If you couldn’t hear the
chanting for Tim Tebow to start for the
New York Jets, get ready for an earful on Monday night.
As the Jets prepare to host the
Houston Texas in Week 4, the team is prepared to play Tebow more after
realizing that he has become the team’s best playmaker. With Santonio Holmes sidelined for the rest of the year with a foot
injury, starting “quarterback” Mark Sanchez floundering under center and no rushing attack in
sight, the Jets are right in that assessment.
What the team’s next step will be in
light of that revelation will speak volumes about its faith in Tebow — and if
there isn’t any, then fans will be left wondering what exactly they hoped to
accomplish by bringing him on in the first place.
The fact that it has taken this
long for Rex Ryan and Co. to even
consider inserting Tebow hints at the underlying issue surrounding the
charismatic quarterback. Sanchez has been putrid so far, completing fewer than
50 percent of his passes with more turnovers than touchdowns through the
season’s first four games. All the while, Tebow has been sitting idly by.
Tebow was brought in to add
another dimension to the Jets offense and to challenge Sanchez in the wake of a
three-year contract extension. So far, no good.
Instead, Tebow has been a
glorified punt protector, and Sanchez has shown nothing to those who thought
the threat of losing his job would push him to another level of performance.
Now, on the brink of what many expect to be a blowout victory for the Texans
and another embarrassing loss for the Jets, the time for Tebow should be
approaching.
Because if the Jets don’t pull
the trigger on Tebow soon, it will do little for not only their playoff
chances, but also any hope of finally establishing whether Tebow can succeed in
the NFL.
Last year, Tebow led the Denver
Broncos to a first-round playoff victory and a 8-5 record as a starter. That
didn’t stop John Fox and John
Elway from jumping at the chance of
signing Peyton Manning,
returning to a traditional-style offense and shipping Tebow to New York in
exchange for a couple of late-round draft picks.
A closer look at that 8-5
record, however, suggests why the Broncos were so willing to take a chance on a
possibly injured Manning over Tebow. While he excelled against bad teams —
posting a 7-2 record against non-playoff opponents — Tebow went just 1-3
against playoff-bound foes, the lone win coming in overtime against the
Steelers.
Those three losses weren’t
nail-biters, either. The Lions beat the Broncos 45-10 and the Patriots won by
18 and 35 in their two victories over Denver. In order to succeed in the
National Football League, you need to be able to beat the good teams as well as
the bad. That’s the distinction that is holding Tebow back, and why the Jets
need to play Tebow now, if they ever thought that they would.
The Jets’ schedule over the
next couple of weeks is nothing too demanding, but it does offer a proving
ground of sorts. The Texans are shaping up to be one of the league’s best
teams, and the Patriots are on tap in Week 7 once the Colts come through for
Week 6.
While there’s no rush to throw
Tebow to the wolves against Houston, there should be enough urgency to give him
a look against the good teams, instead of waiting until late in the season when
the schedule lightens up against Jacksonville, Tennessee, San Diego and
Buffalo.
It’s not too late for the Jets
to turn things around, and they may yet find a way to be competitive. However, the
clock is ticking on the season and if Tebow Time is ever going to strike in New
York, it will need to come soon.
