AMERICAN FOOTBALL:TEBOW, IT'S time. Time to play your best NFL game in 14 starts at quarterback. Time to score in the second quarter. Time to confirm conclusively John Fox's decision in the second half of the Broncos' first game against the Chargers was correct.
Time to come back from consecutive defeats. Time to beat your predecessor. The pressure is on.
A real-estate website poll has ranked Tim Tebow as the most desirable celebrity neighbour.
Marvel Comics artists have depicted Tebow in three superhero-type drawings for ESPN. A national uproar resulted after comedian Bill Maher, the host of HBO’s Real Time, tweeted a hostile reaction to Tebow’s effort in Buffalo. NBC’s Saturday Night Live performed a sarcastic skit about Tebow, Jesus and the Broncos.
Ground will be broken in January in Davao City, Philippines, for the Tebow CURE Children’s Hospital. And there is the New Year’s Day Chiefs-Broncos game, the most important of Tebow’s two seasons in the NFL, and the most important for the Broncos since they played at home on January 3rd, 2010, and lost to the Chiefs 44-24. Kyle Orton was the Broncos’ quarterback then.
In games Tebow has started the past two seasons, the Broncos are 8-5. With 176 yards passing and 129 rushing, Tebow would reach 2,500 and 1,000 for his career. One touchdown passing or rushing and he would have 30. The Chiefs could become the first team to lose to a Tebow-quarterbacked team twice.
Oddly enough, if the Broncos win, Orton and Tebow will have combined on nine victories (eight by Tebow) for the team’s first AFC West title since 2005 – when Jake Plummer was the quarterback – and only the second since John Elway retired after the 1998 Super Bowl championship season.
On the other hand, witness the Bills on the road and the Lions at home. Tebow can’t throw interceptions and/or fumble. He can’t fail to have a measure of success on third downs.
And he can’t let down in the second quarter after the Broncos have run through, literally, their scripted plays.
In Tebow’s three starts in 2010 and his 10 starts this season, the offence has scored one touchdown in the second quarter (against the Bears) and managed three field goals. The Broncos must not wait until the fourth quarter to get their offence going.
They’ve scored 129 points in the fourth quarter with Tebow as quarterback (including the Chargers game at home this season when Tebow took over after half-time).
After that San Diego game, Fox elevated Tebow to number one and said: “This is the right time.” It turned out to be in the nick of time.
Losses to the Dolphins, Lions and Raiders would have made this weekend meaningless and this season another mess.
The world still is uncertain about Tebow. He has become the league’s story of the year because of Tebowing and elbowing after comeback, overtime victories at Miami, San Diego and Minnesota and I-told-you-so’s after blowouts and “bow-outs” against Detroit, New England and Buffalo.
This week, Tebow has made the proper statements about the excitement of the Chiefs game, the play-off possibility, the return of Orton, the Broncos’ focus. Tebow is the face of the Broncos and he has to be mean, motivated and mad.
It’s Tebow’s time to turn past-season anger into post-season joy now.
New York Times
Seven battle for last play-off spots
THE FINAL week of the NFL regular season takes place tomorrow with seven teams battling for the last three available spots in the play-offs and another four hoping to earn a week off on the road to the Super Bowl.
Nine of the 12 play-off berths have been snapped up, but the fight for the remaining spots will go right down to the wire, with the New York Giants (8-7) and Dallas Cowboys (8-7) clashing in tomorrow’s featured night game at the new Meadowlands Stadium.
The winner advances to the play-offs as the NFC East division winner and fourth seed, while the loser will miss the postseason.
The other five NFC spots have already been claimed with the Green Bay Packers (14-1) assured of home field advantage during the play-offs. The San Francisco 49ers (12-3) can lock up a first week bye if they beat St Louis, but New Orleans Saints (12-3) could snatch it if they beat the Carolina Panthers and the 49ers slip up.
In the AFC, five teams remain in contention for two play-off spots. The Broncos and Raiders are vying for the AFC West division title. The Raiders are also one of four teams battling for the final AFC Wild Card, along with the Cincinnati Bengals (9-6), Tennessee Titans (8-7) and New York Jets (8-7). The New England Patriots (12-3) have already locked up a first week bye, leaving the Baltimore Ravens (11-4) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-4) competing for the other free pass to the second week.
