The Legend of Tim Tebow: Part One

Hollywood doesn’t write scripts for NFL games, but Tim Tebow’s season has been reminiscent of a series of Hollywood blockbusters. This was never more on show than in last night's 29-23 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

His performance in the wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers can be summed up by using one word: belief. As a devoted Christian, his belief in God is already well-known (see Google results for Tim Tebow religion), but what this game showed was his belief in his own ability.

Coming of three poor performances to finish the regular season, Tebow started the game 0-of-3 on pass attempts and appeared to be struggling. As Tebow critics everywhere began to rejoice at another opportunity to discard his ability to play quarterback in the NFL, belief shined through again.

Tebow recovered to lead the team downfield to score, connecting on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. Tebow would go on to score a touchdown of his own on an eight-yard run. With a 20-16 lead at halftime, things were looking good for the Broncos.

The Steelers responded in the second half and would eventually go on to tie the game at 23 with a little over a minute remaining. At this point, things weren’t looking so good for the Broncos. With the ball in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s hands late in the fourth quarter, fans wondered if Big Ben was about to lead his team to a trademark come-from-behind victory.

This time though, there would be no fourth-quarter heroics for Roethlisberger and the Steelers. With the game still tied at 23-23, we went to overtime.

Before I begin to explain what happened in overtime, I should explain the non-sudden death overtime rules. If the team who receives the ball first scores a field goal, the opposing team will get a chance to get the ball back on offense. If the team who receives the ball first scores a touchdown, the game is over. These rules came into effect last season specifically for the playoffs, but this was the first game where these rules were used.

The Broncos won the coin toss and would get the ball first on offense. The scene was set. Now or never. Sudden death (well not so much sudden death, but in keeping with typical sports metaphors and all that).

Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham kicked off into the end zone for a touchback. Out steps Tebow. As Broncos fans everywhere were preparing for the epic overtime thriller which was about to unfold, something quite spectacular happened.

I suspect that the first play of overtime left me as well as the millions of fans watching all around the world utterly speechless. It went something like this…Tebow in shotgun, the ball is snapped, he steps back to pass, connects with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas for an 80-yard touchdown and the Broncos win the game. The Broncos win!

Don't forget to check out my blog—I’m sorry Tebow did what? He threw for a touchdown on the first play of overtime? Indeed it was true, and not for the first time this season there was a Tebow miracle at Mile High. The Broncos now advance to the next round of the playoffs, where they will travel to Gillette Stadium to face the New England Patriots.

The legend of Tim Tebow is growing more and more by the game, and who knows what lies in store for Tebow during the rest of the playoffs. Can the Broncos pull off another upset next week against Tom Brady and the Patriots? That will discussed in part two. For now though, I shall leave you with a noteworthy stat from tonight’s game: Tebow threw for 316 yards and his favorite bible verse is John 3:16. Thanks for reading.

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