Tim Tebow on This Week's SI Cover

Today's Tebow Must-Read

I think that after this many years, I've got a pretty well-defined lens with which I view Tebow and the Tebow phenomenon through, and I think a lot of you share that lens (or at least respect my considered view). It's very rare that I see that perspective reflected in the media -- mostly, it's a lot of simplistic screeching. But when I see a take that resonates with me, it's an affirmation that we're not the crazy ones.

Anyway, this take by Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel hits on a lot of the things that we talk about here: That Tebow's outward expressions of faith are not nearly as proscriptive as the critics and drop-by pundits would have you think -- and that there is a humanist message in Tebow.

A few quotes from the column:

This is the beauty and brilliance of Tim Tebow. He puts his faith on display, but never seems to get too direct about it. He shrugs off criticism. He even jokes about it. He is unfailingly polite, accepting of doubters and moderate in his proclamations.

And:

There is no question that Tebow’s faith has played a role in his success. It’s a part of him. It’s what works for him. It’s what drives him. It’s what provides the confidence to overcome all odds – be it in the fourth quarter or in offseason preparation. All the great ones have that and Tebow derives his from his religion.

That’s a powerful message and, it appears, the one that Tim Tebow wants put out there.

This is what works for me, he is saying. This is how I do it. This is what has shaped me as both a successful player on the field and an undoubtedly polite and respectful person off of it.

If you want to give it a shot, then come join me.

And he pretty much leaves it at that. You don’t have to be religious at all to enjoy Tim Tebow the football player, the role model or the well-meaning star.

"You don’t have to be religious at all to enjoy Tim Tebow the football player, the role model or the well-meaning star." That sums it up.

Hoge Finally Gets It About Tebow

Merril Hoge was the loudest critic of Tim Tebow in the media -- and, from his place on the set at ESPN, certainly the most visible. This morning, on the radio, he came around:

“You have a certain skill set. Will you work hard on that skill set and will you give it all you have? You can look in the mirror [and say], ‘I gave it all I had, and I don’t have anything to be ashamed about or embarrassed by.’ That to me is what I see in the Denver Broncos and in Tim Tebow. I’ve been wrong on a lot of levels, and I’ve become now a huge fan in watching not only the Broncos play but Tim Tebow play.”

Read more key parts of the transcript over at OnlyGators. The key idea: Hoge has been converted.

Tim Tebow: Best Win Yet?

Throughout this win streak and 7-1 record as a starter, I don't think I've ever seen Tim Tebow as giddy as he was following Matt Prater's overtime kick to lift the Broncos past the Bears. It was fun to see. What a win -- the most improbable of his 8 as a starter? Yes. But down 10-0 with 3 minutes to go, I actually figured the Broncos would win -- I simply couldn't envision how. Who can? A couple mental blunders by the Bears' Marion Barber were key, but the point, as always, is this: W.

"Tim Tebow's Gospel of Optimism"

Frank Bruni on Tim Tebow in the Op-Ed page of today's New York Times, in what will be the most talked-about opinion column of the weekend, sports or otherwise:

He reminds us that strength comes in many forms and some people have what can be described only as a gift for winning, which isn’t synonymous with any spreadsheet inventory of what it supposedly takes to win.

This gift usually involves hope, confidence and a special composure, all of which keep a person in the game long enough, with enough energy and stability, so that a fickle entity known as luck might break his or her way. For Tebow that state of mind comes from his particular relationship with his chosen God and is a matter of religion. For someone else it might be understood and experienced as the power of positive thinking, and is a matter of psychology. Either way it boils down to stubborn optimism and bequeaths a spark. A swagger. An edge.

Longtime Teblog readers know that I feel very strongly about the more humanist message anyone can take from the Tebow phenomenon. Bruni captures it nicely (and on the biggest platform possible).

Tebow's "Through My Eyes": Young Readers' Edition

In time for the holidays, there is a "Young Readers' Edition" of "Through My Eyes" that came out this week. The publishers are running a promotion where you can win Tebow-related prizes. Just wanted to pass that along, in case you're interested. Check it out here.

