Tim Tebow grades out as a champion by making the NFL record books in his first NFL start for the 3-10 Denver Broncos. Little Timmy failed to win in his debut, but he showed flashes of brilliance by making 8 completions in 16 attempts for 138 yards and 1 TD passing and 8 attempts for 78 yards and 1 TD rushing. His 100.5 passer rating far exceeded the debut passer rating for the other NFL rookies drafted this year. Let us not get ahead of ourselves and anoint Timothy Richard Tebow as the Holy One of NFL quarterbacks, but we should be excited for Timmy. Tebow was only the third player to pass for a 30-yard touchdown and run for a 40-yard touchdown in the same game, and was the first rookie to do so.
How good was his performance? Were the Raiders that bad, or was Timmy that good? Let’s take a look at his passing, one attempt at a time. Bad mechanics aside, I grade Timmy’s passing as average with tremendous upside. Timmy’s first two passes were definitely bad. Bad, bad, bad. As he tossed the ball a bit more, his passes definitely got a lot better–downright stellar at times. Nobody is going to accuse Timmy of being a prototypical passer, but he showed me that with mechanics just as bad as Steve Young or Michael Vick he can still perform well.
- Pass 1: Facing 3rd and 5 on his own 31, we all knew Timmy was going to have to come out throwing. With a max protection formation, he tossed it wide right of Brandon Lloyd for an incompletion. Yuck.
- Pass 2: Out of the offset-I facing 2nd and 9 on the 32, the OC called a bubble play. Timmy does not sell the play-action fake well, and the Raiders swallow the bubble quickly. Thank goodness Royal dropped the ugly pass–it would have been caught for a loss. Yuck again, with some blame on the crappy play call and no freedom to audible.
- Pass 3: It is now 3rd and 9, so we all expect a go route. What we get is a throw-away as the Raiders blitz the rookie. Yuck, but it was smart to throw the ball away rather than eat a sack. It would have been nice to have the ability to audible against the obvious blitz.
- Pass 4: Facing 1st and 25 due to penalty, Timmy was in a hurry. Big mistake. The Raiders knew better than to blitz with 1st and 25–Timmy was just nervous. Bad incompletion. Bad, bad, bad.
- Pass 5: 2nd and 11, still 1st quarter. Timmy has already scored on a 40-yard run, which probably built up some confidence. Are you paying attention, Broncos coaches? Let him do what he does in order to build up confidence! Timmy drops a 33-yard TD pass into Brandon Lloyd’s breadbasket (after the ball slipped through a defender’s mitts). Awesome! Nice touch.
- Pass 6: Once again Timmy faces 2nd and 11. Finally Tebow gets to line up in the shotgun and he gets a 17-yard strike to the running back Cory Buckhalter after looking the deep safety off. Great touch pass for a 1st down. Very nice!
- Pass 7: 3rd and 6, with Denver leading. Timmy fails to use proper mechanics and tosses an ugly ball without properly setting up the footwork. Incomplete. Yuck again. I am impressed he could get the ball that far downfield using all arm and no leg. The good thing about this play is that he did go through several reads before throwing the long bomb.
- Pass 8: Facing 1st and 10 out of the flexbone, Timmy throws a 22-yard strike to Lloyd and the RB Lance Ball does what he needs to do to slow down the rushing Raider defenders. Awesome! For one whole play, the entire offense is playing like a real football team!
- Pass 9: Wow. 2nd and 11. Again. This is the one passing play that Tebow should be judged by. He lines up under center, fakes to Buckhalter, drops back five steps, scans the field, and fires a 20-yard laser to…guess who….Brandon Lloyd. With the fake, the drop-back, standing in the pocket, and stepping into the throw Tim Tebow looked every bit like a professional quarterback! Very nice!
- Pass 10: This would have been the best play of the day if it were not for numbnuts Lance Ball dropping the ball. Timmy makes a nice fake to Buckhalter, looks off the defenders, and fires a laser into Ball’s breadbasket in the end zone for a….dropped, would-be touchdown. Timmy still gets props for doing what he can with crappy receivers. Woulda been, coulda been nice.
- Pass 11: In a 2nd and 10, Timmy ran an anti-blitz, short toss to RB Richard Quinn. The Cowherds and McShays of the world would not like this play, because it looked too much like a Florida Gator play and not a “real NFL play”. End result: 1st down. Very nice.
- Pass 12: Facing 3rd and 6 in an obvious blitzing situation, Timmy once again had to run a screen. Crappy play call by the OC. Incomplete pass. It’s a good thing the ball fell incomplete, because this would have been another screen for a loss. Note to Broncos coaches: stop ****ing stealing Addazio’s bubble screen plays! They suck!
- Pass 13: Holy crap this was a nice looking play. Facing 2nd and 9 on their own 25 and behind by two scores, the Broncos needed some momentum and that is what they got! Facing a 2-high defense, Timmy fakes the handoff to Lance “Brickhands” Ball and fires off a 32-yard strike to fellow, former Gator Jabar Gaffney. 1st down, Gators Broncos. Note to Broncos coaches: make Ball the permanent faker and don’t throw the ball to him. Tebow stood in the pocket and made a few progressions before firing the strike.
- Pass 14: At this point of the game, the Raiders had double-covered the receivers and Timmy had little chance to move the chains. He had no choice but to throw the ball away.
- Pass 15: I don’t know how Timmy was able to complete this pass to Lloyd after locking onto him, but he fired an accurate laser into his primary receiver’s gut for 6 yards. There was not much else he could have done. It would have been nice to see Timmy gamble a bit and go deep, but it looked to me that the Broncos coaches put the kid gloves on Timmy and just sent in the short passing plays. Bad play, good throw.
- Final pass: Timmy knew it was near the end of the game. Facing 2nd down and 5 on his own 35, Timmy wanted to go deep against the Raider prevent defense. With all the go routes covered, Timmy reluctantly throws to the short, outlet receiver Daniel Graham coming out of the backfield. Sure, it was catchable, but it would have been a null gain. Bad throw, bad call, bad offensive planning by the Broncos.
Summary: Timothy Richard Tebow grades out a champion. Based on one datapoint, he has shown that he can lead an offense, bounce linebackers and safeties, stiff-arm defenders, take a sack, toss a touchdown, run a touchdown, overcome shoddy mechanics, and motivate players. What did he not do? Well, he failed to win the game, he failed to sell his play fakes (on most occasions), and he kept locking onto his primary receiver. Despite his faults, his debut QB performance was amongst the top first starts of all-time.
I am no NFL expert, but I foresee great things from young Mr. Tebow in the future. I try not to be a Tebow fanboy or a Florida homer, but I would rather be accused of being either if it means cheering on a bright young man with a bright future ahead of him. Keep proving them wrong, Timmy. You're the best...by a mile! Go Gators!
