Grading Tim Tebow's Performance Against the Detroit Lions

Tim Tebow's first start of 2011 wasn't very good, but he at least managed to save face by catching fire late in the game and leading his team to a win.

Tebow's second start of the season against the Detroit Lions was actually rather similar, except without the late fire and the fourth quarter comeback. Tebow struggled again, and the Lions thumped the Broncos by the final of 45-10.

Probably not what Tebow had in mind for what was his first home start of 2011. But instead of bashing him, let's go ahead and grade his day from a slightly more objective perspective.

Accuracy

When it comes to Tebow, accuracy is what it's all about. All good NFL quarterbacks are accurate with the football on a consistent basis, but this is something that Tebow hasn't been capable of in the first year-plus of his NFL career.

Things weren't much different on Sunday. Tebow threw 39 passes and completed just 18 of them for 172 yards. That's a 46.2 completion percentage, a figure that is well below average for an NFL quarterback.

To his credit, Tebow did make some good throws here and there. The throw he made to Eric Decker in the first quarter for what looked to be a touchdown comes to mind. For the most part, though, Tebow was all over the place.

Oh, he also threw a pick-six when the Broncos were looking to score. Presumably, Tebow wasn't trying to throw the ball to Chris Houston.

Grade: D-

Footwork

In addition to accuracy, footwork is one of the major complaints people make about Tebow. His footwork was poor when he came into the league, and it's something that the Broncos are still trying to fix.

The process is still coming along slowly. Tebow's feet tend to be a little hyperactive when he's in the pocket, yet he'll also freeze when he first feels the rush. He's also liable to throw too many passes off his back foot, a habit that only Brett Favre can get away with (and even he wasn't that good at it).

Until Tebow improves his footwork, you can expect to see plenty of tweets like this one:

Grade: D

Pocket Presence

Before we go any further, we should acknowledge that the Broncos don't have the best offensive line in the league. It's not making things easy for Tebow, and it probably won't make things easy for him this entire season.

Nevertheless, there is something to be said about the fact that Tebow took seven sacks for a second straight week. Part of this is bad work from the offensive line, and part of it is Tebow taking too long to make a decision.

If he just takes four sacks next week, you'll know he's getting better. But to be honest, that would still be too many.

Grade: F

Scrambling

This is another area in which Tebow's numbers from Week 7 are very similar to his numbers in Week 8. He rushed for 65 yards on eight carries against the Dolphins, and he rushed for 63 yards on 10 carries against the Lions.

If nothing else, Tebow's doing pretty well from a yards per carry standpoint. But personally, I think he should be taking off a little more frequently. Running the football is what he does best, and I think he would have a much easier time frustrating defenses if he took off 12 to 15 times a game.

Still, the dude can run. Gotta give him that.

Grade: B

Ball Security

Ball security is something that John Fox will probably be discussing with Tebow this week. After all, Tebow's flaws won't look all that bad if he at least holds on to the football, and that's something Tebow didn't do against the Lions.

Tebow fumbled the ball a grand total of three times on Sunday. He only lost one of them, but it went for a touchdown.

I'm presuming that these fumbles are what caused Bleacher Report's Michael Schottey to come up with this tweet:

I would have gone with Mark Sanchez, but I guess Luke McCown works, too.

Grade: F

Clutchness

Before you say it, I realize that "clutchness" is a made-up word that sounds stupid. The reason I include it here is because I graded Tebow on this last week when he deserved to be graded on it.

This week, Tebow and "clutchness" aren't quite going hand in hand. The Broncos were down early, and Tebow was powerless to keep the Broncos in the game. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, it was a laugher.

One of the things people were saying last week was that Tebow and the Broncos would have lost had they been playing a better team than the Dolphins. Maybe they were right.

Overall

There's no point in denying it: Sunday will not go into the books as one of Tebow's better efforts, in college or the pros. In fact, I think it's fair to say that we saw Tebow at his absolute worst.

Can Tebow bounce back? Maybe, but I personally was more optimistic about the idea last week after his comeback efforts. That was a confidence builder.

Sunday's game, on the other hand, is a huge step back.

Grade: F