Over the past few weeks, I’ve been annoyed by all of the fuss around Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. As far as I’m concerned, Tebow’s public displays of his Christian faith are constitutionally protected. If devout Christians get a thrill out of rooting for him, then bully for them. After all, it isn’t as if our country doesn’t have a long history of racial, religious and ethnic groups rallying behind athletes who look, act and talk like them.
As someone whose grandfather loved Joe DiMaggio until the day he died, I can hardly begrudge anyone their Tebow-worship.
Better still, the last time I checked, committed Christians buy a lot of football tickets. I’m guessing the folks in Jacksonville who passed on Tebow in the 2010 NFL Draft before subsequently dumping former starter David Garrard are kicking themselves right now. And it appears his fans buy a lot of licensed merchandise too. I’m sure the NFL isn’t complaining.
As for Tebow’s performance on the field, his 4-1 record as a starter this season is finally turning some heads. I got to discover the wonder of Tebow last night as he led his team against the squad I’ve rooted for since tumbling out of the womb, the New York Jets.
Let’s set the scene: With a little more than six minutes remaining in the game, Denver trailed New York, 13-10. Taking over at Denver’s five-yard line, Tebow led his team on a 12-play, 95-yard drive that culminated in the young quarterback running 20 yards through one of the best defenses in football for the winning score. Better still, the drive bled 4:56 off of the clock. By the time the Jets got the ball back with just 0:56 remaining, there was hardly any time to offer anything but a token riposte.
I can’t describe Tebow’s play as anything but ugly, but it was more than effective when it mattered most. As for his counterpart last night, New York’s Mark Sanchez, a quarterback who took to the field with far more weapons than Denver boasted, the contrast couldn’t be more striking. For the second week in a row, Sanchez called a timeout that wound up costing his team in the game’s final minute. And for the third time this season, he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
The lesson here: While so many in the press like to focus on Tebow’s faith, that angle has obscured the fact that he’s an incredibly smart football player. Simply put, Tebow knows what he can and can’t do and he doesn’t make any of the sort of mental errors that pockmark Sanchez’s play these days. And while Tebow’s stat line last night was as ugly as they come in the passing game (9/20 for 104 yards), at least he didn’t turn the ball over.
In the end, even though he’s thrown for more yards and touchdowns than Tebow, Sanchez could learn a lot from the Broncos quarterback.
Eric McErlain blogs at Off Wing Opinion, a Forbes “Best of the Web” winner. In 2006 he wrote a “bloggers bill of rights” to help integrate bloggers into the Washington Capitals’ press box. Eric has also written for Deadspin, NBC Sports and the Sporting News, and covers sports television for The TV News. Follow Eric on Twitter.