# Can someone explain how Tim Tebow won Heisman and why he sucks now? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 17, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463 "2013-08-17T00:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/1 "2013-08-17T00:49:03Z")
Jury is out whether Belichick will cut Tebow in the Patriot’s final cuts. Based on his performance last week I’d say his chances are slim to none of staying on the team. What the heck happened to the guy that won All-American in high school and the Heisman in college? Why is this guy so inept in the NFL? I’ve seen other college quarterbacks struggle because they were too small for the NFL. But Tebow is doing more than struggling. He just sucks big time. A Urban Meyer quarterback can’t throw accurately? :dubious: > **[Tim Tebow Must Improve Accuracy to Survive Patriots' Final Cuts](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1739423-tim-tebow-must-improve-accuracy-to-survive-patriots-final-cuts)** > > Tim Tebow still can't hit the broad side of a barn with a handful of rice. Josh McDaniels ' pet project got plenty of work in against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 of the preseason... > [@](#): > > Here are the raw numbers: Tebow went just 4-of-12 passing for 55 yards with zero touchdowns, and he was sacked three times for 23 yards. It’s worth noting that two of his completions came on screen passes, which are essentially extended handoffs. > > It was a clinic on ineptitude at the quarterback position. > > Tebow displayed the same traits that have held him back through his first three seasons. He didn’t see the field well, locked on to his primary reads—often staring them down, even when his receivers were plainly covered—and showed abominable accuracy on most of his incompletions. > **[Tim Tebow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow)** > > Timothy Richard Tebow (/ˈtiːboʊ/; born August 14, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football for the Florida Gators, where he became the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy and helped lead the team to two BCS National Championship titles in 2006 and 2008. At the conclusion of his collegiate career, Tebow held the Southeastern Confere... > [@](#): > > On November 24, against the Florida State Seminoles, Tebow threw for three touchdowns and rushed for two in a 45–12 rout of the Seminoles. It was later revealed that Tebow fractured his right hand during the third quarter but played the rest of the game. He had to wear a cast for the next three weeks.[43] > > After the 2007 season, Tebow was recognized as a first-team All-SEC selection and a consensus first-team All-American,[44] He won the Heisman Trophy, given to the most outstanding college football player of the year. Tebow also received the Davey O’Brien Award, annually given to the best quarterback in the nation, on February 18 in Fort Worth, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/2 "2013-08-17T00:51:18Z")
His gimmick college offense doesn’t work in the NFL ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/3 "2013-08-17T00:57:10Z")
I don’t know- ask Andre Ware, Gino Torretta, Jim Plunkett, Doug Flutie… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/4 "2013-08-17T01:00:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Jury is out whether Belichick will cut Tebow in the Patriot’s final cuts. Based on his performance last week I’d say his chances are slim to none of staying on the team. That contradicts pretty much everything I’ve read on the subject. [Example here.](http://www.boston.com/blogs/sports/columnists/kaufman/2013/08/done_deal_tim_tebow_will_break_camp_with_patriots.html) > [@](#): > > What the heck happened to the guy that won All-American in high school and the Heisman in college? Why is this guy so inept in the NFL? The subject was talked to death long ago, but he was good in college because the Florida offense worked to his strengths, and in the NFL he struggles to make decisions quickly, he doesn’t throw the ball well, and his skills are less useful against bigger, faster, smarter defenses. We’ll see if the Patriots can get something useful out of him. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/5 "2013-08-17T01:17:17Z")
Tebow was successful in college and isn’t in the NFL for the same reason some guys destroy minor league pitching and can’t hit in the majors, or you’ll see a guy score 120 points in the OHL and flame out in the NHL; players who succeed at the lower level _by exploiting tectical weaknesses specific to that level_, as opposed to succeeding through the genuine application of talent, find themselves stumped. Early in my participation in organized baseball, I discovered that despite my not being especially fast, I could steal bases virtually at will. I think at one point I had a run of about 170 consecutive stolen bases without being caught; I once stole eight bases in one game. I wasn’t super fast, but I learned that pitchers telegraphed every pickoff attempt and I could get huge jumps no 15-year-old catcher could throw me out on. I could also get on base to steal