Tim Tebow: Challenging NFL Orthodoxy

Kudos to ESPN.com's Jeffri Chadiha for approaching the Tebow story from an angle that few have: That Tebow is challenging NFL strategic orthodoxies about what an offense should be.

(It still nudges a bit too close to giving John Fox far more credit than he deserves -- where was Fox's brilliant insight into NFL inefficiencies and Tebow's capabilities this past summer so it could start Week 1? -- but the point is a good one: NFL coaches aren't nearly clever or bold enough.)

Looking Back at TebowCenter

Certainly fun if you like all things Tebow. I found the No. 1 entry on the Top 10 list to be a little random -- you can see the official (pre-NFL) Tebow Top 10 list on the right, but I think his No. 1 moment will always be "The Promise." It is one of the Top 3 most iconic moments in college football history, along with Doug Flutie's Hail Mary and Vince Young's game-winning waltz into the end zone in the national title game after the '05 season.

And, per XV's Angel Gonzalez, the #SCTEBOW hashtag was No. 1 worldwide on Twitter between 2 and 3 p.m. Would you expect anything less?

Tim Tebow: The Movie Trailer

SportsCenter Becomes TebowCenter

Set your DVRs: From 2-3 p.m. ET Wednesday, SportsCenter will become TebowCenter, with a full one-hour special covering all things Tim Tebow. Hey, I'm available to chime in...

Frankly, this sounds kind of clever -- and it's very cool if you like Tebow. But needless to say, it's the kind of thing that will drive his haters nuts. And yet they'll watch!

(Speaking of watching, I'll be shocked if the NFL doesn't move the Pats-Broncos game a week from Sunday from CBS in the afternoon to NBC in the evening. The game has the potential to be the most-watched regular-season football game of the year, if not the past decade. The league maximizes the audience by running it on Sunday night.)

Chuck Klosterman on Tim Tebow

Give it a read. Interesting, nuanced theory. We'll discuss later this week.

Bill Cosby on Tim Tebow, Denver

Tim Tebow and the Mere Threat of Tebow

It's not enough to say "Tim Tebow does it again." It's more like "again and again and again and again and again..."

As you've come to expect here, I'll leave the breathless gushing to others. Beyond the novelty of Tebow winning in a shootout (defying the "Tim Tebow can't win a shootout" conventional "wisdom"), I want to focus on one very specific element of yesterday's win:

Tebow ran the ball four times.

Or, should I say, ONLY four times. (Really, only three, if you take away that last knee to set up the game-winning field goal.)

This completely defied the conventional wisdom of the Broncos as this "option-only" one-dimensional team -- or Tebow as an "option-only" one-dimensional QB.

No, what struck me most was that the mere THREAT that Tebow might run -- the threat itself -- became an integral part of the offense. Last week's 22 carries carried over as a strategic feint.

Now, maybe the opportunity to run wasn't there. Or maybe the offense just took what the defense gave it. But the gap between 22 carries a week ago and 3 yesterday is stark.

Put another way: Because the defense had to be so aware of Tebow as a threat to keep it himself and run, new opportunities emerged for Tebow to make plays in other ways (like passing).

We saw this at Florida -- the almost-patented Tebow "play-action to himself," where he would take the snap, scoot a half-step toward the line as if he was running, reverse himself backward and find an open receiver.

Yesterday wasn't quite that simplistic, but the effect -- Tebow could run, therefore you have to play him as if he will run -- is totally disruptive.

And it is disruptive without Tebow actually running. I'm fascinated by this, and you could see that when you paired that threat with some slick passing, the effects were tangible.

The Bears -- playing without Jay Cutler or Matt Forte on offense -- are next, in Denver next Sunday afternoon. That should be a win. After that? A Sunday night game against the Patriots that will be more watched than any NFL game this season. Even if the Broncos lose that game -- and they will be heavy underdogs, even at home, even riding a crazy win streak -- they will still be perfectly positioned to run (or pass) right into the playoffs.

