Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Necropost: Tim Tebow is my Homeboy

Note: While I was contemplating a new post, I looked through my old posts and realized I started something on 4/23/10 on the eve of the NFL Draft where the Broncos drafted Tim Tebow, but I never finished it or posted it.  So what I'm gonna do is leave in the original post, then follow up.  This, of course, is not recommended.

THEN: 

Right?

Last night: "The Broncos drafted Tim Tebow IN THE FIRST ROUND??????"
Today: "Hey, the Broncos got Tim Tebow! Sweet!"

What changed? The flavor of the Kool-Aid.

But the pick is refreshing, and here's why. Towards the end of Mike Shanahan's reign, I felt he was a reactionary. Screw up a few times, you're gone; I'll go with the devil I don't know over the one I already know (I stumbled over that, but I'm reversing a well-known phrase for effect and it was bound to be clunky). He took a big chance on Plummer, and in my opinion everything was working... until he allegedly bombed in the AFC Championship (you can't ignore that the whole team was awful, but the QB took the heat). Somewhere in Plummer's three meaningful years there, Shanahan lost his edge and just started booting people. Bertrand Berry and Trevor Pryce are two good examples (though Pryce may have been gone before Plummer arrived, I can't remember). The rotating door at RB is perhaps the only area where Shanahan was trying to be proactive... but he let his past success with Terrell Davis boost his ego to the point where he thought he could do it again, and it never really panned out (and he never gave it the chance to, either).

Josh McDaniels? He has his issues, but his moves have been proactive. Remember, moving Cutler was always his idea, it just didn't work out the way he initially planned. He is Belicheck-esque in his demeanor: he's the boss, if you're going to run your mouth, you can do it somewhere else. That's why Cutler, Marshall and Scheffler are out of town despite their talent. But you know what? McDaniels isn't going to wait for their "talent" to let us down to get rid of them (and let's be honest, what did those clowns do for Denver while they were here? Three 8-8 seasons? Some talent.).

Long story short: Even if Josh McDaniels is wrong, at least he's making proactive moves he feels are necessary, rather than  (abrupt end of post)

NOW:

Well, I never got to expound on why I thought Tim Tebow himself was a good pick for the Broncos, but I probably didn't even know.  But today, here's where I stand:

I'm a card-carrying member of Tebowmania, way more so than at the time of the original post, except for that there is no club, no memberships and no cards.  Still, I'm sold, I hoped he would remain a Bronco, but Elway's ego got in the way.  Hey, I'm looking forward to the Manning era in Denver, no doubt, I only hoped Tebow could be the back up and learn from the master.  But I got to see Tebow play the Steelers in the playoffs in person, got to see the overtime victory, got to see the great run of wins that shouldn't have been.  Tebow has swagger, and his inspiration is his faith.  I want to see great things happen for him, and I want to see him do great things.

I stand by my comments about Shanahan.  He's still washed up, and he shouldn't have been so quick to shove Plummer down the stairs.

I was wrong about McDaniels, though not entirely so.  Cutler, Marshall and Scheffler, I'm still not fans of theirs.  But McDaniels did a poor job of replacing them--his draft picks didn't hold up.  I guess I can still admire his pluck, even if he was wrong, he did it his way (or Belichick's way, or something, or whatever).

Hopefully Elway and Fox know what they're doing, and hopefully Manning leads the Broncos to the playoffs each of his five years under his contract.

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