How Does Tim Tebow Measure Up?
I am excited that it is finally Tim Tebow Time. I think a lot of people in and around the league are as well, but some for different reasons. He does have a large following that want to see him succeed and seemingly as many that don’t, but a lot of people just want the looming question answered.
Can he play quarterback in the NFL?
Personally I think he can, despite his unorthodox style, but only time will tell. What we can do though, is look at what he has done to this point to see how it measures up.
In the brief 1 ¼ season that Tebow has been in the NFL, he has not so quietly amassed some small numbers for us to look at. He has thrown the ball 92 times for 45 completions, which leaves a completion percentage of 48.9%. He has thrown for 733 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. That yields an average 8.0 yards per attempt.
The numbers are not spectacular, but interesting when you draw some comparisons to those numbers. Most people would not know that they are almost identical to Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Blaine Gabbert. Gabbert is fully expected to be the future of the Jaguars team, and they will give him time to develop. Let’s do another comparison though.
I will give you a stat line. Through 10 games he was 123 for 259 (47.5%), 1,663 yards and 7 TDs to 14 Interceptions. This quarterback ran 28 times for 146 yards with 1 TD and 6 fumbles. He was also sacked 28 times.
The year was 1983, and that quarterback was Denver rookie John Elway. If you extrapolate Tebow’s numbers out against Elway’s numbers he would have complete 126 passes for over 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns.
This isn’t even touching on Tebow’s 264 yards and 7 touchdowns on the ground. I realize that none of these numbers are legendary. Yes, I know the NFL has changed since 83, but if anyone should understand that rookie QBs need time to develop it should be John.
I am glad the Broncos were patient enough to let Elway become a legend of the game. I hope we at least get a chance for the same with Tebow.
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