some gems from these two and Merryl Hodge this afternoon: "he's not elusive, he's not a great athlete. He's strong and a good teammate, but this isnt college" "he's brad smith" "all the experts in the NFL don't think he can be a starter. 32 GMs passed on him" "Elway, who knows more about QBing than most on this planet, couldn't wait to get rid of him" "he doesn't do anything particularly well" "he's not a great football player on this level" -- Hodge
I'm not real sure what the basis for all the rehashing is...if you want to analyze the succcess/failure of the wildcat, fair game, but the guy has thrown 3 passes this year...how do you judge if he has improved at all based on that? so basically ditto everything that was said last year absent proof of anything different
Hodge only has to look in a mirror to recognize someone who is/was not a great player. He and Skip Bayless have to be the two biggest idiots in the media.
Yeah they are really good "analysts" on ESPN. At least Skip Bayless is paid to be a hack. Hoge is clueless, he said Kellen Clemens and Brian Brohm are going to be great QBs. Tells you how much he knows about NFL QBs. At least Dilfer and Jaws are disent.
You're welcome. It was my pleasure taking the Broncos from a 1-4 record to winning the divisional title and playoff win vs. the Steelers without OTAs and minicamps. It's cool that you guys got Peyton to take over for me as your QB... he is a HOFer. No hard feelings and best of luck to you next year. - Tim Tebow
This isn't really fair to Tim Tebow at this point. Here's the truth as I best divine it at this point: 1. The Jets did not get Tim Tebow to take advantage of his abilities in the spread-option. For this year that was not really an option with Sparano installing a new offense. There's no way the Jets had the time, resources or personnel to work in a special offense for Tebow. All the talk of this before the season started was just misdirection and promotion on the part of the Jets. For next year? Who knows. 2. Tebow has been used in the offense only as a change-of-pace for scattered plays and those scattered plays have been very unimaginative. He's basically a fullback who gets a couple of carries a game but doesn't have to block the other 28 carries like most fullbacks. 3. Tebow has been very effective in the unit that the Jets are using him on which is the punting unit. Opposing teams are now leaving their regular defense on the field against the Jets punting unit which is one of the reasons the Jets have had just 13 punts returned against them in 35 opportunities. Tebow has contributed several 1st downs on fakes also, which is equivalent to 3 turnovers at this point. 4. There was never a plan to challenge Sanchez in training camp with Tebow. The Jets did look heavily at Tebow in camp, giving him lots of reps with the 1st team in practice and letting him play large amounts of the three pre-season games that the regulars played in. They did not however intend for him to take the job and he obliged them by not playing well enough in the regular offense to take it. Tebow has actually done everything the Jets asked him to do and he's done it in the best possible way, working hard and keeping his mouth shut. Lately Rex Ryan has looked pained when the Tebow questions come up. My guess is that he's tired of the bluffing and he's beginning to realize that his mouth is having an effect on the fans perception of Tebow. I mean if Rex says he's important and yet he doesn't seem to be all that important that has to be his fault somehow, right? The best thing the Jets could do right now is make a deal to get Tebow out of town. It's probably the only way to get the best out of Sanchez, because looking over his shoulder all year hasn't done that yet. Going down the stretch with Tebow hanging over Sanchez shoulder isn't going to help the team no matter how lightly Tebow treads and he is treading very lightly. You think the media is nuts on this now? Just wait until the Jets are 6-6 and still not blowing the AFC away. The "Tebow is being used wrong" meme is going to be out of control by then, Assuming the Jets aren't going to do this, which is a reasonable assumption, the best move is to stop running Tebow in for a play here and there and instead just start going for it out of the punt formation maybe a third of the time with Tebow running and passing a lot in those situations. Oh, and stop worrying about Sanchez feelings on 3rd and 1 from the 3. That's a Tebow down and yardage situation. 3rd and 3 from the 5? that's Sanchez. 3rd and 1 from the 3 is Tebow and if the Jets weren't randomly inserting Tebow in other situations and at inopportune times they wouldnt have to worry about how it looks when they take Sanchez out on the goal line now and then.
Nice post and I agree with most of it. Couple of points though. First, this statement is incorrect: Tebow had very few snaps with the 1st team and his appearances in the preseason games are what you'd expect for a backup QB. IIRC, the Jets followed pretty much the same script that other teams went with in regards to the scheduling of the different units. Secondly, there was plenty of time to install some variation of a Spread Option offense as the "Tebowcat/Jesuscat/whatevercat". If they were using Meyer's playbook, most of the runs from it are basically traditional NFL run concepts, executed from the shotgun formation. Only thing the RB needs to do is slightly change his initial alignment (from being back in the I formation to standing beside the QB, and learn how to take/leave the ball in the "mesh". WRs might have a little more to learn as far as routes and alignments, but it's not like we are talking about adding on a 100 page playbook, as they wouldn't be doing a full/complete install of the offense.
Nice analysis, Br4dw4y (sheesh why did you make your handle such a PITA to type?). There was never any secret plan for Tebow. He hasn't been used in play situations where he excels like 3rd and 1. He's a good team player and doesn't bitch about the situation. I personally would have given up a long time ago. Can't believe he keeps trying and keeps his mouth shut.
I have no idea who these guys are except Hoge. It is amazing how he was eating crow the end of last year almost apologizing for the crap he had been spewing about Tebow but as soon as Tebow isn't seeing much time on the field he Hoge feels empowered to start sniping once again. Maybe he is just still butt hurt from the ass chewing he got from Ditka last year.
When the first goal is to train the players to an entirely new offensive system and new playbook, it's unhelpful to try to add a slew of variations and alternate plays. It's not like Madden where you add new plays and the players instantly know the plays and can run them as efficiently as if they had been running them for a whole season. It took what, 5-6 games for the passing game to really start to meld between Sanchez and his WRs. Granted, there have been injuries but Cumberland, Kerley, Hill and Schillens have been taking reps with Sanchez since his Jets West this summer. Add another set of plays or alterations of plays and we'd probably still see the offense struggle like it did against the steelers, miami and the 9ers well into the last half of the season.
Br4dw4y Good post and great thoughts. I don't know that the jets need to ship TT out of town for Sanchez to flourish, but its possible. Nice when we can have calm rational discussion on the topic.