Tim Tebow: How Jets Can Use Controversial QB Wisely

The Jets have been mum on the QB situation, and according to the Daily News, offensive coordinator Tony Sparano has stated that Tim Tebow can be on the field from anywhere from "one to twenty plays." Obviously, that does not clear anything up in regards to his role.

So what are the Jets' plans? 

That is anybody's guess at this point, but there are two primary ways the Jets can best utilize his skill set, maximize their offensive efficiency and avoid an ugly QB controversy.

The first way to use him is to relieve Mark Sanchez while the Jets are winning by a considerable margin. In the past two seasons, Rex has been hesitant to take out Sanchez at all due to the minimal contribution backup QB Mark Brunell brought to the table. The year before that, it was Kellen Clemens who was rotting away on the sidelines.

In his two seasons with the club, Mark Brunell threw a total of 16 passes, 13 of which came in 2010. One reason could be that there was no need to throw the ball when he was in, but it was also because Rex Ryan did not trust his ability to get the ball to his receivers.

This season, there are going to be occasions that the Jets are up by multiple possessions in the fourth quarter against inferior teams.

Enter Tebow. 

That will be the opportunity for Ryan to appease Tebow's fans, and he can invigorate the crowd a bit while Sanchez enjoys his rest on the sideline.

Rex cannot use this strategy, however, during games that the Jets are being blown out—at least not for the first quarter of the season. That will give the impression that Sanchez has been benched and it will make for a brutal week with the media.

At the current time, all indications are that Mark Sanchez will be the starter and Tebow will be the backup.

By using Tebow in Jets blowouts, it will enable Tebow to get his reps and keep his arm fresh with a few in-game passes.

In terms of last season, this strategy would have yielded Tebow appearances against Jacksonville, Miami, Buffalo and Kansas City.

This season the Jets face many tough opponents, but Tebow could see action in 4-5 games by my estimation.

The second way they can utilize Tebow is during third or fourth and short situations.

Those are the times that Tebow can be most effective.

When coaching the Miami Dolphins in 2009, the Dolphins offense ranked second in the league in third-down conversion rate at 49 percent. Much of that was due to the effectiveness of their Wildcat offense, which will be utilized, as well as potentially the triple-option, with the Jets this season.

The Jets were successful on third-down conversions only 34.7 percent of the time last season. They could certainly use an improvement and Tebow will offer that luxury for the offense.

If the Jets are within the opponent's 40-yard line, Rex Ryan may be inclined to attempt to go for it with the ability of Tebow to gain tough yardage.

The Wildcat, or whatever the Jets will be calling it this season, is not even the most exotic scheme they can use with Tebow.

Last season, Tebow and the Denver Broncos utilized a form of the classic triple-option and run-reads which gave him the option to run himself, hand-off to the tailback or pass to the open receiver if the secondary baited on the run.

It is uncertain to what degree the Jets will set Tebow loose, but it certainly seems Rex Ryan and Co. have been enamored with his skill set ever since he burned them on the 95-yard game-winning drive in Denver.

Rex decided to incorporate much more of the Wildcat set two weeks later in Washington. According to Jets Blog, Rex told Brian Schottenheimer that the Jets would be using it more in order to stay away from the Redskins pass rush, which was certainly an effective strategy that week.

Now that the Jets acquired their ideal man to run their college offense, they have to figure out how they can make this effective, and prove that a team can incorporate methods of a college offense and be successful. 

Is it likely to work? No. Teams have proven the best way to win a Super Bowl is through stability and efficiency at the QB position.

But if the Jets are to improve on last season, it would behoove them to properly utilize their new weapon.

Tebow won a playoff game by using his style of offense, and if the Jets can revitalize a stagnant offense with a first-down then perhaps Tebow is the right man.