Tim Tebow Is A Winning Winner Who Wins

The Broncos quarterback can turn losses into wins

<p> The Broncos quarterback can turn losses into wins</p>

Tim Tebow is a football player. That's the only explanation I can give after last night's unexplainable win against the New York Jets.

I'm not sure if I would call him a "quarterback." Sure, he starts each play under center and calls out the formation and takes the hike. And that's about as far as the quarterback moniker gets you, because once the ball is hiked, Tebow morphs into a fullback who sometimes mistakenly heaves the ball into the air in the direction of other players (I refuse to call what Tebow does a "pass").

But it works, because the Broncos quarterback is 4-1 in his starts this year, despite an extremely poor arm that can neither fire a pass into a small window, or even find it's target when a player is wide open.

And when you listen to sports pundits try to analyze and give reasons for how and why Tebow keeps winning, they're at a loss for words. The term "winner" is usually the fallback explanation. "He just knows how to win." Or, "He was a winner in college and...uhh, he's a leader...and he wins!"

But I don't think that's it. The explanation is much more simple than that. The football community is a copycat community. Whenever someone comes into the league and throws a wrinkle in the conventional thinking (Mike Martz in the early 2000s, Parcells' use of the wildcat a few years ago etc) there are always varying degrees of success. Sometimes it can take a team to a Super Bowl or two (like Martz) and others it's good for a few flukey wins (like the wildcat.)

And you can see how this is playing out with John Fox and Tim Tebow right now because the pundits (most of whom are ex-football players and coaches) are a good barometer for the current roster of players and coaches. If the pundits don't know how to explain this Tebow thing, then the current coaches probably can't either. And if they can't explain it, then they can't properly defend it.

Because almost every other team out there has a quarterback who is capable of throwing a pass (although last night Mark Sanchez made a strong case against that.) Team defenses know how to defend a quarterback who plays like a quarterback. But since they've never seen or played against a quarterback who runs (and throws) like a fullback, they're unsure how to create a package to properly defend him.

On last night's game-winning 20-yard touchdown run against the Jets, Eric Smith took the worst angle he could have and Tebow was free to take off. Because his instinct was he wanted to make Tebow throw the ball quickly.

But Tebow's not your typical quarterback who will heave the ball up under pressure. Tebow doesn't want to throw the ball. Tebow isn't good at throwing the ball (which is like saying a running back isn't fast, or a coernerback isn't good at covering guys). If Eric Smith makes that play against "Tim Tebow" and not a classic "quarterback" the Jets probably win the game.

But since no one's really ever seen a quarterback like this before, players revert to what they're used to. And that's why Tebow is winning. For now.

The Broncos should have lost that game last night. But everything fell perfectly for them to win it. From Sanchez's pick 6, to the Jets inability to run the ball and control any clock, to their poor defensive performance with 5 minutes to go in the game.

Is Tebow a long-term answer for the Broncos? No. Tebow will get figured out, just like all the flukey plays and players before him. But, man, he sure makes for amazing television, doesn't he? 

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