The last two seasons have seen the New York Jets led by head coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez appear in the American Football Conference Championship Game only to fall in those appearances to the Indianapolis Colts in 2009 and the Pittsburgh Steelers the next season. This past season, the Jets, who have come to know about not being shy about their aspirations of winning a championship went just 8-8 a year ago and missed the playoffs completely. Sanchez who has had his highs and lows in his first two seasons, statistically was okay, but has yet to make the monumental step in being the so-called leader the team needs. This past week, the team made a major acquisition of a guy that has become the “GCQB” [Good Christian Quarterback] of the NFL so far in his young career.
Back on Mar. 21, the Jets acquired from the Denver
Tebow was introduced at a press conference at the beginning of this week and it did not take long for him to understand the type of situation he is in as well as the kind of team he is a part of.
“I’m excited to be on a football team that’s a tough football team. That’s a physical football team and a football team that’s won a lot of games over the past few years,” Tebow said to the media when he was introduced this past Monday afternoon.
“When you watch the New York New York
While that has been true, the Jets also have something that they have not had in the last three seasons, an understudy who can challenge the lead for the starring role.
While Sanchez as aforementioned has been an okay signal caller, he has at times struggled. While he did throw a career-best 26 touchdowns as well as rush for six more, he threw 18 interceptions and lost eight of the 10 fumbles in 2011.
With Tebow in the fold now the question is if Sanchez struggles to consistently make the Jets offense work, well he if he does get pulled will he ever get the keys back?
“He’s here to help us and I’m confident in my abilities,” Sanchez, who was working out and throwing the football during the press conference, said in a conference call to WFAN radio station on Monday.
“I know the team feels the same way about me and they have belief in me. I’m the same guy that’s helped us win a lot of games here with a lot of great players around me.”
At the press conference Tebow, who orchestrated the 12-play 95-yard game-winning drive capped by his 20-yard rush to the end zone that helped his former team the Broncos beat the Jets 17-13 in their game Week 11 contest in Denver a year ago said that he and Sanchez are good friends and that they will be able to thrive together as teammates.
“We are going to have a great working relationship and I think we’ll have a lot of fun together,” Tebow said.
What are the Jets getting in Tim Tebow? Well they are getting a guy who came off the bench to help get the Broncos out of a 1-4 hole to a 7-4 finish compiling, which included six consecutive wins from Weeks 9 to 14 to lead the Broncos to an 8-8 record and their first AFC West crown since. During that six-game winning streak, Tebow orchestrated game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and/or overtime.
While his numbers for 2011 may not blow you away, 1,729 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, but just six interceptions, 660 rushing yards and six touchdowns, he has something more that earned him respect from his teammates at Florida, where he won two national championships and his Bronco teammates in his stint with Denver.
It is his will to win and his aforementioned ability to battle tough moments in a game. He has an amazing ability to battle, work and grind his way to the finish line. He also has the ability to inspire others and make them play to the kind of level necessary to constantly pull the rabbit out of the hat.
Along with the aforementioned game-winning drive that Tebow orchestrated that helped the Broncos beat the Jets in Week 11 of last season, the week before he completed just two passed at their rival the Kansas City Chiefs, but one of them was a 56-yard strike to wide receiver Eric Decker that ended up being the difference in Denver’s 17-10 win. The greatest game-winning drive of all that Tebow had a year ago was in the AFC Wild Card matchup versus the Pittsburgh New England Patriots 45-10.
There is no question that Tim Tebow is something very special. He has had his ups and downs in the early stages of his NFL career. He brings that so-called it factor to the table. The kind makes his teammates better and that allows him not to get to high when things are going well and not to low when things are difficult. With all of that being said, Broncos executive John Elway, who many consider one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time in the NFL said something very interesting about what he thinks of Tebow.
“He’s the one guy if I wanted someone to marry my daughter it would be him,” Elway said back on Mar. 21.
Just from that alone Tim Tebow while he was very popular in Denver and that he helped the Broncos get into the playoffs and win a playoff game was someone that the organization did not think was going to get them to the promise land and when they signed Peyton Manning the writing was clearly on the wall.
The question now is what will happen with Tebow here in the “Big Apple?” Well it can go one of two ways. He will start unless something happens as the team’s backup and if Sanchez should struggle he more than likely will get his chance and what he does with it is on his shoulders.
One is for sure, the Jets have another option to go to at the quarterback position this upcoming season that they did not have in the previous two. The team has something to prove, Sanchez has something to prove and again if he struggles, he knows that there is someone waiting in the wings to take his place. Tim Tebow, the “GCQB.”
Information, quotations and statistics are courtesy of 3/21/12 6 a.m. edition of Headline News’ “Morning Express” with Robin Meade, report from sports anchor Carlos Diaz; 3/26/12 5:30 p.m. of ESPN’s Bottom Line sport’s ticker; 3/26/12 6 p.m. edition of CBS 2 News with Dana Tyler, Chris Wragge, report from sports anchor Otis Livingston; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sanchez; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Denver_Broncos_season.
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