And with the Raiders loss, the Broncos move into first place. Another win with 2 minutes to go, Vikes Qb throws a int, GW FG ensues. \ This without Von Miller playing.
5-1 so far, tbh what I really enjoy about his play is "experts" say: "He can't win like that, he can't play like that in the NFL" And there we are...
A buddy and I were talking about this yesterday over some pints. I pointed out to him that the Denver offense, specifically the running game, is now much more complex in terms of keys and reads than the typical NFL team, which usually amounts to run outside, run inside, counter, and draw. Teams instead are having to defense the QB as a runner, something a lot of them haven't done since college. He made a rather brilliant observation that Tebow's success is a lot like our early success with the Wildcat. It's coming from catching teams off guard, and that the more film and time they have to prepare, the tougher it will be for them. In other words, this could be a very short-lived fad. Stopping the Wildcat was pretty simple - blitzing all out and utilizing gap responsibility. Will it be so simple to figure out the Broncos? All it takes is someone to figure out how to stop the Denver offense. I'd be taking a good hard look at that Lions tape.
It's actually not a very accurate observation by your friend. First, as Alen pointed out the read option was not installed by the Lion's game. The NFL Network did playbook special on Tebow. They showed how Tebow's impact is making that running game work. The read option works in college b/c it creates an 11 on 11 vs the 10 on 11 advantage that the defense usually enjoys. The NFL doesn't use it b/c QBs can't take the potential abuse. Tebow is not most QBs. He is built like a brick. And he's faster and stronger than many of the defenders. In watching the tape it was clear that on some plays the defense played it right and then Tebow just beat his match-up. You can also add in that late in the game he gets stronger and faster relative to the defense b/c he's in such great condition. On the plays where McGahee broke out for big runs they showed the defenders all looking at Tebow and then being a step late when they realized McGahee had the ball. In today's game, Minny played defense to take away the run. He finished with two TDs and 148 rating. On the drive where they tied it with a FG, he actually put a TD pass right on the WR's hands that was knocked out by the DB or his stats would have been even better. Anybody who is watching his games knows that for at least the last three weeks no defense has been caught off guard.
With their draft position dropping, do they sign Ronnie in the offseason to provide camp competition for Tebow?
Exactly, this is where the "oh, it's smoke and mirror's!" folks are getting it wrong, Tebow is a bit like have a below avg starting Qb who can run like Peyton Hillis attacking the defense with the Zone Read or Straight Dropping back. I know I harp on the CFL, however they have seen this used for the last 4 seasons at least, what they have done to solve it a sort of S/Lb hybrid who can cover and handle the Qb keeping the ball. In today's NFL, the sort of David Fulcher/Louis Oliver Safety/Lb is no longer used, this is a part of his success, so much so even Trent Dilfer is sucking up to Tebow, the twist being, gosh, he is more accurate then people thought he would be in the NFL..who'd a thunk it?
Three years ago I posted (in response to Boomer asking what NFL offense Tebow could play in), that Tebow would be in the next one. Innovations aways go from HS to college then lastly to the NFL. I firmly believe that the zone read will become a staple across the NFL as more Tebow, Newton types continue to succeed at the college level. The old school types will continue to claim that the Tebow experiment will fail eventually, but I have no doubt that the experiment will spread an we'll see elements of the offense on other teams.
Conceptually they aren't the same at all, but the point is the same - it took Defensive Coordinators an offseason to figure out how to stop the Wildcat. Is it possible that the Zone-Read will suffer a similar fate this offseason? Good point about the option coming after Detroit. I forgot about that one.
Another area Tebow is operating outside of the "stats" is: The Zone Read amounts to a play action pass/draw play, but stats do not recognize it (Real brainy content alert, also absurd conclusion alert): http://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpr...stical-analysis-of-the-miracles-of-tim-tebow/
It won't take a off-season for the zone read to be figured out. If the end crashes down and the backside LB scrapes over, you have it stopped. The question will be if teams can stop the triple option and the mid-line and so on.
The zone read, like any other offense can be stopped. But the good offense will then have constraint plays that will work off of that. Anybody who has watched these last few games realizes that these defenses knew what they had to do to stop the Broncos. They didn't have to figure it out. What happened is that the Broncos continued to evolve their offense. For example, in the Minny game, Tebow only ran 4 times. One was to center the ball for the winning kick and two others were when he was back to pass, didn't find anybody open and just ran. Only one time did he run off of the zone read. In this game they showed the zone read action, but then Tebow pulled it out and passed. And he passed well. He was 10 of 15. One was a throw away and three others were plays where he put the ball on the receiver's hands. (I can't remember the other miss). This is supposedly what Tebow can't do. Jared Allen said he would have bet his pay check that Tebow couldn't have beat them passing and like all the "experts" he was wrong. That would have been a poor bet. Even the runs by McGahee weren't coming off of the zone read. Primarily it looked like they were straight hand offs where Tebow would show a roll out action. The end has to respect that and basic interior zone blocking handled the middle of the line. Some of those runs were on the edge where the end crashed down and McGahee was able to get outside the perimeter. BTW SD did crash the end down and have the LB scraping over. The result was that Tebow simply beat the LB a good percentage of the time. Tebow is a big, fast guy. It is very difficult to stop him from at least getting a yard or two on those plays. That is why he is so good at converting two-point plays and short yardage plays. Denver is not running a wildcat offense that has only two options (brown keeps it of hands it to the jet sweep b/c Henning was too predictable to attempt a pass). Something that simple can be stopped by just blitzing whenever you see the formation. Denver is running an evolving offense that is every bit as complex as as any in the NFL. It has as many looks and options as any other offense b/c you can run conventional runs and passes out of the same basic looks. So while I'm sure that the Denver offense will have bad games, I'm also sure that they're not just running another wildcat and that everybody will shut it down and soon as they figure out how to crash the end and scrape the LB.
Funniest part about all of this.... Elway is looking for ANY reason to cut this guy, as he stands there "golf clapping" as Tebow wins these games...
If Elway was being honest with himself, he would admit that Tebow showed that he could make the throws. I don't recall any passes in the typical timing offense, but I did see him pass in time off of play action. Oh and I remembered the other incompletion in that game. It was a bubble screen to the WR. I thought Tebow lead him too far, but not by much. It was off by maybe a foot. The way I see it, Tebow looked horrid in camp in an offense designed for Orton. Then Orton gets benched and Tebow still can't pass, but he makes enough plays that they start winning (and impacts the running game so that it can make more plays). Then as the offense is slowly adapted to be a better fit for Tebow, he shows improvement in passing as well. As that process continues I expect to see continued development. I would say that Denver is the odds on favorite to win that division. You would have been laughed out of the room if you made that claim when they were 1-4. If Denver wins the division, it will make it more difficult for Elway to just move on from Tebow. I expect that they'll play either Pitt or Baltimore in the first round so I don't expect them to win a playoff game, but you never know.
On that potential TD pass in the 4th that DT couldn't hold on to, Tebow read the defense and changed the play at the line. He then threw a perfect pass in the face of an all out blitz. Even Billick, who has been one of Tebow's critics, said that you couldn't ask for a more perfect play out of your QB in that situation. That play just goes down as an incompletion in the stat line, but if you're evaluating a QB, you look at that and come away impressed.
Had him as a first round pick...Took a lot of heat..Thought he brought a lot of value as a football player and value to a franchise, at the bottom of the first round..Understood the limitations, but felt that the skillset could match a trend in football that needed to be evolved.. If I were the broncos I would draft Denard Roninson, pair him up with Tebow, and go loco with that offense.
...and totally redeem yourself! Seriously though. I do like the idea of 5 offensive linemen and 6 complete athletes on the field though.
All the zone-read stuff aside, Tebow doesn't throw INTs, and he doesn't take sacks. When he needs to make a play he lets his legs do the work and get receivers open. He's like a mix between Roethlisberger and Mike Alstott.
Bears fumble in FG range. It doesn't make any fcking sense. The Broncos are catching every break this season.
Worse than the Jets of 2009. It's unreal. Of course it's all Tebow's doing. Doesn't have anything to do with Ponder throwing an INT inside his own 20, or Barber ****ing up on 2 occasions, or Marlon Moore not holding on to an onside kick. Tebow was 3-16 for 45yds and an INT in the 1st 3 QTRs. Why would the defense ever switch to prevent D?
**** this ****. Going to church on Sunday. Going to stop drinking with the intentions of getting ****ing hammered. No more ***** until I'm married. Jesus is real.
People want to discount the intangible part of the game, this man literally challenges every other man on the team to play at their highest level, he motivates them to do so, by continuing to reap praise on them for doing it, continuing to go out of his way to keep himself in their ear..He's an expert on how to inspire a group of men, and when you get 52 men playing their hardest for 60 mins, great things can happen that can effect all other positions and units on the field. Did anyone see that documentary on ESPN about tebows senior season in high school..?, Ive never anything like it, he had a full clean fracture of the fibula,{they showed the x rays} could barely walk, yet drove down the field and punched it in, he was absolutely out of his mind with energy and emotion.. Some folks did not take into account thes things when grading him, and did not realize how good he is at extending a play with vision downfield... The broncos are out of the drafting of QB scenario, they need to focus on specific talents surrounding this unique talent, and do the same things for their offensive theory..He needs his Percy Harvin, and a denard robinson in the draft, and go loco with that wildcat spread..
He doesn't throw much so he doesn't turn it over. Problem is...that won't work in the playoffs. It's great for beating the weaker teams...but the AFC West winner will play either the Steelers or Ravens in the first round...one of those smash-mouth defenses should destroy them.
If you watched the game though, five of those incompletions were drops by the wrs. One of them would have been for a long TD. And on the INT the wr fell. That is the difference between reading the stat sheet and knowing how well Tebow played.
wait til they get that boy some weapons in the backfield that can house what he does well, and a tight end.
I did watch the game, so you can kindly stop accusing me of not. Just because I used stats in my post in a negative manner about Tebow's play early on, doesn't mean I didn't watch the damn game. Get real. It's not like Tebow is the only QB to deal with drops or WRs falling down (or tipping passes to DBs). Manning last night had Manningham and Cruz drop TDs, he still didn't complete 25% of his passes after throwing (any selection of) 16 passes though. Oh yea, but it's just one game. Except that his season's completion %'s breakdown as QT1 - 48.3%, QT2 - 33.3%, QT3 - 37.5%, QT4- 61.3%, OT - 57.1%. I'm sure his season totals of quarters 1-3 are just a reflection of his WRs falling down or dropping 5 passes every game though (for the record I've watched 4 or 5 Tebow games this year, so again, please don't accuse me of just looking at the stat sheet). Doesn't at all have anything to do with him routinely throwing poor passes. And I was making more of a comment about many teams playing defense differently (late) in the 4th QTR (and in OT) than Tebow's stats in this particular game.
