Tim Tebow: New York Jets Would Regret Heeding Urban Meyer's Advice

It seems that everyone has an opinion on how best to approach the arrival of quarterback Tim Tebow in the Big Apple, and now the third-year pro's former college coach has thrown in his two cents on the subject, urging the New York coaching staff to "let Tebow play." 

Former University of Florida and current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer had quite a bit to say in regards to Tebow in an interview with ESPN that was reported on by ProFootballTalk, and Meyer doesn't appear to be on board with the Jets' plan to use Tebow as a Wildcat quarterback and complement to Mark Sanchez.

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Asked on ESPN what the Jets should do with Tebow, Meyer said the same spread offense he runs in college would “absolutely” work in the NFL, and that the biggest thing is an NFL coach just needs to trust Tebow to take over games himself.

“Let him play,” Meyer said. “Just let him play.”

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Meyer then went into further detail, claiming that in his opinion, the Denver Broncos didn't take full advantage of the former Heisman Trophy winner's rather unique skill set, and that the way to best utilize Tebow is to let him run an offense "his way."

"According to Meyer, the Broncos were too often too conservative with Tebow, and when the Denver offense was at its best—as it was in the playoff win over Pittsburgh—that’s when Tebow was given the freedom to run the offense his own way, hurting defenses with his feet and then making plays with his arm when defenses had to stop the run.

“When they had success I think they did,” Meyer said. “When you started seeing him throw against those easy coverages it was because they had to stop the run.”

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These comments by Meyer will likely only add to a quarterback controversy in New York that is seemingly gaining momentum by the day, as scribes such as Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News already believe that it's only a matter of time before Tebow supplants Sanchez as the starting quarterback for the Jets.

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It is highly improbable that Mark Sanchez, notable in recent days mostly for his absence, can hold off the Tebow tidal wave over the long haul. Sanchez, we know by now, has up-and-down seasons.

In 2011, in early October, he threw for 119 and 166 yards in successive, ugly losses against the Ravens and Pats. In late November into December, Sanchez had a four-game stretch where he threw for under 200 yards against four very different opponents.

A repeat of either slump will likely now cost him the starting job, at least until Tebow loses it right back to him. A nagging injury might do the same.

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This potential for a quarterback carousel in New York is a recipe for disaster, and beginning the merry-go-round with Tebow as the lead horse will only serve to make matters worse.

Granted, Sanchez struggled through an up-and-down 2011 season, but the fourth-year quarterback still completed over 56 percent of his passes for nearly 3,500 yards last year. While no one will be comparing Sanchez to Aaron Rodgers anytime soon, Sanchez is still a much more polished passer than Tebow.

Also, the Jets only a few weeks ago inked Sanchez to a three-year contract extension after the team's failed pursuit of quarterback Peyton Manning, and it makes precious little sense to guarantee a nearly $12 million salary for Sanchez in 2012 only to then turn around and promptly show him the bench.

Finally, while there's no denying Tebow's late-game heroics during the Broncos' surprising run to the playoffs last year, there's also no denying that many of those heroics were necessitated by Tebow's struggles with throwing the ball accurately. The New England Patriots showed in last year's playoff demolition of the Broncos that if you take the deep ball away from Tebow, those problems become magnified.

The clamoring for the Jets to insert Tebow as the starting quarterback has already begun, even though we've yet to see so much as one snap in training camp, much less an actual game. If Sanchez and the Jets come out of the gate slowly in 2012, the intensity of those demands is going to increase exponentially.

However, if Rex Ryan and the Jets are serious about getting back into the thick of things in the AFC East and making a run at the playoffs then New York's boisterous head coach would be best served listening less to Urban Meyer and the press and more to Jets owner Woody Johnson, who gave a candid assessment of the Jets' quarterback situation in an interview with the Manish Mehta of the Daily News earlier this week.

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I’m going to be very clear: Mark Sanchez is our starting quarterback. Period. That’s it. He’s our starting quarterback. He’s going to be a good NFL player. Just like he’s been.

There’s no reason to suspect that Mark will be any different this year than he’s been the last 10 years he’s played the game. He’s been a very consistent performer his whole career.

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We'll see how long that lasts.

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