Broncos vs. Patriots: Why Tim Tebow Is No Match for Bill Belichick, New England

In just over an hour, the hype will end and the game will begin, as quarterback Tim Tebow leads the Denver Broncos into frigid Foxborough to match up with the AFC's top seed in the New England Patriots.

Most of the publicity leading up to the game has centered around the polarizing second-year signal-caller for the Broncos and whether he can lead Denver to a second straight upset on the heels of their thrilling 29-23 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers a week ago.

Saturday night's matchup is a rematch of a Week 15 contest between the two teams at Mile High Stadium, which was won 41-23 by the Patriots. Tebow was somewhat effective in the loss, completing 11-of-22 passes for 194 yards while chipping in over 90 yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns on the ground.

However, there's ample reason to believe that not only will Tim Tebow not come close to throwing for the 316 yards he put up on the Steelers last week, but that he may be hard pressed to match his production from the last time the Broncos and Patriots met.

In last week's victory over the Steelers, Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau continually (and somewhat puzzlingly) stacked the line of scrimmage against the Broncos, even after Tebow showed the ability on more than one occasion to make them pay for it with the one pass he can throw with any real accuracy...the deep ball.

One has to believe that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has watched film of the game ad nauseum, and that he's learned from LeBeau's mistake.

Saturday night against New England, Tim Tebow can likely expect to see much fewer eight-man fronts and many more six- and seven-man zone-coverage packages, as Belichick and the Patriots attempt to keep Denver wide receiver Demaryius Thomas in front of them and force Tebow to beat them with short and intermediate passes.

Tim Tebow has struggled with those sorts of throws throughout his brief professional career, and if Belichick and the Patriots can successfully force Tebow to try to gain yardage through the air in small pieces instead of big chunks, then they will likely have inoculated the NFL playoffs from any further outbreaks of Tebow fever.

That said, if it's a three-point game with a minute left and Tebow has the ball, all bets are off.

They just...are.