Tim Tebow Criticism: Who's Right and Who's Wrong about Denver Broncos QB

It has been the debate of the 2011 NFL season: is Tim Tebow a legitimate NFL quarterback? Everyone has offered opinions on the subject and some have gone so far as to make it their mission to prove themselves right one way or the other.

Meanwhile, Tebow's critics have lined up in droves, firing shots at the second-year signal-caller from all over the place. Here are a few of the criticisms of Tebow from this season and whether or not those uttering them were right or wrong in their analysis.

Terrell Suggs

On ESPN's first take today, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs had the following to say about Tebow to Skip Bayless:

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"He's all right. He's all right. Come on now, let's be honest, Skip, I can put up the numbers he was (putting up). It's all about numbers, baby. Give me a shot. Let's see what we can do, create my own offense and hopefully my kicker can nail a 62-yarder to bail me out a few times, Jesus shows up."

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Frankly I can't disagree with Suggs. Tebow didn't put up great numbers this year. He later went on to point out that Tebow and the Broncos didn't win the AFC West, the Oakland Raiders lost it. And considering that the Raiders would have won the division if they took care of business in Week 17, he's actually right.

His point about the kicker bailing him out is also well taken. I believe Tebow has gotten too much credit for Denver's wins, when guys like Matt Prater and Von Miller were actually coming up even bigger than the second-year quarterback.

Brian Urlacher

After his Chicago Bears lost to the Broncos 13-10 in overtime in Week 14, linebacker Brian Urlacher was asked to give his assessment of Tebow. Here's what he had to say:

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"He's a good running back."

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His teammate, Julius Peppers also chimed in, saying, "We got to finish better. That's pretty much it. It wasn't anything special Tebow did."

I'll lump these two guys together for this one.

In that game Tebow completed 21-of-40 passes for 236 yards, with one touchdown and one interceptions. His quarterback rating was 68.3 and he added 49 yards on 12 carries. Furthermore, Matt Prater kicked field goals of 59 and 51 yards to tie and then win the game.

The Bears are right, it wasn't anything special Tebow did in that game that gave them a win. He essentially did the bare minimum expected of a professional quarterback, while his defense and kicker stepped up and won the game.

Boomer Esiason

One of the most noted critiques of Tebow came from former NFL quarterback and current CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason, who was critical of the second-year signal-caller's prospects before the season. Back in August USA Today reported that he said the following:

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"He can't play. He can't throw. ... I'm not here to insult him. The reality is he was a great college football player, maybe the greatest college football player of his time. But he's not an NFL quarterback right now. Just because he's God-fearing, and a great person off the field, and was a winner with the team that had the best athletes in college football, doesn't mean his game is going to translate to the NFL."

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Then, after a 45-10 beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Lions in Week 8, Esiason took things a step further.

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"(Starting Tebow) is a bad move for two reasons. One is, I don't believe that Tim Tebow knows what he's doing on the football field. ... Number two, those hits that are coming his way are coming with authority. Meaning players are out to get him."

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Esiason continued, referring to the mocking the Lions did of Tebow during the game:

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"In all the years that I've covered and played in professional football, I have never seen a team like the Detroit Lions do what they did last week. It just means that there's no respect for Tim Tebow as the quarterback. And they want to make sure that when they play him, they want to show that to the world that Tebow can not play in this league at this position."

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OK, Boomer, while that game was ugly and Tebow was awful in it, players are allowed to have bad days. I actually agree with most of the first statement that Tebow's arm and accuracy are not up to the standards of NFL quarterbacks. That said, essentially saying that you've been proven right after one bad game is not fair.

Tebow could certainly continue to develop and improve, so writing him off this early in his career would be a mistake. And with the way Esiason's critique sounds, it seems like he has some kind of personal interest in seeing Tebow fail. Obviously he doesn't, but there are ways to make those statements that would sound far more professional from an actual paid football analyst.

The Detroit Lions

During their 45-10 Week 8 win over the Broncos, the Detroit Lions seemed to reveling in the fact that they were smacking around Tebow and his team. After the game it got even worse as an anonymous player said the following to Yahoo!'s Michael Silver:

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"Can you believe No. 15 (Tebow)? Come on—that's embarrassing. I mean, it's a joke. We knew all week that if we brought any kind of defensive pressure, he couldn't do anything. In the second half it got boring out there. We were like, 'Come on—that's your quarterback? Seriously?'"

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Again this is too harsh, guys are allowed to have bad days. In that game, Tebow completed just 18-of-39 passes for 172 yards with one touchdown and an interception. His passer rating was a dismal 56.8, and he rushed 10 times for 63 yards. He also fumbled the ball three times, losing one.

That was one of Tebow's three worst games as a professional quarterback, and while it was embarrassing to a degree, his offensive line didn't help him out much. He was sacked seven times in that game, meaning he didn't have a whole lot of time to throw the ball.

I understand it looked bad but this criticism again went a bit too far.