What a preposterous suggestion! Isn't it? Yesterday's score: Baltimore Ravens 38, Denver Broncos 35. The Broncos are one and done and now we want to start bringing up Tim Tebow all over again?
Well, why not?
With Tebow at the helm, the Broncos of last year were able to accomplish something that the Broncos of this year could not do, lead by Manning, which is to actually win a playoff game.
There is no denying that Peyton Manning's comeback season was nothing short of remarkable. Peyton is a very classy, professional, and well-liked leader. Even non-Broncos fans were cheering for him to do well after everything that he'd been through.
Peyton amassed over 4,600 passing yards this year, along with 37 TD's, and a quarterback rating of over 100. Peytong lead the Broncos to a 13-3 record and the #1 seed in the AFC, guaranteeing the team home-field-advantage throughout the playoffs. In addition to this, the Broncos #4 ranked defense did its fair share of damage to opposing teams. The Broncos rode high into the playoffs with an 11-game winning streak.
One Denver player, however, (Rahim Moore, S) expressed some concern just 2 days before the Broncos' playoff game; suggesting that, perhaps, things were not all that great in the Mile-High city.
(Check out the Tebow Highlight Video to the left)
"We've got to fix the mental mistakes and the mental errors we've had. I mean, we're not perfect. Just because we've won 11 straight doesn't mean anything."
The end result? 0 playoff wins. Ouch.
This leads us to one Mr. Tim Tebow.
You can laugh, mock, and ridicule the Tim Tebow-lead Denver Broncos of last year (Merrill Hoge), but there is one thing the Broncos of last year accomplished that the Peyton Manning-lead team of this year could not, which is to win a playoff game at home.
In the lowly AFC West, The Broncos easily could've won the division, again, with an 8-8 record. In fact, it is quite conceivable - for any reasonable fan, or "expert" - that a Tebow-lead Broncos team this year could've gone 9-7, or even 10-6.
Tebow would've had another season under his belt and a confidence-building postseason experience added to that. Once in the playoffs, even if it were the wildcard round, the Broncos would've faced a very beatable Cincinnati Bengals, or Indianapolis Colts, at home.
What happened last night was that Ray Lewis and the Ravens defense knew all along that they had in Peyton Mannng, a sitting duck in the pocket.
With Manning, the Ravens defense knew that there was zero threat of him running for a first down, of Peyton rolling out on a play-action, or that Peytong could torch the Ravens defense even in the event of a broken play.
So what did the Ravens defense do? They came after Manning relentlessly. Although the Ravens sacked Manning only 3 times, they made sure that the quarterack was never truly comfortable back in the pocket. Manning looked skiddish for big portions of the game, which caused Peyton to make mistakes, including 2 costly interceptions.
In fact, if it hadn't been for those two electrifying kick returns by Trindon Holliday, the Broncos wouldn't even had made it into overtime. They would've been stuck with only 21 points.
So, what do you think Merrill Hoge? Was getting rid of a young, vibrant, enthusiastic, and electrifyingTim Tebow a good idea?
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