Tebow was known to hold on to the ball way to long b/c of his inability to make the correct reads to throw to the open receiver or just throw the ball away b/c no one is open.

I was going to say this. Tebow also held the ball too long.

Any QB can get hurt. But, when you SUSPECT going in that, given TEbow's style, it's only a matter of time, then the tendency is to say "Yup! Just like I thought. He couldn't finish the season healthy. We just can't have that! We'll have to get rid of him and get a more traditional pocket passing QB."

In short, it's not entirely fair to Tebow (he got hurt in the pocket not running the ball). But, Elway was waiting for the other shoe to drop and it dropped. :coffee:

[Cugel]

I didn't say I didn't like the thread. I simply implied that Silk hit the nail on the head. Try to Keep up.


Sorry. Misunderstood. :sorry:

[Cugel]

This continued insistence to paint the Tebow picture as anything other than upgrading the QB position, as some way of protecting Elway and the FO, is simply silly. In fact the insinuations being made would open him up to some serious scrutiny if what the OP surmised as well as the Tebow having a choice. If they were true Elway would deserve some serious questioning not only locally but nationally.

Elway believes (from his own experience) that you need an elite passing QB to win the SB. He never saw Tebow as that kind of QB and was skeptical of him from day 1.

So, were most sports-writers and almost all NFL GMs and coaches (from their comments in interviews).

The decision to get rid of him would have been easy if he hadn't been successful for a while and gotten the Broncos into the playoffs. But, when he got hurt, it seems to have reinforced Elway's belief that "this just can't work in the long term."

I think he would have found a way to get rid of Tebow regardless. We'll never know of course. But, he was certainly looking for the chance. And if your boss really wants someone else in your job, eventually he'll find a way to fire you!

[ShooterJM]

This may be true somewhat, however, how many of those hits-sacks Tebow took was the result of this inability to pull the trigger? Tebow was known to hold on to the ball way to long b/c of his inability to make the correct reads to throw to the open receiver or just throw the ball away b/c no one is open.

Not that it matters, but if I remember correctly, 1 was a long hold, 1 was the league average, the rest were basically unblocked.

[jhildebrand]

But to push garbage out into the media that injury was a part of the decision or Tebow had a choice is simply asinine. I don't know if it is actually coming from Dove Valley but I suspect it isn't.

As popular as Tebow was with some fans, there is no need to sell this. Elway just pulled off the coup of coups in FA in landing Manning when SF and other places were probably a better percentage chance of winning. The fact is 32 franchises and their QB's are one hit away from their backup. Tom Brady and the Pats proved that a year or two ago. That happened in the pocket. In fact I think TX has posted several times the injury numbers are higher for pocket passers than scramblers. Manning was hurt in the Pocket. Dungy talked about it two weeks ago.

I just wish people would leave it as it is: Elway improved a position of an unknown to known. Tebow's progress was unknown to all. Manning isn't an unknown. Injury is a concern for any QB.

[weazel]

I dont think the injury had much to do with it... honestly I think they just wanted a QB that could throw the ball.

[Slick]

They didn't do just that. That got rid of every remnant of Manning. Any connection to him on the team was sent packing.

I guess Reggie Wayne (the guy I was really hoping we'd get with Manning) didn't get the memo.

[Dzone]

Will Tebow become another in a long line of Heisman winning Qbs who flamed out in the NFL?

[Cugel]

Will Tebow become another in a long line of Heisman winning Qbs who flamed out in the NFL?

We're going to have to wait a few years to figure that out! Right now the national media is saying that he'll push Mark Sanchez out of his starting job by mid-season and that Sanchez will wilt under the pressure of having Tebow leaning over his shoulder waiting for him to fail. :laugh:

I wouldn't bet against it. At a minimum Sanchez is going to have to spend less time with Super-Models and more time trying to complete passes to his WRs!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2XQHVISaWkQ/SZoxDeZZWkI/AAAAAAAAAb4/dLTmYSq07nI/s400/09_hilary-rhoda_02.jpg
S.I. Swimsuit Supermodel Hilary Rhoda is one of Sanchez's many distractions.

[Krugan]

Im not going to say the trade was directed by aliens, but its aliens...

[wayninja]

Will Tebow become another in a long line of Heisman winning Qbs who flamed out in the NFL?

Flamed out with a winning record and a playoff win in barely one seasons worth of games?

I think that would be a first. Some team with give him a shot, not sure if that will be the Jets, sorta depends on Snachez.

[wayninja]

Also, do we care at this point? I thought Tebow threads were something we were interested in seeing the end of?

[Fullback32]

Also, do we care at this point? I thought Tebow threads were something we were interested in seeing the end of?

But I will add that it will be interesting to see the NY media and fans eat that boy alive. I'm not sure he'll feel the love.

My last Tebow comment....I think....I hope.