Today, I discuss the short tenure of Tim Tebow in New York. I also give praise to Urban Meyer’s coaching ability, which makes me want to smash my own testicles with a hammer.
An aside before I begin: I tried to find a picture of Tim Tebow, passing the football, while wearing a Jets uniform. No such luck.
Monday morning, the other shoe finally dropped on the ill-fated Tim Tebow Big Apple Experiment, as New York Jets General Manager John Idzik waived the team’s rights to the former Heisman Trophy winner.
From the beginning, the Jets trade with Denver for Tebow never made much sense to me. While Tebow has proven himself a tremendous athlete, his passing skills at the pro level have long since been found wanting.
Most of the invective directed at Tebow has been for his Christian faith. If anyone has deserved harsh criticism for this attention, it shouldn’t have been Tebow. It should have been the media, which frothed up a revolting amount of buzz around “Tebow Time.”
Despite Timmy Touchdown’s lack of “Passing QB” finesse, I fully embraced his trade to Gang Green for three reasons:
1. The kid is a gamer. He proved it at Florida. He proved it in the playoffs for Denver. He scrapes. He does whatever it takes to win a ballgame. It’s fun to watch him play. Who doesn’t want a guy like this on their team?
2. He’s the consummate underdog. “You’ll never fill Chris Leak’s shoes in Gainesville.” He promptly wins the Heisman Trophy. “You’ll never be successful as an NFL quarterback.” He leads an otherwise-dismal Denver Broncos team to the playoffs, defeating the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the process. Give this kid a legitimate opportunity, and he always seems to do something with it.
3. His name was not Mark Sanchez. If nothing else, Tebow’s tenure in the Meadowlands has taught me something important: Rex Ryan is a poor judge of talent, and his days in the Big Apple are numbered. I loved the braggadocio when Rex first came to the Jets, but eventually the swagger became a league-wide joke. Putting a quarterback in for one series the entire season is not “giving the guy a fair shake.” Especially when you openly prefer your “first-string” quarterback who is a fucking hot mess.
The Tebow trade makes even less sense when you consider this: Why the hell did the Jets bother to sign Drew Stanton as a free agent, then trade him to Indianapolis just a few weeks later, if they never intended for Tebow to be a significant part of the team?
Acknowledging this makes me want to vomit: Give Urban Meyer credit. Good coaches understand how to coach to, and game-plan around, their talent. We saw this in Rex Ryan during his first two seasons in New York. But not since.
So, Timmy Touchdown, I hardly knew ye. Hopefully, he’ll be offered another opportunity to play in the NFL. When he does, I’ll watch.
And no matter how much you bitch and bellyache about “Tebow Time,” you will, too.
© 2013, Michael J. Gagliano
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