NFL Week 15: It has to be Tebow, right?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

Ordinarily, Tebow would be a treat for Belichick. He adores getting to install utterly different game plans for his defense each week. However, right now he's got a defense where he almost HAS to use the prevent as a base defense because of the inexperience/inability of his defensive backfield. Those guys just made Rex Grossman look very good. My guess is the Pats' defensive game plan will be the same as it's been all year -- Tom'll put up 30 or more for us, so just don't give up two-second touchdowns. In a way, it's almost the mirror image of the Broncos' offensive game plan. Each unit gets a gold star for turning a couple of big plays and not committing any atrocious screwups.

 

The only team that can properly run a defense is Denver. And inexplicably, that only started happening midway through the first Charger game.

 

Yes, the Jets did blitz. But they hadn't all game. Like everyone else, they changed things up and it bit them in the ass. You'd think at this point, one of these coaches would figure that if the defensive game plan worked for 55 minutes, maybe sticking with it for 5 more might not be the worst idea.

 

Would love to see the NE offense put up big numbers, forcing the Broncos to be more aggressive.

If Tebow puts up 30 against NE, then what will his detractors say?

Yeah, he's got to do it first, but it seems to be final hook left to hang your arguments on.

 

They will say New England's defense sucks. Every victory against a team that has any kind of flaw doesnt count, don't you know?

 

Well, the Patriots have been playing prevent defense all season, so it wouldn't shock me to see the Broncos put up some points. Then again, every once in a while, that D will come up with a good game, like against the Cowboys. I bet they win 27-20, with Tebow leading one late drive but ultimately falling short.

 

That New England has a shitty defense, and that they are playing wide receivers at db.

 

The final left hook? At least let the kid complete more than 50 percent of his passes before you declare me knocked out.

I'm not anti-Tebow. Shit's changed since he started playing, and he has obviously played some role in that. And late in games, he's made plays. But his numbers, with his TD-INT ratio being the lone exception, aren't pretty. Teams are playing him one way and stopping him, taking leads into the fourth quarter, and reverting to their natural "fourth quarter with a two-score lead" panicky ass defensive switches, as if what they just did for 50 or 55 minutes won't work anymore.

I don't hate Tebow and never have. What I hate is the fact that because it's a cute storyline and because he is, by all accounts, a decent dude who was trashed (unfairly) by many in football, he's getting a shit ton of credit for things in which his defense, kicker, and coaching staff have played bigger roles.

 

Again, there are myriad reasons he's getting the bulk of the coverage, and taking out everything else, just being a quarterback in the 21st century means you're going to get the lion's share of the credit for winning. That's just the way it is.

 

YF: The Broncos did beat the Vikings 35-32. And Tebow had creditable if not eye-popping passing numbers in that game. Granted, the Vikings might have the very worst pass defense in the league in a year full of bad ones.

 

And apparently only the fourth quarter counts. The first three quarters of NFL games should never be used in evaluating a quarterback.