Remember the wearying debate about whether Tim Tebow would be an NFL quarterback? If you don't, you will by tomorrow: it's about to start anew.
Tim Tebow Leads Fourth Quarter Comeback In Second NFL Start (But It’s Against The Texans)
Tebow's been good to very good in his first two NFL starts. Last week, he started hot against the Raiders, and this week, he threw for over 300 yards and accounted for two fourth quarter touchdowns against the Texans while leading a Broncos comeback that turned a 23-10 deficit into a 24-23 win.
Among NFL cities, there's probably none with a bigger shadow on the current starting quarterback than Denver. John Elway looms large over Tebow like he did over Jake Plummer and Jay Cutler, and though fans want to figure out whether Tebow's the next Elway — or, in some extreme cases, anoint him as such — it's probably worth soft-pedaling expectations for Tebow even after his excellent start.
Those two teams Tebow's played, the Raiders and Texans? They're no one's idea of great squads, and neither had much to play for. And still, they managed to limit Tebow to just 24 completions on 45 attempts in those games.
Tebow’s been able to run against NFL defenses, too — his speed had been a concern since he was at Florida — tallying 105 yards on 18 carries. But Tebow’s more or less fresh, having played only a handful of snaps this seasons, and it’s a bit less impressive to think of him galloping past defenders when you consider that he’s been subjected to almost four fewer months wear and tear.
So I say this as a Florida fan, and a longtime Tebow follower: I would like to see him succeed at the NFL level both because I’ve gotten used to rooting for him and because he’s always impressed me as an insatiable student of football who compensates for some deficits in both talent and polish with force of will. But I don’t think Tebow’s shown the world much of anything yet, and I don’t think what he’s done at the end of a lost season against teams no one would confuse for Super Bowl contenders should be taken as solid evidence of future performance.
At least, Tebow’s restarted the debate about whether he can be effective as an NFL quarterback. But we should remember that might be the most he’s done, too.
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