New York Jets: Tebow, Tebow, and More Tebow

By Kevin Goodwin

The season is over half over and Tim Tebow is still the talk of the media. The Jets are 3-6 and Tebow hasn’t made a start. Some experts and analysts at the beginning of the season said Tebow would beat out Mark Sanchez in the preseason and be the starting quarterback. That didn’t happen. Some thought Tebow would overtake Sanchez by midseason. That didn’t happen either. Now that the Jets are floundering below the .500 mark the team is coming unraveled at the seams. Players are pointing fingers at each other and some have taken shots at Tebow for not being good at practice. As our good friend Allen Iverson would say: “Practice. We’re talking about practice?”

Shonn Greene said his statement was taken out of context, but the bottom line is some teammates don’t have faith in Tebow and don’t think he’s the savior. Tebow may not have the best practices, but he does give it his all when he makes it onto the football field. As long as he gives it 100 percent on game day is all that should matter. The thing is he’s not the guy out there on the field for the majority of plays because he’s the backup quarterback. Sanchez is the starter and he’s not getting much help from anyone either. The blame falls on the coaching staff as they can’t seem to get all the players on the same page and in line.

New York Jets: Tebow, Tebow, and More Tebow

Coach Rex Ryan continues to stick with Sanchez as the starting quarterback and owner Woody Johnson has said this ‘Tebow experiment’ isn’t going to last past his current contract of three years. So why the hell did they trade for the quarterback if they had no intention of giving him a chance to start? The only thing that comes to mind is make headlines and attempt to put fans in the seats in the new stadium. It hasn’t worked out nearly as good as they would like. It has only caused discord in the locker room and a fan base, to become even more unruly. So is the Jets’ poor record to be blamed on the backup quarterback? Of course not.

Johnson and Ryan have been making headlines all season despite an awful record and they will be talked about the remainder of the season – I have no doubt. But to put the blame on a guy that hasn’t played that many snaps and isn’t being utilized properly is just disgraceful. With Tony Sparano leading the offense, many thought Tebow would be the best player to run his Wildcat offense. Oddly enough the Jets haven’t used the Wildcat that often and really haven’t given Tebow a chance to get in the end zone when New York gets the ball in the red zone. Tebow may not have the best arm in the league, but he is effective when he gets the ball inside the 20 yard line.

The Jets should have traded Tebow away at the deadline so the team could focus at the task at hand – winning football games. Seeing how they can’t seem to get the offense going, the obvious path of action is blame the guy that doesn’t play much. I’m not saying the Jets would be 6-3 or even .500 with Tebow under center, but if New York truly pursued Tebow to use him in the Wildcat they are doing a poor job. If anything else they should use him as a halfback and line him up with Greene in the backfield. Opposing teams won’t know if it’s a pass play, a run play to Greene, a run play to Tebow or some sort of crazy option. New York has to mix things up the rest of the season to try to put a spark on this offense. I don’t think handing the team over to Tebow is the answer though, as the owner doesn’t plan on having him around to be the franchise quarterback. Besides that would bring down Sanchez – who was signed to an extension just prior to the Tebow trade – and hurt his psych moving forward.

Rex Ryan isn’t happy with his teams’ record but he has no one to blame but himself.

But if the Jets don’t have any plans to use Tebow in the offense in the future they should cut him loose or at least move him to a team that may give him a shot to start; or at least be part of the offense. Here are a list of some teams that would be an interesting fit for the former Heisman Trophy winner.

Of course everyone is going to say he should go to Jacksonville. The hometown boy would put fans in the seats, but would he be the answer? I think if Tebow gets traded to the Jaguars they should use him in the backfield with Maurice Jones-Drew (when he’s healthy), giving them a nice one-two punch. I don’t think the Jags are ready to give up on Blaine Gabbert just yet, but using Tebow as a halfback and backup quarterback wouldn’t be the worst idea for this franchise.

The Cardinals would be another intriguing fit for Tebow. Kevin Kolb and John Skelton aren’t the answer in Arizona and the Cards need a quarterback to get the ball to Larry Fitzgerald, one of the best receivers in the league. Plus, Tebow would give them another running option and possibly take some of the pressure off the running backs, especially because they keep getting injured.

How about the Eagles? It doesn’t seem like Michael Vick will be returning to the Eagles after his contract runs out. Vick has been roughed up pretty good this season and it seems like rookie Nick Foles is going to get some starts the rest of the season. Would adding Tebow be a smart move for Philly? If they don’t think Foles has what it takes to get the job done, Tebow could pan out. The offense has a lot of weapons and is currently built around a mobile quarterback in Vick, so it may not be a tough transition for the team.

Kansas City also is in a world of hurt when it comes to quarterbacks. Tebow would be an upgrade for the Chiefs and he’d fit into the offense that likes to run. Plus having Jamaal Charles would take the pressure of Tebow a bit.

When push comes to shove, all we can do is hope this nonsense with the Jets is over. Stop pointing fingers and just come to play. Do your talking on the field and not on the back pages of the New York Post. And if Tebow doesn’t fit into your plans, let him go to another team so we can see if last year was a fluke with Denver or if he actually has what it takes to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. Let him prove all his doubters wrong, or fall flat on his face. Either way there will be a team willing to give him a shot this offseason opening up the next chapter on the Tim Tebow saga.