Why are people in love with Tebow's "wins"?

[MoLewisrocks]

Tebow defies convention on multiple levels, ergo he is a lightening rod. Vick and Young defied convention on one level, on others not so much. Each of them had a franchise handed to them, Tebow not so much. He actually had to overcome an ownership and coaching staff determined to go in another direction. Not to mention teamates who had little interest in playing follow the leader until the results dictated it was in their own best interest to. He's actually become a pretty admirable young man and QB throughout the process, and as an underdog by NFL scouting standards to boot, someone many fans are more inclined to root for. That's the adversity he's overcome.

The hype surrounding him, however, is at a level that at best could be described as nauseatingly annoying. But that's not his doing, that's the media's. They love a storyline and will drive one beyond all reason. He is a polarizing figure. As were Vick and Young. But in his case that has more to do with his style than substance or ultimate lack thereof... Although I think by virtue of his very existence he makes a lot of males in the core sports demographic really uncomfortable because he is emotionally wired so differently than most of them these days, and on and off the field he challenges their perception of alpha male world order... He's got the courage of his convictions, although he remains somewhat naive, he's humble, he doesn't allow what he does for a living to define who he is, he's not arrogant, or self absorbed, or defiant, or apparently miserable and envious on some level...

I guess the same things that intrigued an open minded thinker like BB cause him to grate on many of the same people Bill grates on for whatever reason. Defying conventional wisdom, whatever that is, will tend to make you a polarizing figure. It's human nature to disparage or dislike what you don't understand or cannot quantify. I still don't think he's sustainable long term, but having made it this far who knows. He may have bought himself enough time to become sustainable. Most guys in his situation couldn't even hope to do that.

I don't think guys like Brady and Warner see him as an insult. They are more insulted by the kind of hype that surrounds guys like Russell and Leinart and Sanchez who get handed their shot on a silver platter based on solely on perception of talent only to piss it away.

 

[wizwor]

There's a poll on espn. I picked Tebow just to drive the haters crazy

 

[Fball]

Haters gonna hate, as they say.

At a time when the league is full of Rodney Harrisons, NY Jets, Plaxico's, & selfish egomaniacs, Tebow is a much-needed genuine article - someone who is very good for this game. He uses his position to help & encourage people, and has displayed nothing but class & good gamesmenship both on the field & off.

Oh, and he also has an uncanny ability to play his best when it counts the most.

 

[RodThePat]

Haters gonna hate, as they say.

At a time when the league is full of Rodney Harrisons, NY Jets, Plaxico's, & selfish egomaniacs, Tebow is a much-needed genuine article - someone who is very good for this game. He uses his position to help & encourage people, and has displayed nothing but class & good gamesmenship both on the field & off.

This describes like 50% of NFL players.

 

[Fball]

This describes like 50% of NFL players.

I don't hate them, either.

 

[RodThePat]

I don't hate them, either.

We aren't being showered with stories about how awesome those other guys are, either. Andy Dalton is a rookie and led a team who many believed would be fighting for the number one overall pick to the playoffs. He had a pretty impressive season throwing the football too, and by all accounts is a really nice guy. Where are the Andy Dalton stories? How about TJ Yates, an unheralded 5th round rookie QB who was thrown into the fire in the midst of the regular season stretch run and played pretty well, even leading Houston to a playoff victory. Oh, and he had better production as a QB than Tebow has had. That's also a story, that's a guy who had success while overcoming adversity, why isn't the world abuzz with TJ Yates talk?

Tebow is talked about because he's a religious, good-looking, white young male who had previous success in college. That's it. He was already a celebrity before he reached the NFL, so any success he eventually had would be overblown because people were already predisposed to write and talk about him. He's a very nice guy and he isn't a bad player, but there is a HUGE discrepancy between his play on the field and the way the media portrays him.

 

[Fball]

We aren't being showered with stories about how awesome those other guys are, either. Andy Dalton is a rookie and led a team who many believed would be fighting for the number one overall pick to the playoffs. He had a pretty impressive season throwing the football too, and by all accounts is a really nice guy. Where are the Andy Dalton stories? How about TJ Yates, an unheralded 5th round QB who was thrown into the fire in the midst of the regular season stretch run and played pretty well, even leading Houston to a playoff victory. Oh, and he had better production as a QB than Tebow has had. That's also a story, that's a guy who had success while overcoming adversity, why isn't the world abuzz with TJ Yates talk?

Tebow is talked about because he's a religious, good-looking, white young male who had previous success in college. That's it. He was already a celebrity before he reached the NFL, so any success he eventually had would be overblown because people were already predisposed to write and talk about him. He's a very nice guy and he isn't a bad player, but there is a HUGE discrepancy between his play on the field and the way the media portrays him.

C'mon - that's a little bit detached. The stretch of 4th quarter wins that Tebow led Denver on was as dramatic as anything the NFL has seen in years. Sure, you can say that the defense is what spearheaded most of those, but it was Tebow's play in the clutch that put the team over the top.