those bases by simply refusing to swing at anything but the juiciest pitches, since even advanced teenaged pitchers can’t hit a strike zone for shit. So for a few years there I dominated the league with ridiculous on base percentages and stolen base records. But it didn’t last - because the inability of pitchers and catchers to control the running game went away. Suddenly I wasn’t getting all those easy walks, suddenly pitchers could hold me a few feet closer to the bag. My primary skill in baseball was gone, quite literally in a season. I had advanced beyond my ability to exploit inferior ballplayers, and my talent level was not enough to keep me up to speed. Tim Tebow is the football version of me. In NCAA football, his speed and running ability were exceptionally difficult for a college defense to hold; to counter him they had to overcompensate run coverage, which opens receivers, which reduced the effect of Tebow’s poor arm. In the NFL, there are basically no bad defenses; they can’t be fooled by a QB running a little and don’t have to overcompensate by taking someone out of the defensive backfield. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/6 "2013-08-17T01:48:44Z")
It’ll be interesting to see if Tebow plays any tonight. That would give Belichick a better read on how well Tebow is learning the new system. I can recall guys like Doug Flutie struggling but he had some good pro seasons in the CFL. I doubt Tebow would even do well there. I guess Tebow could surprise us if Belichick’s staff keeps working with him. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/7 "2013-08-17T02:09:21Z")
**Bob** -Replace Plunkett with Weurffel or White and I agree. Plunkett is a near HoF’er. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/8 "2013-08-17T02:11:06Z")
The selection standards for the NFL are insanely high. Only around one out of a hundred college players makes it to the pros. That means you can be in the top two percent of college sports - and not be good enough to play professionally. That or God just likes Colin Kaepernick better. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/9 "2013-08-17T03:07:32Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > **Bob** -Replace Plunkett with Weurffel or White and I agree. Plunkett is a near HoF’er. I wouldn’t say that, but the guy DID win two Super Bowls, so you can’t treat him like a bust. Regardless, MOST Heisman winning quarterbacks haven’t been successful NFL quarterbacks. On addition to the guys already mentioned, John Huarte, Terry Baker, Gary Beban, Steve Spurrier, Pat Sullivan, Chris Weinke, Charlie Ward, Ty Detmer, Gino Torretta, Eric Crouch and Troy Smith either flopped in the NFL or weren’t even drafted. In college football, not all the cornerbacks are great, and hence quarterbacks with sub-par arms regularly throw touchdown passes to wide open receivers. In the NFL, ALL the cornerbacks are fast, and coverage is a lot tighter. You HAVE to have the arm strength to thread the needle. Beyond that, NFL defenses are much more complicated than college defenses. Quarterbacks have to make quick reads, fast decisions, and make accurate bullet passes to well-covered receivers. If you can’t process information FAST, you’ll be on your back before you get a chance to throw, and if you don’t have a strong, accurate arm, you’re going to throw a lot of picks and incompletions. Tebow just can’t make the kind of throws NFL quarterbacks have to make. I like him, and wished him well, but it’s obvious now that he can’t do the job. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/10 "2013-08-17T03:14:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It’ll be interesting to see if Tebow plays any tonight. That would give Belichick a better read on how well Tebow is learning the new system. 1/7 for -1 yard and an interception. Whoa. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/11 "2013-08-17T03:22:41Z")
Tebow’s QB rating is equaled by Bluto’s GPA - 0.0. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/12 "2013-08-17T12:27:49Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Regardless, MOST Heisman winning quarterbacks haven’t been successful NFL quarterbacks. On addition to the guys already mentioned, John Huarte, Terry Baker, Gary Beban, Steve Spurrier, Pat Sullivan, Chris Weinke, Charlie Ward, Ty Detmer, Gino Torretta, Eric Crouch and Troy Smith either flopped in the NFL or weren’t even drafted. There really have been a shitload of them, haven’t there? Steve Spurrier gets double bonus points for failing to make the jump from college to the pros successfully as both a QB _and_ as a head coach. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/13 "2013-08-17T13:34:38Z")
IMO: In CFB it is much easier to exploit an offensive players strength against a weakness in the defense. Because there is not much depth of quality. The NFL has the best of the best of the college players playing in every position. They are bigger, stronger, and faster. The game looks the same, but the NFL is much much better. I doubt very much that Alabama would be competitive against the weakest NFL team. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/14 "2013-08-17T13:55:07Z")
