“The Broncos will win if Tebow gets fifty rushing yards,” Danny predicted boldly.
“No way. They need more than that, since we know they’re not going to move the ball by throwing it.” *smirk*
Four hours later: Final score Broncos 29, Steelers 23 in overtime:
Now I’ve been criticizing Tebow all year, and I still stand by that criticism. That was a different Tebow, a bruising halfback, but a hack at passing. Sure, he could toss an impressive throw or two, here and there, but doing it today for a whole football game, against the 7th best defense in the NFL—and the 3rd best against the pass—is a totally different animal.
But there’s one storyline most people are missing. Everything that happened this weekend has happened as a result of good or bad offensive line play. The Texans defensive front wreaked havoc across the Bengals line, and they won by 21. The Saints line held the Lions rush in check, and they won by 17. The Falcons line never got any push against the Giants, and they lost by 22. The Broncos line gave Tebow plenty of time, and he stood in the pocket and hit receivers downfield whether they were covered or not. You already know how that game ended. He may still be a goofy and awkward kid, but he was deadly accurate throwing downfield today.
This has been one of the better wild card weekends I can remember. Both of Saturday’s games were interesting, and even though the Falcons sucked this morning in a boring display of suck, Steelers/Broncos was one of the most fun games to watch all year.
Anyway, we now have at least one more week of hating on Tim Tebow and making predictions that he’s going to suck, but if he plays like he did today, the Broncos will shred that spongelike Patriots secondary, and play in the AFC Championship game for the first time since Jake Plummer. But that’s as unlikely as beating the Steelers!
The End.
We are given one more weekend with four games. The next, only two, then zero, then one. That’s seven more football games this year, and they could all be awesome. Most surely will be. Enjoy them.
But still watch football.
