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Pondering the Pummeling of a Hall of Fame QB…

I have to admit– I’m kinda startled by some of the harsh reaction I’ve seen to John Elway’s assessment of Tim Tebow (this article summarizes Elway’s comments & samples the social media venom). For starters, the Broncos VP of Football Operations hasn’t ruled out Tebow from being Denver’s quarterback of the future, but simply said he’s not prepared to crown him at this moment. With such a small sample size of work, why would anyone– Elway, Pat Bowlen, John Fox– jump the gun on this decision?

Second, Elway’s observance of Tebow’s lackluster third down numbers is not opinion, it’s fact. And success on that front is obviously a critical part of sustaining drives.

Third, while I agree Hall of Famers don’t necessarily make the best coaches, in part, because the high standards upheld personally are tough to impart upon every single player, I struggle to name too many candidates more qualified to assess Tebow than one of the best signal-callers of all time. We can debate the prudence of going public with this, but I don’t take issue with it. It’s the NFL, for Pete’s sake. They’re men. They can handle it!

No one can deny Tebow’s fourth quarter heroics have felt almost magical, bolstering the Broncs’ win column and boosting his team’s confidence. No one can deny his championship pedigree, the two national titles at Florida, the Heisman. No one can deny this is a really, really terrific kid with a huge heart, an incomparable work ethic & intangibles that don’t show up on the stat sheet. But to pummel Elway for not rushing to judgment on one of the most critical decisions Denver must make for its present and future seems a bit unfair. Because if he made that commitment RIGHT NOW, and it didn’t pan out, then what would you say?

Because it’s not like that’s never happened before in the Mile High City…

EXCERPT:
I have to admit– I’m kinda startled by some of the harsh reaction I’ve seen to John Elway’s assessment of Tim Tebow. More