Mike Westhoff, the brash, opinionated former special teams coordinator with the Jets, said the team's usage of Tim Tebow was an "absolute mess" in 2012. Speaking on WQAM this morning, Westhoff, who plans to have a second career as a television analyst, became the first coach to speak openly about how disjointed the team's plans were regarding Tebow. "It was a mess, it was an absolute mess. You can say whatever you want but I was very, very disappointed." He added: "There are things with Tim Tebow as an NFL quarterback -- he's very limited in some things. If you throw him right in the middle of a drop back passing offense he will look very, very average at best, but if you incorporate him into different facets of your offense, I think he can be a factor. That's what I felt like we were going to do." Westhoff said he expected Tebow to be used in a variety of different roles but said that the Jets never even practiced such wrinkles in the offense, even during the supposed "secret" Cortland practices. "That was very disappointing the way it came out," Westhoff said. "I don't think anyone has ever answered that question. Why didn't we do it? I know we didn't practice it. We didn't practice it in training camp. We were going to unveil it. Well, I'm still waiting for the unveiling. "It was a distraction and really a shame because that's a hard-working young man." Westhoff's criticism of the team went down the line this morning and didn't spare anyone. On the cap situation, an implication of former GM Mike Tannenbaum: "Well when you're paying a handful of guys 40 percent of your salary cap, what the hell are you going to do with the rest of them?" On Mark Sanchez: "I believe Mark was a manageable quarterback on a good football team," Westhoff said. "We had a good defense, I had a good group on teams, we ran the ball well, we had a handful of receivers who could make big plays and Mark was thrown into those ingredients... "Then all of a sudden the burden was thrust on Mark and that's just too much for him in my opinion. I think a whole offense needs to be designed around Mark. You can say that it was, but there are some things he just doesn't do as well...plus you still need a very good running game and special teams to complement him. And we lost that, we all lost that." On Mike Pettine and the Jets defense: "Part of our defense, and against certain people, there were some weaknesses and people know that. On our kicking team, we led the league in tackles inside the 20, so people started back in the hole most of the time. "But what would happen, when our defense played the long field, they were a little suspect in the middle and people drove the ball up to midfield on us. On a shorter field, our defense, because of our really good corner play, constricted and played really well and hold people. But then they would punt us and Mark Sanchez would start on the 10-yard line.' There's plenty of blame to go around." http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2013/01/tim_tebow_usage_was_an_absolut.html
haha love the tumble weed. If westhoff would have come forward and plainly said "tebow sucks" there would be 2 dozen responses in 10 minutes.
What is there to say? Westhoff is saying he's not an NFL QB but could've been used in the offense in a better manner - exactly what everyone else in the world has been saying. It's funny how you choose to bold that part of the article, but not the part where he said Tebow was a distraction and the parts about Sanchez.
Non-story. Lots of people out there think he was misused. Myself included. Probably was. Should have been used as a full time FB. I'm sure you can find more quotes from former coaches, current coaches, or future coaches, armchair coaches, wrestling coaches, stage coaches, roach coaches... former players, current players, a high school janitor, that will agree with it. Few of them saw him in practice though. It is funny though. The best compliments for Tebow seem to be more along the lines of... "He's hard working young man." and... "He's great in the community." We all knew he wasn't a conventional guy. We all knew you had to do different stuff with Tebow for him to succeed. His biggest supporters say he needs to be in a situation that differs from the norm if he's gonna succeed. The mistake from the Jets isn't that they refused to overhaul the way they run their offense, The mistake was getting Tebow at all, because thay had no intentions of making him a major key to their offense. Sure, they said so, but they wanted him for marketing reasons. What did you expect them to say? we don't plan on doing much with him, just want to capitalize on his popularity for awhile? you can find a thousand more quotes from guys that thought Tebow got a raw deal, but the bottom line is that not ONE of those quotes really helps Timmy out of his current predicament. The perception from the decision makers is that either he isn't an NFL QB, or he is too big of a distraction. Neither bode well for him, and for most GMs, it is probably both. So go find another great nice quote about how great Tebow really is, or how he should have been given a couple of starts despite what they see him do every day. Doesn't help your cause one bit. Or was this latest quote supposed to make me see the light or something and change my mind?
Just shows the ineptitude and disingenuous character of this organization from top to bottom. Signing Tebow and then completely screwing up how he was used was a disservice to everyone involved, not least of all, Jets fans.
