Mark L. Baer - US PRESSWIRE
The Denver Broncos made the biggest two moves of the NFL offseason when they signed Peyton Manning, and then traded Tim Tebow. It is widely believed that if Manning had signed elsewhere, then Tebow would have returned as the Broncos starting quarterback. While none of us know for sure, all the signs point to the fact that Tebow still would have been traded and the Broncos would have moved on.
John Elway was never comfortable with Tebow as the starting quarterback of the Broncos and even though he said the right things at the end of the 2011 season, it is my belief that the plan all along was to move Tebow. Elway and the Broncos got a break when Manning became available and signed with them, but Tebow was gone either way. If Manning had gone somewhere else, I believe that the Broncos would have signed a veteran like Jason Campbell and then drafted a guy to groom. It may or may not have been, Brock Osweiler who they drafted in the second round this year but it would have been someone like that. There are a number of reasons that I believe the playoff loss to the New England Patriots was always going to be Tebow’s last game as a Bronco.
The first reason is that loss to the Patriots. I know that game scared Elway and the rest of the Broncos front office. They didn’t expect to win that game but I believe they expected to have a better showing than 45-10. It’s not all on Tebow, of course, but he could do nothing against a team that was giving up yards in bunches all season. The Broncos knew they were going to have a difficult time slowing down the Patriots but when Tebow looked so inept against that defense, it probably sealed his fate.
The fact that Tebow did not improve as the 2011 season progressed also had to scare the Broncos. They knew he was going to struggle when he first took over in terms of his completion percentage, but they expected that to improve as he played. Instead of getting better as he played, Tebow got worse. If you take away the playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tebow played his worse football in the final three games of the regular season and then in the divisional loss to the Patriots. Had Tebow improved as he played, then the Broncos may have been more willing to go forward with him.
I also believe that Elway genuinely likes Tebow and wanted him to succeed but he was only reacting to what he was seeing. What he was seeing was a guy who was never going to be a good enough passer to lead a team to a Super Bowl. Yes the Denver Broncos signed Manning, but that’s not when Tebow Time in Denver ended. It ended on that cold January night in New England.
Buy Denver Broncos Tickets | Buy Denver Broncos Apparel
No comments:
Post a Comment