Week after week, for a team that was written out of the playoffs early - a whole series of last-minute and last-second wins. And then an insanely improbable upset win in his 1st playoff game.

And you would compare that to Dalton & Yates?

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Because he mixes the two things many Americans are desperate to cling on to and identify themselves as (a sports fanatic and a religious fanatic). Anything positive he does is overblown and overstated and anyone who doesn't fall in line and proclaim him the second coming is a hater. I'm getting really tired of the whole dog and pony show.

 

[Peachhead]

"All he does is win"...except when he doesn't.

 

[RodThePat]

C'mon - that's a little bit detached. The stretch of 4th quarter wins that Tebow led Denver on was as dramatic as anything the NFL has seen in years. Sure, you can say that the defense is what spearheaded most of those, but it was Tebow's play in the clutch that put the team over the top.

Week after week, for a team that was written out of the playoffs early - a whole series of last-minute and last-second wins. And then an insanely improbable upset win in his 1st playoff game.

And you would compare that to Dalton & Yates?

Tom Brady, a sixth round 2nd year player, took over a 0-2 team who was ranked dead last in the league in most Power Rankings and brought them a SuperBowl title. Kurt Warner went from bagging groceries to league MVP in the span of 12 months. Those guys, even while being imesurably more succesful on the football field, didn't receive 5% of the national press Tebow has been getting. It wasn't about those dramatic come from behind wins either, because if it was, John Skelton would be getting praised nonstop (he actually had more come from behind 4th quarter wins than Tebow in 2011).

The media was just waiting for a reason to make a huge deal out of Tim Tebow, and when he gave them one, they pounced on it, overblowing the whole thing. Hell, they had whole segments on NFL Network and ESPN to discuss Tebow when John Fox announced he'd be starting! He hadn't even taken a snap and they were devoting prolonged periods of air time to him.

 

[Deus Irae]

Remember Vince Young? same scrambling "winner" QB? where is he now? oh yeah on the bench behind Mike Vick who can actually throw... VY is overall better than Tebow too yet he doesn't get as much love either

Vince Young

8-5
9-6
1-0
8-2
Mental breakdown
4-4
1-2

I wonder if there's something there that stands out as a possible reason for Young's current situation.

 

[DarrylS]

Because he mixes the two things many Americans are desperate to cling on to and identify themselves as (a sports fanatic and a religious fanatic). Anything positive he does is overblown and overstated and anyone who doesn't fall in line and proclaim him the second coming is a hater. I'm getting really tired of the whole dog and pony show.

The reality is that there are at least three Patiots who come across as very religious: Carter, Mayo and BJGE, but none of them surround themselves with all the props and shenanigans.

Tom Brady is also known for his good works and an incredible amount he does for people in need.

Doing the right thing is expected in all of life, but playing it on the big screen gets boring.

 

[Snake Eyes]

I knew it would get to the ugly fairly quickly. He's white. That's it.

Yeah, it’s got to be only about race, we shouldn’t take into account that Tebow comes across as a very genuine and likable guy who has a passion for football and is a workaholic and Vince Young is an immature thug who gets into fights at strip clubs over someone disrespecting his college team. Nah, it’s all about race

 

[Elijah T.]

"All he does is win"...except when he doesn't.

Amen.

Tebow lost three straight games (and looked very bad at times) going into the playoffs.

He was 6/22 against KC, just two weekends ago. There was speculation that "packages" were being added in for Brady Quinn on passing downs.

The media is nearsighted when it comes to reporting Tebow's football skills and/or performances. In two of his last three losses he looked terrible. In a game he "needed" to win in KC, he couldn't throw for 100 yards in 22 pass attempts.

The option offense is obviously helping Tebow (slowing down the speed of the defense), and so did Pittsburgh by playing man-to man coverage with Ike Taylor and William Gay...If you gave J.P. Losman 4-5 seconds of protection with Taylor and Gay playing man coverage he'd light you up for 300 yards all day as well.

My take on Tebow is that I don't see an accurate picture being painted whether it be football or faith. Every good thing he does is propped up and grlorified. He goes out of his way to play up this "super christian" persona. At the end of games a group of players will pray in the middle of the field, but Tebow is too busy "Tebowning" for the cameras to participate.

There are plenty of Christian athletes on both teams at any given game. But we don't hear about that because they're not "The Chosen One". The Bible says God doesn't have favorites (Acts 10:34,35). But Tebow is painted as a supreme spirtiual figure.

Tebow is an entitled young man in my opinion, and I don't relate to that personally. He was the top player in high school and college, won a ton of awards. First round pick. Cried when he lost games at Florida. Pouted to the media when he wasn't named the starter this offseason. The classic Big Man On Campus.

Kurt Warner is more my style.

