Tim Tebow's Time to Quarterback the Denver Broncos

If you wanted to mold the modern prototype NFL quarterback, the strands of DNA would likely come from Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.  Quick, intuitive thinking, part and parcel of flawless mechanics.  Defenses are observed, adjusted for and dissected before the snap of the ball.  Passes snap from fingers, cutting an air current of spiral symphony before rushers corrupt the pocket or defensive backs turn the frame of their face masks to the darting wide receiver on the other end.  Tim Tebow is a wrecking ball. And the momentum of his indiscriminate swing, begun in the second half of the Broncos 29-24 loss to the Chargers this past Sunday, brings him directly into the path of that football edifice.  

As with most who challenge convention, his rise has been met with skepticism and doubt.  From the very day of his entry into the league as the 25^th overall selection in the 2010 draft, those who know the game and know the position have made a strong case against his credentials.  Accordingly, the one area of Tebow’s game with no shortcomings is his ability to inspire debate.  But even as the empirical evidence continues to pile up against him, the idea of him, he defies it and will get an opportunity to start for the Denver Broncos when they meet the Miami Dolphins on October 23^rd in South Florida.  

What exactly divides Tim Tebow believers and non-believers can be lost in cacophony of noise surrounding him. While his on-the-field performance in a handful of games last year exceeded expectations it was far from deserving of the overwhelming support from Denver fan’s he received in the buildup to the start of this season.  It should be obvious to even a casual observer that more than his merits as a football player were behind the reason a group of Broncos fans leased billboard space to advertise on his behalf.  Conversely, the manifestation of his devout faith in his football talents may turn those not quite so religiously-inclined against his success.  Who is Tim Tebow when we remove the filters that created a persona, while subjugating a person?  It is, after all, the person who inhabits the quarterback position, not the position itself that promises greatness.  Perhaps the qualities Tebow possesses, those in direct contradiction to conventional wisdom, remain so nebulous, so indefinable that only labels suffice in praising or disparaging him; “Leader”, “Winner”, “Unpolished”, “Not ready”.  And since the quarterback is the fulcrum by which a team’s fortunes are cast wouldn't it seem necessary to get a better idea of the man in his natural element.    

Theories and punditry and “measurables” are all wonderful conjecture until the game gets in the way, until opportunity is met with failure or met with satisfaction.  Football is wholly and cruelly reckoning in that way.  There might not be another sport where sheer will can be such a determining factor.  Most of the time it’s one player carrying a pigskin progressing forwards in a manner of violently colliding with another player resolved to halt that progress.  This is a basic characterization of what has become a complex game but the fundamental battle for territory stays at its heart.  Yes, size, speed, skill, in quantities bigger, faster and more refined are necessary attributes but so too is will, desire and belief.  In his brutal style, Tebow eschews the logic that governs his position by funneling those latter qualities through a linebacker’s body.  Where others would throw a ball out of bounds on a broken play, he will employ improvisation as a weapon, scrambling to buy time or chewing up yards with his running acumen.  And when the options are extra yards via contact or the haven of a sideline, Tebow prefers the former, relishing in the challenge.  Given the ferocity of the sport in general and defensive backs specifically eager to punish, this is a hazardous habit for a quarterback.  But Tim Tebow just seems to be wired that way, the only way he knows how to play is with a (sometimes reckless) passion that liberally taunts the preconceived notions so entwined in the modern game.  Suggesting that he change that, change who he is, would deny him of something more profound than starting a football game.