At least simulations are more credible than Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s football suggestions. Those who believe that the popularity of a player makes their play quality should allow Will McClay and his staff to do their jobs.
Which they have done extremely well.
McClay did his due diligence; not only did the team try out four Quarterbacks yesterday, they made a trade for Matt Cassel once they realized none of the tryouts were worthy of a contract. Yet this is still not enough for some fans, they still want the team to sign…
Tim Tebow. Yes… That Tim Tebow…
The entire Tebow to Dallas movement is understood perfectly by examining the following. Cowboys Break and Talkin Cowboys on DallasCowboys.com have a specific caller – Mike From Florida – who in weeks past has scoffed at the notion that Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassell, and Kellen Moore are all better options than Tim Tebow. He even questioned the Philadelphia Eagles for signing Stephen Morris instead of keeping Tebow on their roster. Yet, is Tebow even remotely close to being the Quarterback that Stephen Morris is? He must be furious that they cut Morris and decided to sign Thad Lewis as their third-string signal caller.
I thought he was a Cowboys fan? If he believes Tebow is so good, why would he want the Eagles to keep him?
Moving on…
Yesterday on Talkin Cowboys Mike admitted that he does not watch College Football, stating that he does not have the time for it. So it is reasonable to assume that he does not have time for “meaningless” preseason games either. It is almost certain that Mike has never broken down film on any of the players he gives evaluations on either.
Do you see where this falls apart?
Allow me to go a little further. Will McClay has a vision for this roster, through his guidance this team has built a dominant Offensive Line, a relentless Defensive Line, and the depth that allows the team to not panic with the losses of Dez Bryant and Tony Romo.
With that being said who would you rather trust with this team; fans who only watch games and believe every word spewed from ESPN, unless it is negative towards the Cowboys, or The Architect that has built the team?
I will just go ahead and state that my trust is going with Will McClay.
I know the Tim Tebow fans reading this will quickly point to the 2011 Denver Broncos season as to why he is worthy of starting for the Cowboys, so let’s take a look at that season.
Tim Tebow started 11 games that year, the team went 7-4, but that does not tell the entire story on how Tebow played. In those 11 starts, the Broncos only averaged 18.5 points per game. Only the Colts, Jaguars, Browns, and Chiefs averaged fewer points per game for the entire season. Which places an enormous amount of pressure on the defense.
Tebow’s numbers from that season are also not that exciting.
His 46.5% completion percentage ranked last out of qualifying Quarterbacks for the 2011 Regular Season. He was also the only qualifying Quarterback to complete less than 50% of his passes. Blaine Gabbert finished 32nd with a 50.8% rating.
What about drops?
The Broncos were credited with 28 drops during the 2011 season. If we assume all of those were on Tebow passes it would move his percentage up to 56.7%. But, we would also have to adjust for the number of passes his receivers had to bail him out of as well, so that would also not make up for his lack of accuracy as a passer.
For example, the average completion percentage among the 33 qualifying Quarterbacks in 2011 – with Tebow included – was 59.7%.
Tony Romo was 3rd in the NFL at 66.3%. Remember, Tebow completed 46.5% of his passes; how can this standard be acceptable with the incredible year Romo had? It is hard to believe this case would ever be made unless it was indeed for Tim Tebow.
I know there is also the argument that he simply wins. The issue with that argument is that it is a fan argument. We are not speaking of the NBA or – to a lesser extent – the MLB.
One player does not win or lose games in the NFL.
For example, let’s take Rex Grossman.
He was the starting Quarterback for the 2006 Chicago Bears that went 13-3 and went to the Super Bowl. Grossman’s Quarterback Rating was 73.9, a full point higher than that of Tim Tebow in 2011. Much like Tebow, Grossman began falling to the wayside after his lackluster performance. Grossman was replaced as the starter during the 2007 season and for some odd reason there was not a national outcry for him to be given another chance.
If only Rex Grossman was as popular as Tim Tebow is today, perhaps he would have the endorsements and the following to allow him to charge absurd amounts for speaking engagements.
Scouting Tebow
His popularity is what probably turned him into a first round draft pick. There is no question that the Denver Broncos were aware of his limitations as a passer, but they were hoping his intangibles would in some way make up for his poor footwork, terrible release, and remedial knowledge of reading a defense (which he still has yet to improve upon), not to mention his accuracy issues. They also hoped they could develop him while taking full advantage of his jersey sales and national popularity.
Dan Mullen – the current Mississippi State Head Coach – was Tebow’s Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach during his tenure at Florida. What is interesting is that I just finished scouting Mullen’s current Quarterback Dak Prescott, who is a more refined version of Tim Tebow. Yet, there is still little chance that Prescott will be selected in the first round. Prescott is much better at reading defenses and is a much better passer than Tebow was coming out of college.
I do not see very many fans screaming for Dak Prescott in the way they were for Tim Tebow, which is a shame. I feel Prescott has a better chance at developing into an NFL Quarterback than Tebow ever had.
Again, this is the difference between those that will simply take what the national media states as fact and those that will either research for themselves or trust those that have. As a Dallas Cowboys fan, I am slightly surprised so many fans are buying into the national media hype around Tim Tebow.
These are the same outlets that told you Tony Romo sucked for years! They are doing this for ratings and no other reason!
