When Tebow had Brandon Lloyd (last year) he passed for more yards and less interceptions per start than Orton did with Brandon Lloyd (this year). The Broncos traded away Lloyd at the same time that they made Tebow the starter this year, essentially conceding that they would not have any passing offense.
If the question is “does Tebow give the Broncos a better chance to win than Orton?”, the answer is “yes.”
If the question is “is Tebow a good QB?”, the answer is “no.”
Somewhere during this win streak, the conversation shifted from the former to the latter.
He actually did play well in the second half, and I was especially impressed by the TD pass to Decker. It’s also true that the defense scored one of the TDs and the interception at the end set them up for an easy field goal at the gun. And once again we come back to the fact that if the offense had not been atrocious in the first half, they wouldn’t have needed late game heroics to beat a 2-9 team missing its best player.
He’s doing what he needs to to win. The defense put up 7 and got that last-minute pick, but they gave up 32 points to that same 2-9 team. Thank God they were there to save Tebow today with that awesome performance, though. Who knows what might have happened if they’d only given up 14.
He may not be awesome, but as the season goes on he’s progressing and getting better as a passer. I didn’t watch all of the game today (because I was watching the Miami game), but from what I saw, his passes are a lot more accurate than they were earlier in the season.
Teams win. Players don’t by happenstance do barely enough to win. And yes, the defense was bad (without Miller), and Tebow made some big plays in the second half. It’s also true that if he hadn’t been abysmal in the first half, they’d have won easily, and if the defense hadn’t scored a TD and made a big interception late, they might not have won at all. You have to see both sides to get a decent evaluation.
It’s like all intelligent thought disappears when the name Tebow is mentioned. Don’t worry about excluding that middle, I’m sure it will turn up later.
Kudos to the Broncos for winning with Tebow instead of despite him. He actually had a good game, and I’m happy he got the win against that mighty 2-9 Viking juggernaut. Thank God he had that pick 6 and the interception at the end of the game to give the Broncos the game winning field goal as time expired.
But maybe there is a middle ground here. Maybe we can agree that the defense, as well as McGahee’s 111 yards, contributed a tiny bit to the win, then there might be some rationality returning to NFL football. But Kudos to Tim, glad to see him get another win, and I will continue to hope that the Broncos are the representatives of the AFC in the Super Bowl.
The same defense that gave up 32 points to one of the worst offenses in football deserves credit for the win? If the Broncos won despite something, surely it’s the Broncos defense.
Kudos on the win. Try as I might to eliminate the defense from being a factor for our bet, that pick six and the interception leading to the game winning field goal were huge. Still, Tebow played well for him and you won. Congrats.
The Broncos’ first score was a defensive touchdown. It was a one-score game at halftime despite Tebow’s offense having scored more points for the Vikings than the Broncos. They took the ball away from the Vikings three times, including the one to set up the game winner. The Vikings got to run something like 50 plays on offense in the first half because they kept getting the ball back, and they still only went punt, fumble, interception, punt, field goal, punt, touchdown, punt, field goal.
So other than your turning “contributed a tiny bit” into “deserves credit for the win,” I’d say yeah. Scoring 7 and holding the other team to 13 in the first half, when your offense has contributed less than nothing is worth something. Otherwise even with the great second half Tebow gave them, they still don’t win, because the first half did actually happen, and Tebow was not a part of it.
It doesn’t seem logical to pick out individual plays like that. If the defense never made a good play, they would be the worst defense in the history of the NFL. In order for the defense to be less of a factor, shouldn’t they be about average? And they certainly weren’t significantly above average today.
This is the annoying part. I don’t have anything against the guy, but the nonsense that crops up around him - “he just wins,” “he’s inspiring the defense” and especially “there’s no other explanation!” - is just ridiculous. I think in part it reflects how much the sports media is covering Tebow the personality and the controversy around him and not what’s actually going on with the Broncos.
I admit I was remiss in not pointing out that the Denver defense was, on the whole, bad today. Tebow was good in the second half and this was probably his best performance overall with last week as the second best. But it’s also true that the Broncos offense was putrid in the first half- they almost literally could not have been worse. If they’d played a decent first half, they don’t need the inspiration in the clutch. And if the defense hadn’t scored a TD in the first half and made that late pick, they probably would have lost despite the strong second half and his super inspiration or whatever it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t mean the guy is the worst QB in history, it’s just stuff that has to be acknowledged as factual and is not because people can’t see past the flashier details.
Um, hell no. The Denver offense couldn’t stay on the field to save the defense. Denver had a -15 minute time of possession on the game. That’ll leave any defense struggling by the end of a game. Let’s look at the Vikes’ points:
Safety - That is on the Offense
FG - Offense turned over the ball well in Denver territory. Defense made the stop, to keep this only 3.
TD - Yep this is on the Defense.
FG - Yet again the Defense, limited The Vikes to just three points after the Offense screwed up.
At the end of the first half you can lay 7 of the Vikes’ points against the Defense and 8 against the Offense (and without the defense playing well it would have been worse). In the second half the Defense wore down and were burned on two long pass plays. So yeah they fell apart a bit at the end. But they still also picked up the pick-6 and that late interception. Only the Defense’s great play in the second half kept Denver in the game.
You know, I have to agree in part. Tebow is no Favre, and he’s certainly no Elway. But I think a big reason Denver fans are generally pleased with him is he’s not Orton. I can’t be arsed to look up his stats, but my impression is that Orton actively lost games and was a morale crusher for the team. All Tebow has to do in order to be “better” than Orton is to be smart and don’t turn the ball over. And yeah, there’s a difference between “not losing,” which is what Timmy is doing, and “winning” which I have to say is going to be a huge questionmark when the 'Donks go up against a non-distressed team like…um…is that even going to happen until the playoffs? Maybe New England? As good as their record has been there is no doubt Green Bay will mop the floor with them as they stand right now no matter who is taking the snaps.
I think New England is the only one. Next week they have Chicago with Hanie at QB and no Forte. Then they have the Patriots. After that it’s Buffalo (and I was hoping the Bills would be named to a bowl game because they’re not playing like a pro football team) and Kansas City, whatever kind of shape they’ll be in at that point.