So have I. I've also watched wide open mid-range targets be hit in the numbers by his balls only to drop them. I don't know which I saw more, or which is more crushing but they both hurt.
And really his interceptions ARE sky high. That 6 interceptions was on 271 total attempts
I disagree with you because 6/271 = 2.2 percent of his pass attempts resulted in an interception whereas Peyton Manning has a career average of 2.7 percent pass attempts resulting in an interception. Tony Romo is picked off 2.9 percent of the time.
and countered with only 126 total completions, that is a number that is frankly pathetic.
His low number of total completions is a problem but not one that I see as insurmountable. He's a southpaw. The ball spins differently from what receivers are used to. He'll want to throw left which is the opposite of the way most offensive lines are designed for where the left tackle and guard protect the QB's blindside. Furthermore, when passblockingfor Tebow, the OL also has to runblock. Forming a perfect horseshoe pocket maynot be best for a running QB. The OL needs to pass protect while at the same time creating run gaps. The denver OL never really did anyof that very well from what I remember seeing.
A big part of his problem is his throwing motions are inconsistent. He’s a knuckleballer, which works great for a pitcher because it’s hard to hit balls that nobody knows where they’re going, doesn’t work so well in the NFL though because it’s really hard to catch balls nobody knows where they’re going.
Accuracy will always suffer when passing while running. Beyond that, I would have to review tapes to comment on his accuracy when throwing from the pocket, throwing when running left and throwing when running right.
Any QB whose passing is dependent on his own running isn’t a good QB, he’s a running lining up in the wrong spot.
That's the general criticism leveled at any of the throwing tailbacks that have been filling in at QB for the past 20 years.
You notice how many teams Testaverde was on? And how many of them were awful? Bad teams make bad decisions and pick up bad QBs.
Agreed but my point in bringing up Testaverde was that as long as Tebow stays healthy, he should find some team that can use him no matter how much his detractors want him out of the league.
Actually the primary thing that has changed for the Broncos is Manning is back up to speed. Those first 5 games he wasn’t on page with his receivers, he was holding onto the ball a lot longer than he usually does, and throwing late and getting intercepted. Then he got on page, he’s back to his 1.8, and his throws are on time and accurate. When Manning is on his clock offensive line play doesn’t matter, because he just doesn’t have the ball long enough to get sacked.
From what you said, Manning had the entire preseason and first 5 games of regular season and couldn't get in synch with his receivers. No one places Tebow in the same level as a Manning so, might we cut Tebow a little slack in this regard? Had Tebow stayed with Denver, might he and his receivers have gotten in better synch? Might his OL develop better techniques for protecting a run-first southpaw? We can speculate but we will never know.
Which boils back down to the problem with Tebow. He’s an excellent athlete, which works great in the college game that’s much much slower. In the NFL a QB needs to be smart. The way NFL QBs get rid of the ball in 2.4 seconds is they know where they’re going to throw it before the snap. They’ve read the defense, they know what adjustments their receivers will make to their routes, they know who will be open when. After the snap is merely execution of what they figured out in their brain, dropping back the correct number of steps and throwing to the spot they decided on. Must NFL throws are made when the receiver is still covered, they GET open while the ball flies. Tebow is a college QB, he only throws to guys that are already open, too late and too slow for the NFL. If he can’t learn to read defenses pre-snap, if he can’t get consistency in his throwing, he’s never gonna make the jump.
I do have to say I've noticed that Tebow has "happy feet" when in the pocket. Why that is I could only speculate. Is it something he can grow out of? We'll never know if he doesn't get the chance.
Had he remained at Denver, we'd know by now if he was developing or not. If the Jets trade/cut him, we won't know if these issues can be overcome for another year, or two.
Part of the problem with Tebow’s numbers is how low everything is. 271 attempts in 11 games. That’s not an NFL QB stat. And then 54% of them are either not caught or caught by the wrong guy. That’s just bad.
Southpaw has nothing to do with it. Plenty of left handed QBs have plenty of success. He has a 46% completion rate because he can’t read defenses, he throws the ball late, and his throwing motion results in unpredictable and inacurate flight. Ie - he’s not a good QB.
If it was his line and his receivers Orton wouldn’t have had such dramatically better stats.
The only reason Tebow is running is because he didn’t read the defense pre-snap and he didn’t throw the ball on time. 2.4 seconds. That’s what an NFL QB should be doing.
Let’s compare his stats to another scrambler who runs the option, Robert Griffin III:
http://www.nfl.com/player/robertgriffiniii/2533033/gamelogs
RGIII has a completion percentage of 66.4 on 351 attempts, he’s thrown 18 TDs, 4 INTs, a QB rating of 104.2, 11 fumbles, 2 lost. Notice in every part of the game his stats are better, and he runs the exact same style of offense, on a worse team.
And he’s not the only one, another scrambling option oriented QB Russel Wilson:
http://www.nfl.com/player/russellwilson/2532975/profile
353 attempts, 66.2 completion percentage, 21 TDs, 9 INTs, 5 fumbles, 3 lost. He’s got a few more INTs but is still markedly better in all the other stats.
These guys have all the same excuses you’re making for Tebow, except their stats aren’t a nightmare.
There’s one major difference between Testaverde and Tebow: this discussion. Vinnie didn’t have a big crowd of worshipers making life for his coaches bad every time he was on the bench. Because Tebow has all these followers that ignore his atrocious stats he be played even though he stinks he’s an instant quarterback controversy. That has a good chance of getting him out of the league. There are teams out there that will take a chance on a so-so player, hoping to improve him, or at least surround him with enough talent. There aren’t as many willing to take that chance on a player that’s going to get the fans all riled up and aggressive, they’ve got enough headaches.
I know exactly why he has happy feet: he doesn’t know where the open man is and he wants to run. It’s another sign of him not having the knowledge he needs to do the job he wants.
We know whether he’s been developing. He hasn’t. If he had he’d be the starter for the Jets.