None of you guys are seriously going to address the fact that what he was asked to do on gameday was never even practiced or worked on? really? I accept the white flag you guys are waving on this one.
What white flag? We all knew it was gonna be a cluster fuck even when Teboners thought he was gonna surpass Sanchez and take his job. Realists knew better. ..and you want to cling on another comment that says maybe he didn't get a fair shake? Besides, why practice those other things he was doing on the field. We heard time and again that practice doesn't matter, and what he brings only comes out in the games. So why bother practicing any of that stuff? (Only half serious) I guess it also comes down to how you define "fair shake." I mean, would you throw just about ANY high school caliber passer out there for a couple of seasons worth of starts before you would consider it fair? cuz many don't even get one start. He had 15 1/2. Got some wins on some really big breaks and a good defensive performance, but fundumentally, he was piss poor as a QB.
You guys are really grasping at straws at this point to find anything remotely close to supporting the idea of Tebow @QB in the NFL. He isn't going to be an NFL QB. It's time to let that dream go. I know it's going to be tough for some of you, but it's time. Let it go. Many people believe he could be a role player in the NFL, but he and his most of his followers refuse to accept that.
That would go contrary to the whole point of being a Tebow fan. They all want this modern day "little engine that could" story of a guy that proves hard work and determination can achieve ANYTHING. That was the whole point behind the Tebow story to begin with. Never give up. Good things happen to good people... and all that. Tebow fanatics desperately want the story. You really think the'yre gonna give up on it after 3 years?
That what caused all the histaria last year. When people like Merril Hoge and Pete Prisco say that you can't win in the NFL, yet he had SOME success and exceeded expectations, it caused a good story. EVERYBODY in America loves a good underdog story. Look at Linsanity, heck look at Wayne Chrebet's career. They told him he wasn't big enough or fast enough to play WR for the Jets and proved his detractors wrong.
In all this I feel bad for Tebow, I'm not a coach so I have no idea if they guy will be a QB in the NFL but I have my opinion. What bugs me is they wasted a 4th round pick on the guy and refused to try to incorparate him into the offense. Now I still have no idea if Tebow refused to play when Rex approached him in week 16 but can you blame him if he did? The guy kept his mouth shut all year when he knew he wasn't part of the plan. They had no intention on using him for anything other then a decoy. We as fans were fed this bullshit that they had certain packages and plays designed for him when in reality all he did was eat a roster spot and help us throw away a draft pick. That's not on him... that's on the Jets. Good coaches find ways to get creative with what they have but this team seemed to just accept that he wasn't their QB and were content with him eating that roster spot instead of coming up with ways to use him.
So its unreasonable to assume that perhaps tebow looked bad running the "Sparano cat" because well...I don't know...THEY NEVER WORKED ON IT!? Hey Murrell I understand your feelings on the subject . You don't have to keep telling me over and over the same thing . I asked a specific question and you don't seem to have an answer other than "tebow sucks" Tebow is done in 2013 I accepted that, whats harder to accept is all the abuse he gets about being horrible in the Sparano Cat and it turns out it never existed, they kept trotting him on to the field running him straight up the gut as a decoy.That sucked. We agree on that, crazy biased haters powered the story not the fans. Yeah I agree, the jets went out of their way to kill tebowmania, why burn the pick? not even practice it once? Just when you think the story can not get anymore bizarre it does. I think I am getting bladdered tonight. but listen mate I think your views on tebow are just blinkered. I think tebow is just the dog's bollocks.
Absolutely I would blame him if he did. The Tim Tebow propaganda machine has tried to sell that whole "good soldier, doing what he is asked, doing ANYTHING to help the team." IF... he started saying he wasn't going to do it, then that flies in the face of what his handlers have been trying to sell us about the kind. It proves he really is about himself and that he is a phony. Plus, he is under contract. Isn't he kind of obligated to do what the coaches tell him? ...and if he DID tell Ryan he wasn't going to do it anymore, I actually would admire Tebow more for dropping that "good soldier" act and being honest about where he stands with his career. Stop overplaying that "humbleness" to be such a people pleaser and grow a pair already!!
Honestly, how much work does it take to take a snap, and bull rush forward? ...and he rarely looked good as a Bronco either, when they DID work on things. Once they got a look at how horrid he was in practice, they probably didn't bother. How much time do you think the Jets should spent working on a guy they had little faith in to begin with? You know what those few plays of dropping him in were? appeasement. Throwing the Tebowners and an owner who picked him up for marketing purposes a bone.
