"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
Have you watched a lot of the Broncos games? The receivers have dropped PLENTY of balls. I'm not suggesting Tebow hasn't made poor throws, he has. But good receivers would have caught a lot more of the balls that were dropped and unfortunately, Tebow's completion percentage drops because of those blunders.
Drops happen. The Broncos have a relatively high drop rate, but based on my math -- taking the Broncos' rate of dropped passes of 6.5% (drops / attempts), cutting that rate in half (making them the most sure-handed team in the league as far as I can tell, slightly better than the New England Patriots' 3.5%), figuring out how many more completions that would yield (14) and giving them all to Tebow (I never liked Kyle Orton anyway), Tebow's completion percentage goes from 46.5% to 51.6%.
Can't blame it all on the receivers.
Yes, there are plenty of teams out there with better groups, but you have to realize that up to this point, Tebow's generally needed guys to be wide open by NFL standards before he'd pull the trigger and that just doesn't happen a great deal regardless of whose receivers you're talking about. Defensive backs get paid a lot of money too.
Again, none of this is to suggest he can't improve. I'm still skeptical he'll ever be good at executing a passing game The NFL Way but maybe the Broncos can continue finding new ways to skin cats.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
I think you also need to account for rhythm that is disrupted by drops. It also can put you in 3rd & long situations, etc. It's a little more than figuring some math up to put the Broncos at a league average drop rate and recalculate the pass %.
There is plenty of room at the Altar of Tebow. All are welcome to bask in His presence.
To me he's a taller, stronger Jeff Blake. Throws a good deep ball but wildly inconsistent on short throws. Also reminds me of Big Ben. First few years Steelers managed expectations a/ good defense and running game. Makes the occasional deep ball more devastating.
There are a number of moving parts that make or break a play. During the OT TD there were serveral factors that led to the TD being scored. It was a heck of a call by the Denver OC when you consider they ran on a large portion of first down plays. Then you have to ask why the Steelers were in an all out run prevention that early in OT. Also why did Ike Taylor play on the outside when there really wasn't help over the top. And finally it was one heck of a catch and run by Thomas who beat the CB and S with a stiff arm and raced to the endzone for a TD. In all honesty in all the football games I watched any NFL quality QB makes that throw. It was pretty much an "easy" if the NFL is easy, pitch and catch.
But if you ask anyone it was all Tim Tebow.
Does anyone remember Tebow's last pass before he threw the standard post pattern to Thomas for 80 yards?
Have you seen Skip Bayless on ESPN 1st Take? This guy is certifiable.....and it dumbfounds me they allow him such a platform when it comes to this guy.
He argues over NFL Players to get his point across. I am still shocked no one has done a Jim Everett/Jim Rome on him.
I'm not saying that it's all Tim Tebow, since he's taken over I do think his leadership has fired up everyone around him though.
For that particular play in OT I'm pretty sure the backup FS was supposed to be playing deep. Ike Taylor isn't a bad CB, and he played it like he was expecting help. Tebow is the only QB in the NFL running the read option though, and on 1st down the safties were cheating up to stop his running threat. Thomas made an incredible run after the catch, but just having Tebow in that backfield is what opened up the field for him.
The read option is overblown. The safeties were cheating up because Denver had run the vast majority of times on 1st down. I forget the stat but it was something like 80%. If you ask me it was a poor defensive call that early in the OT. It was a very good play call, nice throw by Tebow, and a great catch and run by Thomas. To give Tebow all the credit (which many are doing) is ignoring all the other moving pieces that enabled that play to happen.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |