This will be blunt and quick.

Sam Bradford left the game today with a knee injury and may not return for a while.  A rumor mill got the wheels spinning on the Rams looking at Tim Tebow, which were never true and have been shot down by the team.   However, I felt the need to plant my flag here and ask why the hatred for Tebow.   What’s so wrong about a good guy who just wants a clean opportunity.   He is beloved and hated at the same time and sells jerseys and tickets but teams want no part of him.  The Tebow effect isn’t popular.  What did he do to deserve this?  A valid question.   I won’t sit here and say he will be a good long term quarterback for a team but he deserves a real shot to prove what he did in Denver was a fluke or something real.  A real shot is more than a few snaps and little game time.  That mean 11 games plus two playoff games like the Broncos gave Tebow to prove the doubters wrong.  Let’s rewind and tell the story.

For those of you that know me I am a Tim Tebow fan and have always supported his career and his football ability and attitude.  I feel like he was more than mistreated in New York, he was left out in the cold to watch his career freeze up.  The intense athletically gifted football player was deemed useless by a team that didn’t make the playoffs.  The Broncos didn’t need Tebow because they had Manning.  The Jets didn’t need Tebow because they had….gulp….Mark Sanchez.   I just threw up a little in my mouth.

After taking a 1-4 Denver Broncos team in 2011 to the playoffs and beating Pittsburgh before running into the Tom Brady train, Tebow was traded to the New York Jets when Denver signed Peyton Manning.  A reasonable move and a threat to the shaky throne of Mark Sanchez.  Here’s the problem.  The Jets never gave Tebow a true shot.  Please save me your givings about his preseason and practice time.  Tebow is a game time player and needs time to get rolling.   He can’t throw the football too well and isn’t mechanically gifted at the quarterback position.  However, the NFL is a results driven game.  Based on a win loss record.  Instead of playing Tebow, the Jets stuck with Sanchez and then went past Tebow to a third string QB and missed the playoffs and looked BAD doing so.   My biggest question with the Jets was this.  Why not start Tebow in those last two games when the playoffs are long gone and there is nothing left but entertainment value.   Why not play Tebow and fill the seats and maybe win a game?  It was the Jets that lost to Tebow near the end of the 2011 season on that Broncos comeback trail.   Did Rex Ryan sign Tebow to bring him in and lock him up?  Keep him from playing.  Tell me different.  Why would he NOT play the guy?  The loud mouth feet loving dude didn’t want to start Tebow, watch Tim win a game or make it interesting and then be asked the millionaire dollar question.  Which is, why stick with a guy who was hurting or throwing way too many INT’s in Sanchez without going to a guy who took down Pittsburgh a year before?   Ryan didn’t want that and basically shut Tebow down.

Yes, I know Denver had a great defense and Tebow usually plays a shitty 3 quarters.   However, in a game where the Vikings lit up the Broncos, Tebow led them back.  In several games that were close, Tebow found a way to win in Denver.  When the defense did enough, Tebow finished it, got the late drive and set up the field goal kicker.  It’s simple. The Broncos gave Tebow a shot when they were at the brink of going bust and the Jets wouldn’t do it.  Tebow deserves a real shot to prove what he did in Denver was real or not.  Please read my words here before you come back with 50 responses I have heard before.

You don’t like his religious fanaticism?  That’s fine.  Neither do I.  When athletes give all praise to an invisible being instead of the work of their own body, hard work and a few supporting characters, I laugh.  Trust me, I dealt with Kurt Warner and Albert Pujols dedicating late great heroics to the glory of the big man upstairs who loves human sacrifice.  Tebow loves his Jesus and that’s all him.  Still not a reason to hate the guy.

He has athletic skill and a freak of nature body that can work for an offense in the NFL.   Sure,he would be smart to be a tight end or fullback.   However, that isn’t his dream folks.  He wants another shot to be a QB and tell me why he doesn’t deserve it.  The Jacksonville Jaguars wanted nothing to do with the hometown kid(who could have SOLD OUT every seat in their stadium ) and are horrible and 0-7 and won’t be improving any time soon.  Tebow could have entertained those fans, filled seats and at least won a couple of those games.  Why not?  At least he could have made it fun.   Yeah, nice move Jaguars.  Deny the Gator his day in the sun.

Look, Tebow may get a shot and fail.   His magic may have ran out.  That’s fine and a good bet.  I want to know what he has left.  What can he do with an offense and team dedicated to him.  The only way he will be successful is if he isn’t the distraction.  He is the main attraction.   Give him a year.  I’ve seen plenty of St. Louis teams give whole seasons to worse quarterbacks.  I have seen plenty.  Why not see what the Tebow tank has left?   Most haters of Tebow are old school guys and stat driven fans.  They don’t see the meaning in his performance.  It’s something they can’t find on a chart, graph or calculator.  What Tebow has done can’t be easily quantified.  Sorry guys.  He is truly something else.

After the Jets waste of his talent and some time off( I won’t even include the Patriots fakeout), Tebow deserves a shot somewhere.  I don’t count preseason New England games either.  Give Tebow the real deal.  Give him 2 games.  Entertain your fans.  Why not?  Sports is at its base an entertainment business.

Rant over.  At the very least, Tebow could be a Hollywood show.  At best, he could win games, fill seats, and bring some excitement to a previously dead football environment.

Thanks for reading,

Buffa

PHOTO CREDIT-THE SPORTING NEWS