Jets Release Tim Tebow

[RuntheDamnBall]

Really interesting piece on Tebow by Jason Cole.

 

http://sports.yahoo....-145252244.html

 

I didn't realize Tebow was dyslexic.

 

In the 2011 NFL playoffs, Tebow played one of the most memorable games in league history, beating the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers in seemingly miraculous fashion, passing for 316 yards and putting an exclamation mark on the moment. The blitzing, hyper-aggressive Steelers (who were playing with an inexperienced backup safety) played right into Tebow's greatest strength – the ability to look good in chaotic situations.

 

A week later, the Broncos played against the New England Patriots, a team that was almost comically bad on defense at the time. Instead, the Patriots made Tebow look like he needed to go back to Nease High in Jacksonville for remedial work. The Patriots played the simplest two-deep zone that you could imagine, refusing to blitz him until he broke the pocket. The result was a 9-of-26, 136-yard passing performance along with only 13 yards rushing on five carries.

This was the kind of game where even an average NFL quarterback would have thrown for 300 yards, as one AFC coach said a month later.

Granted, that quarterback still would have lost to the Patriots and Tom Brady, but that's not the point. This was yet another illustration that Tebow isn't ready to play conventional NFL football and he's not quick enough to play read-option all the time.

Tebow can't read defenses. He can't explain the differences between two-deep, three-deep and zero coverage, much less see them. He was never trained to do that at Florida by Urban Meyer (not that it was Meyer's responsibility to teach him; it was Meyer's responsibility to win).

Blame that reality on whatever you want. It could be the fact that Tebow is dyslexic. Coaches and players who were with him in Denver say that Tebow would get to the line and immediately lose track of the play call from the huddle in the jumble of what he was told and what he saw across the line.

It could be that he played in funky offenses in high school and college that didn't teach him. He was almost never under center at either level and his high school offense featured him lining up almost in punt formation on each play, giving him an unreal amount of time to read the defense.

That's super-interesting and provides some context for both his successes and his struggles. Obviously the kid has athletic ability that permits him to take over, especially in the college game. But I think as we've seen (and not seen, with Wannstedt), successful NFL defenses create a lot of confusion for most signal-callers. You have to be highly adaptable and possess some smarts - maybe not book smarts - to play QB for a long time in the NFL. You also need people who are willing to teach you. I think the fact is that Tebow's highly polarizing reputation probably hits him hard with everybody. This includes coaches who are less inclined to spend their very valuable time trying to teach a guy known and perhaps defined as a freelancer.