This is a part of it I’ve been hearing more over the last day, and may have some truth to it: the idea that it was a demoralized fanbase that needed to see that the team was trying. From that standpoint, there’s a case to be made.
My suspicion is that if two lean years follow two fat ones, they’re back to square one … unless of course they use the two fat ones and the attendant enthusiasm to facilitate a move back to LA.
As for Campbell, his contract’s up, so he’ll be moving on. I hope someday he writes a book about his career. My guess is he’s the only guy in the NFL not tempted to cheat on his wife; a man’s got to have continuity somewhere.
Anyone else sick of Rex Ryan’s imaginary Super Bowl rings? From his guarantees that never happen to the imaginary rings he would have won if he were in San Diego, you would think the guy would have at least one here in reality. I like the humor and non-cookie cutter image he projects, but this talk about make believe rings is tedious and only serves to make him play the clown.
Norv Turner actually landed a zinger when he was asked about the Super Bowls Rex said he would have won in San Diego. Paraphrasing, it was something like, “I wonder if those work the same as all the rings he’s guaranteed in New York.”
Nah, it wasn’t that bad. It was more of a “forgetting to engage brain before operating mouth” thing - he was really just saying the Chargers have had talented squads for a long time. You could sort of see the wheels turning as he realized he’d just called Norv an underachiever.
That makes this trade one of the best things to happen in Harrison’s career. If he had not had the physical for this trade who knows when they may have caught the tumor. Godspeed to him on his recovery.
I heard John Clayton on the radio yesterday. He said that Hue Jackson said if Palmer’s breathing, he’s starting. Clayton also said that Fox, Elway and pretty much everyon else in the Broncos’ organization thinks Tebow is their 3rd best QB but at this point, they’ve caved into the fans because there’s nothing left to lose. That does not sound like a healthy organization.
And it’s in Florida and they’re honoring the Gator’s national championship team. The stars have aligned for Tebow (would they expect anything else?). Crappy pass defense, crappy defense altogether, with basically a home game for him, and the crowd on his side. I like Tebow, he seems like a genuine guy, but his cultists are annoying as hell, and I don’t think he’s an NFL quarterback. But it’s a game between two teams with a combined record of 1-9, both with backup QB’s and bad defenses. Yet, I’ll probably keep tabs on it, just cause. I want to see how well Von Miller is doing.
I think it’s smart. You’re season is pretty much lost already, and if you’re serious about getting into the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, you need a loss here. What better way to tank without it appearing like your tanking, than to start a QB who, while in a good situation for this one game, is your #3 QB.
Let me add that I don’t think the Broncos are actually doing that (tanking on purpose). I think they have a young QB with some nice upside and rare physical skills who they want to see if he can hack it in the NFL. I think they’d be thrilled if they see enough to think he’ll develop into an NFL quarterback.
Maybe they’re not tanking on purpose, but it doesn’t look like they’re trying to win on purpose, either.
If I were more cynical, I’d think they were trying to prove Tebow was, at best, a mediocre QB, while giving themselves a decent position at Luck, since, no matter what, it looks like they’ll have a reasonably high 1st pick this year, to be combined with whatever else they can offer.
The silver lining is that the fans are much more likely to forgive/forget losses with Tebow than with any other QB. That’s as close to a free pass for losing as you’ll ever get in the NFL.
If anything, I hate the Tebow cult even more than you do (bear in mind where I live), and I’m not so sure he isn’t an NFL quarterback. Sure, he’s never going to throw a pretty 15 yard out, but some guys (Tyler Thigpen a while ago, Cam Newton now) have had success playing from a sort of NFL-ized spread.
Put another way, I thought he’d be a miserable bust. Then I saw him play the last three games of last season, and changed my mind.
Now, I don’t think he’s ever going to turn into top 5 player in the league, but I think he can at least accomplish what Vick did in Atlanta- take teams to the playoffs. Not this team, of course - Denver’s defense sucks giant hairy donkey dick.
In a sense. 18 touchdowns to 12 interceptions in basically 13 games for the 2008 Chiefs (who would have been the league’s worst team in any other year).