Posted on 04/23/2015 9:19:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
According to Jay Feely, Tim Tebow is a great man and a great competitor, but Feely still believes Tebow is the “worst quarterback” ever. But do Tebow’s stats agree with that assessment?
In a related report by the Inquisitr, in the past some have claimed that Tebow was “blackballed” from the NFL due to Christian beliefs, not NFL stats. At the same time, Joe Theismann insists Tim “can’t throw the football” and referee Jim Daopoulus once used Tebow as an example of the uncatchable rule. Rush Limbaugh might agree that more men like Tebow are needed in the NFL, but insists he just can’t handle the quarterback position at the NFL level.
Due to this history, some question whether Eagles coach Chip Kelly is making a mistake, wondering aloud how the Philadelphia Eagles could have two quarterbacks, Tebow and Mark Sanchez, coexist.
Based upon comments made by Jay Feely, Tim Tebow’s Eagles deal is just a mistake — period.
“[Chip Kelly] thinks he’s smarter, and so can take a guy that everybody else has quit on and can make him work and utilize him… [Tebow] is such a dichotomy for me because I really respect the person, the man, the things that he believes in and the things he does off the field, he was the single worst quarterback I ever saw in my career in the NFL. Like, I watched him one day. I sat and watched him do routes on air with Ken Whisenhunt as we were playing the Broncos, and routes on air—there’s no DBs, you know exactly what he’s going to run. There’s no pass rush. He had like 13 incompletions in routes on air. Like, Jim, you and I could go out and do routes on air and we’d complete most of our passes.”
Over on Twitter, Jay Feely softened the blow by noting that he thinks very highly of Tim Tebow as a person, but concludes he’s “just not a good QB. Sorry if that offends you.” He also took at a jab at his critics by noting the number of “people who talk about their ‘faith’ in their bio but cussed me out on Twitter [because] of what I said about Tebow.”
Would Tim Tebow’s stats disagree with Feely? Tebow has a career passer rating of 75.3, having thrown 17 touchdowns, ran for 12 rushing touchdowns, and thrown nine interceptions during his time as a starter. As a comparison, Mark Sanchez has a career rating of 74.1.
Even though Tim Tebow’s stats show him to be an average NFL quarterback, he was supposedly a fantastic leader with the Denver Broncos. Tebow was even named Forbes’ most influential athlete for the year. In 2012, Tim was ranked number 95 by his peers in the NFL Top 100. Near the end of the 2011-2012 season, Tebow was ranked number five out of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks. So, while Tebow is unlikely to be one of the top 10 NFL quarterbacks right now, calling him the “worst quarterback” ever seems something of an overstatement.
Supporters of Tim Tebow also point out that the NFL quarterback’s running game is quite formidable compared to other NFL quarterbacks, although this ability requires a team to adjust their strategy to Tebow’s strengths. Tim is built like a linebacker, standing 6 foot 3 inches and weighing 240 pounds, and yet, he can run the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds. It’s possible Chip Kelly is hoping to use Tebow as wildcard quarterback, which forces the defense to adjust their strategies to compensate for unknowns.<noscript><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kF7SWPUN2jk?rel=0" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></noscript>
Do you agree with Jay Feely’s assessment of Tim Tebow’s NFL stats, or do you think the quarterback will make a great addition to the Philadelphia Eagles?
And it doesn’t matter how he does it either. Correct me if I’m wrong but Joe Montana probably didn’t have a stronger arm than Tebow? But he was deadly accurate.
Accuracy matters a lot more than strength. Jeff George would disagree, but given how many times he got cut...
I thought Elvis Grbac was the worst QB ever.
Um yeah. That would be why in NFL history, of those that have completed 35 or more passes the record is 58-89. For the playoffs, the record is 16-24, with Brady’s 4-0 skewing the results from being even more contrary - of the top 7, only Brady has a win.