Meanwhile, just when you think Tebowmania can't get any bigger, it does. That, itself, is a hallmark of the Tebow phenomenon.

-- Dan

Oh, last point: For my money, Tebow's time-buying sideline scramble that became a TD pass to Thomas was his finest single moment as a pro.

Tim Tebow IS Having a Great Season

This analysis from Deadspin's Jack Dickey captures a lot of what I was thinking yesterday as I read the troll-ish column from ESPN's Bryant and the very interesting counter from FoxSports.com's Kriegel. If you adjust for Tebow's impact on a "per-touch" rather than "per-pass-attempt" basis, he is having not just a fine season, but a very very good one.

That doesn't even include his impact on Willis McGahee, the fact that his limited turnovers and clock-eating drives keep the defense rested, improving its already-terrific efficiency.

Is it a backlash to the backlash? Or, at this point, a backlash to the backlash to the backlash to the backlash?

-- D.S.

Tim Tebow Loves to Run the Ball

"Why not? I'm not going to hide from it."

-- Tim Tebow, after being questioned about his record-setting 22 carries last Sunday against the Chargers.

Exactly.

It's not an anomaly -- it's the strategy.
It's what Tebow does well -- why wouldn't you focus on that?
It's what will keep this team rolling along.

One of the most notable things about Tebow is his consistency -- personal, professional, whatever. He has a clarity of his sense of self, and what John Fox (and most football pundits) didn't realize is that all the coaches have to do is simply extend that clarity onto the football field.

It's not that Tebow changed. It's that the coaches stopped hiding from it.

-- Dan

Tebow On Inaugural Cover of NFL Magazine

Unsurprisingly -- although perhaps a surprise to NFL folks if you asked them back in August -- Tim Tebow is going to be on the cover of the first-ever issue of NFL Magazine, which comes out next week. Here's the cover:

Tebow Leads Broncos Past Chargers

Another week, another win.

That's what we're looking at here. John Fox can abandon Tebow on 4th-and-short in OT. John Elway can flash the fakest big-tooth smile in the world.

Tim Tebow just keeps winning.

Not sure how many folks thought the Broncos would go into San Diego and win, but when it became clear the defense would keep it close, it was also clear Tebow Time would arrive again.

It's a pretty good blueprint: Tebow + McGahee + clutch catches by Eric Decker + a monstrous defense = Wins, and plenty of them.

What we're left with now is the idea that it's not unreasonable to expect the Broncos to win 4 of their final 5 games (all except a Sunday Night game vs. the Pats), which should be enough to win the AFC West. Not a bad turnaround from the team's 1-5 start before Tebow became the starter.

My favorite anecdote from yesterday's game comes from Mark Kiszla, who broke the story that Tebow addressed the team on Saturday night (and credit to John Fox for asking him to) and Tebow hit them with some Old Testament -- my favorite kind of Tebow.

Tebow cited Proverbs 27:17 -- roughly, iron sharpens iron and men sharpen other men. The team believes in Tebow. Tebow, of course, believes in himself.

Really: At this point, does it even matter what Fox and Elway think?

Another week, another win. And another week, another week of Tebow hysteria.

-- Dan

Have a Very Tebow Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Giving thanks -- for whatever you might be thankful for -- and being appreciative of what you have feels like one of the most Tebow ways to celebrate the day. Thanks for your continued support of this site.

Tim Tebow on First Take

Tim Tebow went on First Take and really dug into his outward expressions of faith, which came into question yesterday with some recent comments from Jake Plummer, who apparently doesn't particularly appreciate them:

“If you’re married, and you have a wife, and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife, I love her, the day you get married? Or should you tell her every single day when you wake up and have the opportunity? And that’s how I feel about my relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the most important thing in my life, so every opportunity I have to tell him I love him, or I’m given an opportunity to shout him out on national TV, I’m going to take that opportunity.”

The whole summary (via ProFootballTalk) is worth reading. And, as usual, this is becoming a national hysteria of the day.