Does Tim Tebow Have A Chance?
If Tim Tebow is actually serious about becoming an NFL caliber Quarterback, he will most definitely turn to the CFL.
Instead of sitting on a cushy production set repeating lines fed to him about college football matchups for the week, he will make the move that both Doug Flutie and Hall Of Famer Warren Moon did and join the CFL. This may be hard to hear for some but…
Right now Tim Tebow is not an NFL caliber Quarterback, and every team in the NFL agrees with me.
No matter who Tebow may work with off the field, that does not replace getting live game experience.
The CFL is a throwing league, giving him ample opportunity to improve his glaring weakness. He has refused for several years to go to the CFL, time that he would have indeed been able to improve as a Quarterback.
If he made the move to the CFL he would have the opportunity to play for the Montreal Alouettes and be coached by Anthony Calvillo: professional football’s all time leading passer, who is currently the Alouettes Quarterback Coach. That could perhaps help Tebow progress as a Quarterback.
If Tebow wanted to simply play in the NFL, I am sure teams would salivate to have him play Fullback or Tight End. He would be similar to Mike Alstott at Fullback, he even has the ability to lineup at Running Back with a blocking Fullback in front of him, which would allow him to run down hill and punish defenders.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LMR58CoaIk]
I will read between the lines for you.
Tim Tebow only wants to play Quarterback. If he will not commit to improving his craft in the CFL as a Quarterback and he refuses to play another position in the NFL, he is writing the story for himself.
If he truly does want to become an NFL Quarterback he will spend time in the CFL and prove that he can become a polished passer. He is unbelievably marketable to any NFL franchise, he just needs to show he can be average at the position to earn a roster spot.
Conspiracy Against Tebow?
The most ignorant argument has to be that the NFL is in some way biased against Tim Tebow for his beliefs. I will simply direct readers to click here and here to put this argument to rest. I also highly doubt those making that argument were pulling for Michael Sam in the same way they pull for Tim Tebow.
Hypocricy? Just a bit.
Lack of understanding? Yes.
The NFL is a business based on performance, teams actually have an incentive to have Tim Tebow on their roster from a marketing stance, yet he provides an unneeded distraction if he is a third Quarterback. Believe me, if teams felt Tebow had any chance at producing on the field he would be given every opportunity to do so.
Final Word
Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, Kellen Moore, and Jameill Showers are all better Quarterbacks than Tim Tebow.
Don’t make the mistake of believing that Tebow is a better fit than the former Pro Bowler Matt Cassel.
Definitely don’t believe that Tebow is a better answer than Brandon Weeden, who has been in this offense for over a year and has received numerous repetitions during practice. Even if Weeden plays poorly, Tebow is still not a better solution.
If Weeden plays poorly against Atlanta, Moore will be the next best solution since he is familiar with Scott Linehan’s offense. After Atlanta, Cassel will be the best solution.
At no point is Tebow the solution if your concern is the Dallas Cowboys winning football games.
If you would like to see Tebow he will more than likely remain with the SEC Network, if that is not enough there is the possibility you may catch him on the speaking trail with Dinesh D’souza again.
Just please stop with the constant questioning of why he is not in the NFL. I kindly answered that for you in the body of this article. If you want to speak more about Tim Tebow I welcome your responses – @TheRealSmoothG on twitter.
Did u forget to mention that Tebow and the Denver running backs lead the league in rushing in 2011? Something with the Cowboys great O-Line could be done again while Romo is out. That also kept the defense off the field. We all saw his passing has improved in the last preseason game vs Jets. With all the crappy QB play this year I can’t be convinced Tebow shouldn’t be on an NFL team! Why not the #Cowboys?
You conveniently forgot to mention that Tebow & the Denver running backs lead the NFL in rushing in 2011? Something that with the Cowboys great o-line could be done again while Romo’s out! That also keeps the defense off the field. With all the crappy QB play so far this year in the NFL u can’t tell me Tebow isn’t good enough to be on an NFL team! We saw his passing has improved in preseason with all the hard work he’s put in! Why not sign Tim Tebow #Cowboys?
I did not “conveniently” forget to mention that. It is quite irrelevant, the 2011 Denver Broncos led the league in rushing attempts and were bottom in the league for passing attempts (were also 2nd to last in passing yards). You must hadn’t watched the entire preseason this year as Tebow showed that he was having trouble reading defenses against 4th and 5th string players where the majority are not currently in the league or are on practice squads. You believe he would preform better against NFL starters?
If he was completely serious about playing Quarterback he would be in the CFL and showing that he can become a polished passer. He currently is not, he has a long way to go. You are interested in Tebow getting signed because you know his name, not based off any film you have watched of him or any other Quarterback.
If you are a Cowboys fan, you should definitely not want him to be the starting Quarterback for this team. You would constantly see 8 or 9 man boxes and it would be on him to throw the ball to defeat defenses. There’s also no chance of it happening, he was not one of the workout Quarterbacks before the Cassel trade was made, so he is not even on Will McClay’s radar.
You have to have the threat to pass in the NFL to be successful, Tim Tebow does not scare anyone with his passing abilities. If you are a fan of Tebow you can tune into the SEC Network and see him there. Luckily there is no chance you will see him take snaps for the Cowboys in the near future.
Thank you for the comment.