 

[Tunescribe]

Tebow defies convention on multiple levels, ergo he is a lightening rod. Vick and Young defied convention on one level, on others not so much. Each of them had a franchise handed to them, Tebow not so much. He actually had to overcome an ownership and coaching staff determined to go in another direction. Not to mention teamates who had little interest in playing follow the leader until the results dictated it was in their own best interest to. He's actually become a pretty admirable young man and QB throughout the process, and as an underdog by NFL scouting standards to boot, someone many fans are more inclined to root for. That's the adversity he's overcome.

The hype surrounding him, however, is at a level that at best could be described as nauseatingly annoying. But that's not his doing, that's the media's. They love a storyline and will drive one beyond all reason. He is a polarizing figure. As were Vick and Young. But in his case that has more to do with his style than substance or ultimate lack thereof... Although I think by virtue of his very existence he makes a lot of males in the core sports demographic really uncomfortable because he is emotionally wired so differently than most of them these days, and on and off the field he challenges their perception of alpha male world order... He's got the courage of his convictions, although he remains somewhat naive, he's humble, he doesn't allow what he does for a living to define who he is, he's not arrogant, or self absorbed, or defiant, or apparently miserable and envious on some level...

I guess the same things that intrigued an open minded thinker like BB cause him to grate on many of the same people Bill grates on for whatever reason. Defying conventional wisdom, whatever that is, will tend to make you a polarizing figure. It's human nature to disparage or dislike what you don't understand or cannot quantify. I still don't think he's sustainable long term, but having made it this far who knows. He may have bought himself enough time to become sustainable. Most guys in his situation couldn't even hope to do that.

I don't think guys like Brady and Warner see him as an insult. They are more insulted by the kind of hype that surrounds guys like Russell and Leinart and Sanchez who get handed their shot on a silver platter based on solely on perception of talent only to piss it away.

Good post. One aspect of Tebow "polarization" that doesn't get play because of political "uncorrectness" is the racial factor. Some blacks have expressed outright resentment claiming the only reason he's gotten so much playing time and attention is because he's white. The legendary Kordell Stewart insists Tebow doesn't even belong in the NFL.

 

[mosi]

comparing Vince Young to Tebow is a pretty big insult to tebow

1. first off take them as people, one is completely sure of himself and where he is in life w/o all the necessary drama, he is a mature adult, the other had a slew of personal problems and was more of a kid than anything

2. take them as competitors, Tebow blow VY out of the water w/o a doubt, one guy in great game shape to help his team win, the other overweight

3. take them as passers, though i would venture to say Tims throwing is uglier, neither is close to above average, but one makes sure the other team does not get the ball either, while the other gives it away like its nothing, also one passer understands the progression required in reads, and the other does not

4. take them as runners: both big, but tebow is much stronger than vince, Tim is also elusive, where areas VY never is, and never was


in short, even though they both have their short commings as NFL QB's, one of them is a competitor w/ heart and will, and the other one is not, which also means that the competitor type may be willing to work much more to improve, and finally end up being much better than the other guy who was only willing to do so much


there are a LOT more differences between these two than there are similarities

Tebow is also looked at differently because of two people who strongly supported him when no one else did: Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels.

 

[loloooooooooooo]

Tebow is also looked at differently because of two people who strongly supported him when no one else did: Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels.

how did BB strongly support him? When he said Tebow's mechanics were good, I doubt he was serious... like any other time he complimented other teams. Josh Mcdaniels support is as good as support from a crack head

 

[MoLewisrocks]

how did BB strongly support him? When he said Tebow's mechanics were good, I doubt he was serious... like any other time he complimented other teams. Josh Mcdaniels support is as good as support from a crack head

Bill was clearly intrigued with him. Spent lots of time with him in Florida. Wined and dined him pre draft. I think the intrigue was less as a QB than as a football player who was passionate about playing the game and willing to be coached up and driven to play it at the next level despite all the prognostications and as a young man who had the courage of his convictions and the capacity to lead. And because he was a winner which when he cut through all the red flags and dire prognostications about Brady was what led him to draft him too. Although in Brady's case he was not so unconventional the projection to QB was in dispute. I think if Tebow had continued to fall say into the third, Bill would have taken him as a football player and seen what he could do (even as many here would have totally misconstrued what that meant).

I think Josh just paniced because of Bill's interest, and it killed him because he wasn't in position to do what Bill could have done with Tebow. Wait, develop him, repurpose or even trade him. Josh needed a QB because the one on his roster wasn't a fit for this offense. And when he traded him that put pressure on him to use a draft pick to replace him long term. Only he didn't have the luxury of long term vision he'd witnessed here. He knows now few HC's ever do have that luxury. I think he counted on Charlie's protoge to at least be able to buy him time, but Charlie's guy was apparently something of a figment of Charlie's immagination. He knew Orton was high floor low ceiling. He didn't know Quinn was low floor low ceiling.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I wonder if Tebow is a threat to atheists?

Off-topic comment. I heard a survey result in the past week that 20% of atheists claim to pray once a week. Who knew?

 

[Danny_Woodcawk]

i wonder what the crackpots are going to say when tebow throws 316 picks next season.