Brady Quinn: Backup Quarterback Shouldn't Have Backpedaled on Tim Tebow Comments

My favorite part of athletes and the media is when a player will make a comment, on the record, and then will apologize when a public backlash occurs.

Or my personal favorite, claim that the quotes were "taken out of context."

Thus brings us to the case of the Denver Broncos quarterback, Brady Quinn, who recently made some inflammatory comments about Tim Tebow in a GQ article written by Mike Silver and has since backpedaled and apologized.

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The comments attributed to me in a recent magazine article are in NO WAY reflective of my opinion of Tim and the Broncos. Tim deserves a

— Brady Quinn (@BQ9) February 21, 2012"

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lot of credit for our success and I'm happy for him and what he accomplished.Most importantly, he is a great teammate. That interview was

— Brady Quinn (@BQ9) February 21, 2012"

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conducted three months ago, and the resulting story was a completely inaccurate portrayal of my comments. I have addressed my disappointment

— Brady Quinn (@BQ9) February 21, 2012"

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with the writer and have reached out to Tim to clear this up. I apologize to anyone who feels I was trying to take anything away from our

— Brady Quinn (@BQ9) February 21, 2012"

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Team's or Tim's success this season.

— Brady Quinn (@BQ9) February 21, 2012"

Even though he really didn't need to.

Here are some of the highlights, with my opinion on whether what Quinn said was true or not.

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Early in the season, there was a game when Kyle [Orton] got hurt and the coaches were calling for me to go in, but Kyle got up and finished the game out. So I was the second-string guy. Then, a few weeks later, they decided to put Tim in. I felt like the fans had a lot to do with that. Just 'cause they were chanting his name. There was a big calling for him. No, I didn't have any billboards. That would have been nice.

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You can't tell me the Broncos didn't go to Tebow because of fan pressure. They figured their season was in the tubes, they had a fanbase dying to see Tebow hit the field and they wanted to see what they had in the young quarterback. The fans weren't the only reason, but they were a big part of the decision.

Verdict: True

Next, Quinn weighed in on one factor in Denver's success, as he saw it.

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We've had a lot of, I guess, luck, to put it simply.

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It sure seemed that way this year, didn't it? I don't think he's taking anything away from Tebow here; I think he's just saying that a lot of their victories seemed improbable and the important bounces went their way.

I guess I can see how some would interpret this as "It wasn't Tebow that won us those games, it was luck," but I don't believe that was the implication. The Broncos had too many crazy victories this year to overreact to Quinn's statement.

Verdict: True

Inevitably, faith came up, as it often does with Tebow.

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If you look at it as a whole, there's a lot of things that just don't seem very humble to me. When I get that opportunity, I'll continue to lead not necessarily by trying to get in front of the camera and praying but by praying with my teammates, you know?

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I don't agree with Quinn's opinion on this one, though he is entitled to it. A part of Tebow's faith is outreach and even though I find that outreach to be grating, I don't think it comes from a place of personal arrogance.

Verdict: False

Listen, I get why Quinn apologized. He didn't want to seem like he was jealous of Tebow or didn't support him as a teammate. That's fine, but then why say those things in the first place?

Because we know you more than likely said them, Brady.

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Mike Silver told me Brady Quinn's GQ quotes are on tape "if he feels misrepresented, I'm really bummed about that." jimrome.com/junglehighligh…

— Jim Rome (@jimrome) February 22, 2012"

Most of what he said was true and honestly, it wasn't all that inflammatory. Brady Quinn should have just owned it.

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