Probably the most ridiculous regular season result is Warren Moon completing 73% (41-56) of his passes for no TDs and no Interceptions....though his team had one of the relatively few wins.
Teams behind throw more, so yes QBs racking up lots of completions tend to be on losing efforts. But you commit the fallacy “just run 25 times” when you take that to mean completing passes doesn’t lead to victory. It’s not necessarily the raw number of completions, it’s the percentage. Tebow completes less than 50% of his passes. That’s bad. Period.
You commit the fallacy of confusing the mechanism with the result. What matters is consistent progress...sustaining drives and punching it in the end zone. A 5 yard run is certainly as good as a 5 yard completion.
Consistent rushing also keeps scoring down, as time runs off the clock much more consistently. Keeping drives going additionally gives the defense a chance to rest.
The rules changes have made it generally easier to score by passing...but if a team can rush consistently, they can control a game and win. it also makes it a lot easier on the defense...short games, and lots of rest between drives generally yield lower scores. ...but Time of Possession advantages, and low number of drives in the game are not the goals and do not cause wins - but rather they merely give insight to how the wins occurred.
This argument is like that of 3rd down conversion rates. Typically teams that give up high conversion rates are poor teams...however, there are teams that give up short stuff through the middle of the field and tighten up near and in the red zone, and give up relatively few actual points. These teams also tend to get a lot of turnovers. This forcing of teams to run a lot of plays gives them a lot of chances to make a mistake and often leads to turnovers.
Is that a bad defense if it doesn’t give up a lot of points? or is it merely a different means to success?
Likewise, if Tebow is running for 5.7 yards a carry, and putting it in the end zone consistently, and opening up running lanes for the RB, then that compensates well for a lot of not passing.
A QBs job is to keep the offense going until it scores, while helping out the Defense by not putting them in a bad position. The stress a running QB puts on a defense can make it struggle mightily...something Aaron Rogers uses to great effect.
As I recall, Tebow had some games where he was ripped by the Patriots, losing his only two lost fumbles of the year. Likewise, 3 of his 6 interceptions were in one game against the Bills. So 18 TDs vs. 8 TOs, in 11 games, might not be top 5, but it’s certainly out of the bottom 10 in any given year.
No actually I’m pointing out the results. Over 50% of the time having Tim Tebow drop back to throw a pass results in the ball hitting the grass. You can’t sustain an offense that way. If you can’t sustain an offense you can’t put up points. If you’re not putting up points you aren’t winning many games.
Rushing consistently is how Denver won games in spite of Tebow not because of him. Without a 1000 yard runner that team was doomed. Actually even with the 1000 yard runner they needed a lot of defense and a lot bad opponents mostly in their own division. A sub 50% QB is simply not going to lead you to victory on a regular basis, he doesn’t have the skills.
If Tebow was an RB a 5.7 running average would be good. As a QB a 5.7 running average is just not throwing passes. As a QB his job is to complete passes, running should be his last resort. Run first QBs (like Kaepernick, Vick, and RGIII) all tend to lack basic QB skills, and rarely progress them. A few months ago there was an article I think by Trent Dilfer on how running is an instinct and passing is a decision and going to that instinct keeps QBs from progressing. I can’t find it now, but it really explained why Tebow (while not being about Tebow) is just plain not a good QB.
A QB that completes less than 50% of his passes is not capable of keeping the offense going. You need to complete passes to keep the offense going. Everything you say shows exactly why a QB’s job is completing passes, and exactly why Tebow is not a good QB. He does NOT complete passes, he does NOT keep the offense going, he does NOT put up points, he does NOT do anything YOU say a QB needs to do.
” What seems rather more odd is why Tebow wasn’t given a chance at all when Sanchez collapsed and became clearly useless.”
Tebow had two broken ribs.
“Tebow doesn’t, not much follows.”
Except at Denver where he opened up the over the hill running back and they won games ...
“but Joe Montana probably didn’t have a stronger arm than Tebow?”
Not many have an arm stronger than Tebow’s.
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