New York Jets Quarterback Tim Tebow Continues His Quest for NFL Stardom

The most polarizing sports figure in 2011 was NFL quarterback Tim Tebow.

He has since carried over the adulation from some and hatred from others into the 2012 calendar year and has also found himself on a new team.

Tebow was traded in March to the New York Jets, following the signing of future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning by the Denver Broncos. Tebow enters the upcoming season as the expected back-up to Jets starter Mark Sanchez.

How long his back-up status will last is anybody's guess.

Tebow captivated Americans—both sports fans and non-sports fans alike—last season as he went from back-up QB to starter. Tebow seemed to snatch win after win from the jaws of defeat in a perplexing and dramatic fashion. After five games, the Denver Broncos were a measly 1-4. Tebow proceeded to lead the team to seven wins in eight games, including six victories in a row.

Following three bad losses to end the regular season, Denver clinched the NFC West title and a berth in the playoffs where Tebow orchestrated an improbable, thrilling overtime victory over the vaunted, defending AFC Champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Along the way, Tebow faced criticism for meager offensive output even while Denver continued to win games.

Tebow was at the bottom of the league in quarterback rating for much of the season. But there's no denying the completely different direction the team took after Tebow became the starter.

We live in an age where everyone is so quick to quantify everything and then use their data to justify a given point to death.

Ultimately, in pro sports, wins matter more than anything. It didn't matter if Tebow won every single game 6-3. The bottom line is somehow, someway the guy found a way to win like he had previously in every level of football.

One thing those who lean heavily on statistics could not stomach was the way he inspired those around him and through his confidence, spirit and grit, willed his team to victory.

That cannot be quantified.

Most anybody that has played or followed team sports knows that willpower to be true. Even many in the media started to wonder about the coincidences and eerie manners in which Tebow's victories came. 

What the statistics did show was through Denver's first five games, the team was allowing 28 points per game. During Denver's 7-1 stretch, the team allowed 20 ppg. Twenty-eight ppg was good enough for 2nd worst in the NFL. Twenty ppg is a top-10 NFL defense in most seasons.

Correlation? Maybe not.

But consider this: In Tebow's eight starts during that stretch, he turned the ball over only four times, which resulted in less time on the field for the Broncos defense.

Pre-Tebow, the Broncos were 30th in the NFL in time of possession (TOP). After Tebow became the starter, Denver finished the season in the top 10 in time of possession, and the Broncos went on to lead the NFL in rushing yards.

The TOP metric has a direct correlation and impact on defensive production. Undeniably, credit was due to the Denver coaching staff, defense and team as a whole. However, Tebow deserved lots of credit for changing the direction of the team.

Clearly, football wins are contingent on so many factors even outside the control of the quarterback, who plays the most important position on the field, by far. My premise is that something very special happened with the Broncos in 2011 after Tebow took over.

Following Denver's surreal win over Chicago, many began to wonder if what they were watching was real.

Tebow proved in the short term that you do not have to be a statistical star to win games in the NFL.

Will he in the long term? That is something we don't know yet. But to believe his game will not evolve and improve would be doubting the wrong man.

We cannot quantify the "special" or "it" factor, yet it's something that is palpably extant in sports.

Many athletes put up excellent numbers but do not deliver when it matters, rendering their statistics somewhat less meaningful. That may not be fair but that's the way big-time athletes are judged.

History is littered with athletes that put up great statistics but didn't have the resolve and fortitude to deliver when it mattered and, ultimately, win at a high rate.

If games were played on statistics then Vinny Testaverde, Warren Moon and Fran Tarkenton would be great champions. None of them won a Super Bowl.

The prism through which everyone viewed and does view Tim Tebow is a bit off. He's not a pro-style quarterback right now, and maybe he never will be in the way Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger are. But he's proven in dramatic measure that in the short-term, he can succeed by not being that guy.

He likely never will be a pure pro-style quarterback, but it's reasonable to believe he will modify his game enough to become closer to a pro-style QB, while still having the moxie and grit of a running QB, who is best at making plays out of the pocket.

Tebow unquestionably upset the establishment that believes the present-day pro-style quarterback is the only kind that can be successful. It's entirely possible that there are significant wrinkles to the pro-style that can be successful and that he's exactly the guy that can do it.

The bottom line with Tim Tebow is you either love him or you hate him; there's no in between. The doubters will doubt and the believers will believe that he has the ability to become a solid NFL starter.

Time will tell.