How frustrating must it have been to be Cam Newton to sit behind this guy for 2 seasons KNOWING that you’re a better QB than him despite all the stats and accolades? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/15 "2013-08-17T14:33:17Z")
Because he’s a good Athlete but a terrible Quarterback. He probably would make for a decent Tight End. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/16 "2013-08-17T14:53:05Z")
Belichick apparently signed Tebow with the idea of installing an option package, to make the defenses have to prepare for more things. But if they know they only have to stuff the run, there’s no real point. Tebow has just about played himself off the team and out of the league. It’s not at all obvious that the Alouettes would still want him, either. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/17 "2013-08-17T15:08:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Can someone explain how Tim Tebow won Heisman and why he sucks now? Ask Archie Griffin. I think it’s partly big fish in a little pond moving to a great ocean. And partly because Heisman winners sometimes get SPECIAL attention from their opposition. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/18 "2013-08-17T16:01:02Z")
It’s undoubtedly true that the NFL is a higher level of competition, and that lots of great college players flamed out in the pros. But stopping there only tells half the story, because it offers no explanation for the large number of players who were much better as pros than in college: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Kurt Warner … there are plenty of them. As RickJay’s story illustrates, it’s not just a matter of a higher levels requiring a greater level of skill, it’s a higher level requiring different kinds of skills. Imagine if college chess was played without a clock, but professional chess was done with a 60-second timer on each move, and with large cheering crowds in attendance. The fundamental game is still chess, but obviously, some players who excelled when they had time and quiet would struggle in the hurry-up cheering-crowd version, and others would do comparatively better. It’s a different style of play that values different skills; simplifying it to “the NFL is harder” misses that. Which is why statements like this are so silly: > [@PSXer](#): > > His gimmick college offense doesn’t work in the NFL Most innovations are called “gimmicks” until they work. Bill Walsh’s offense was called a “gimmick,” but it’s now affected every NFL playbook; ditto the Run-and-Shoot, the shotgun formation, and all sorts of innovations all the way back to the forward pass. Silly people still call the the shotgun option running game a gimmick because so far only a few teams in the NFL use it; presumably if it becomes more popular at the NFL level it will then be a “real” scheme. But this isn’t the way coaches or athletes think; they’re trying to win games based on the rules and conditions they find themselves playing in, and they adopt their strategies accordingly. Calling a scheme that wins multiple national championships and is widely emulated a “gimmick” betrays a misapprehension about what players and coaches are aiming at. Show Sammy Baugh a shot of a shotgun 4 WR formation, and he might call it a gimmick … until he saw how it worked and you explained how the rules and the ball have changed since his day. Show a modern NFL fan a single wing formation, and they’d call it a gimmick … even though it dominated the game for years, is still used in youth leagues, and heavily influences modern shotgun-spread running games (especially Urban Mayer’s). Different conditions, different rules = different strategies, different skillsets valued. > [@pancakes3](#): > > How frustrating must it have been to be Cam Newton to sit behind this guy for 2 seasons KNOWING that you’re a better QB than him despite all the stats and accolades? You assume that because Newton is a vastly better NFL QB than Tebow, he would necessarily have been better in 2007/08; that as an 18/19 year-old right out of high school he would have been better than the guy who won a Heisman and a National Championship those two years; and that the coaches who recruited both and watched both every day in practice were blind to this? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/19 "2013-08-17T16:09:11Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Because he’s a good Athlete but a terrible Quarterback. He probably would make for a decent Tight End. He’d make an awful tight end at the NFL level. He’s be smaller than most, slower than most, and he’s never worked on route running or blocking before in his life. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463/20 "2013-08-17T16:12:52Z")
> [@furt](#): > > He’d make an awful tight end at the NFL level. He’s be smaller than most, slower than most, and he’s never worked on route running or blocking before in his life. That’s what I get for trying to be nice 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-how-tim-tebow-won-heisman-and-why-he-sucks-now/666463.md?page=2)