Tebow In This Week's Sports Illustrated

From Peter King, analyzing the Broncos' potential to draft a QB next spring: "Smart teams maximize their players' skills. Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy stopped forcing a square peg into a round hole when he made Denver option-centric. There's no reason he can't stay with the option in 2012, whether Tebow's the starter or merely the league's most compelling relief pitcher."

A brief response: This certainly makes sense. But I'm not sure Elway or Fox can bring in a rookie QB and expect them to co-exist with Tebow. For starters, Tebow would be the starting QB until the rookie got up to speed -- there's no way they would start a rookie QB from Week 1 ahead of Tebow, who has proven himself entirely capable of winning games. Second, I'm not sure it's fair to Tebow to keep him as some sort of option option; he would absolutely do whatever the team wanted him to, but just as much, he certainly deserves a shot at starting somewhere, even if his next team ultimately decided against using him as a full-time starter.

In this week's SI, there is also a feature about Tebow where reporter Alan Shipnuck basically collects a variety of pronouncements about Tebow -- from Twitter, from TV analysts, from newspaper reporters -- and streams them together to show the range of heated opinion about him. I'm all for curation, but I'm still waiting for SI's definitive Tebow piece -- you would think that off of last Thursday night, they could have prepared one.

New York Tabloids Take On Tim Tebow

Tebow Thursday Special

Let's be real here: Every NFL fan that has NFL Network on their cable system will be tuning in for the Broncos-Jets game tonight. Tim Tebow? Rex Ryan? Come on: The entertainment is assured.

I'm more bullish on Tebow and the Broncos than most: I think they are going to shock the Jets (and the world) and eke out a win.

Tebow just tweeted out his would-be eye-black of the day: Colossians 3:15. A quick translation (and, as usual, there are lots of versions, so you want to take this more generally):

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."

I stopped trying to read into TT's selected Bible passages as metaphors for football strategy back in 2009, but suffice to say, I don't think Rex Ryan has his defensive players thinking "peace."

More after the game.

More Tim Tebow, Less John Fox

Let's not be too quick to praise John Fox for his "revolutionary" shift in strategy with Tim Tebow.

Frankly, Fox should have been contemplating (if not installing) this months ago -- you get the feeling that one of his coaches brought it to him a few weeks ago, and he was like "Oh! Well, uh, why not?"

Let's give Fox credit for actually trying it -- for a while, I figured his commitment to orthodox NFL thinking was going to last all season. Now, Fox seems to be enjoying the credit and attention.

Fox Warming Up to Tim Tebow?

"Hey, Tim thinks he deserves to have these plays in this offense. And you know what? After watching our games the last two weeks, it's hard to argue with him."
-- John Fox, to NFL.com's Jeff Darlington, in an interesting behind-the-scenes visit with the coach as he adapts to his new Tebow-centric offense.

Also, don't miss this NYT blog post from Chase Stuart making the clever (and entirely viable) argument that the new Broncos offense is totally underrated, and that all those Tebow runs should be considered completions... to himself. When you do that, his numbers look better than just OK. They look pretty darn good.

Tim Tebow: Here We Go

All along, all folks wanted was for John Fox and the Broncos to give Tim Tebow a chance.

But not just any chance -- we saw that in the Lions game. Ideally, we wanted them to give him a chance while running an offense specifically suited for his unique skills and talents. We got a glimpse of it vs. Oakland in Week 9.

Yesterday in Kansas City, that is exactly what we got -- Eight passes with two completions total? Great. (Particularly when one is a game-sealing TD bomb.) Running and running and more running? Yes, please.

The zone read. The option. The veer. Whatever it is getting called, it suits Tebow just fine -- and it is working. Let's ride this as long as it goes.

(Tantalizingly, the Broncos are in primetime on Thursday night against the Jets, who will have only three days to prepare for what is suddenly the most innovative offense in the NFL.)

For a terrific read, try Chris Brown's analysis this morning. Brown is the best at dissecting strategy, and he has a lot of complimentary things to say about the Tebow offense.