Ever since Tim
Tebow and the Denver Broncos came from behind for a victory in overtime against
the Miami Dolphins on October 23, 2011 there has been non-stop media coverage
of Tebow even though he is rated by many NFL analysts as a relatively average
quarterback. The question that has confused us for several months now is why is
the media so fascinated with him? Is it because of his publicly professed
strong religious faith, or the fact that he is perceived as a nice guy and as
such fans and the sports media have elevated him to superstar status. My partner
and I both share the same frustration that Tebow is in the media way too much.
A player with his stats as a football player should be considered as one of the
worst quarterbacks in the NFL. His completion rating that defines a top ten
quarterback, ranks him with the bottom ten quarterback in rate of completions
for the 2011 football season. Tim
Tebow’s completion rating in the 2011 NFL season was less than 50% at 46.5%,
compared to a quality quarterback who’s percentage rating is in the range of
60% or higher. When we compared where Mr. Tebow placed among quarterbacks in
the NFL in completion rating, we discovered that he had the worst completion
rate in the NFL. Even Blaine Gabbert, who is a rookie quarterback, who is
considered by many analysts to be a “bust” as a quarterback, had a higher
completion rating than Tebow at 50.8 %. (http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating).
We know that the completion rating
is not the only factor that determines whether a quarterback is successful or
not, there are other factors involved such as finding ways to win games by using
running plays and by making smart plays at the right time which definitely
defines a good quarterback from a mediocre one. But, if you want to win on a
consistent basis and have a long career as a professional quarterback in the
NFL you have to be able to complete passes on a regular basis. In today’s football era, the NFL is
considered a passing league. If you do not have a good passing completion rate,
you are not considered a good quarterback.
Finally, the over-hyped media
attention that Tim Tebow has received this past season has over-shadowed the
Supper Bowl MVP for 2012 Eli Maning, who because of the fixation on Tim Tebow
was the third most talked about quarterback (Mark Sanchez was the other
quarterback) in his own state of New York rather than receiving the attention
and recognition he deserved. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? It’s crazy
that the MVP of the 2012 Supper Bowl is considered an afterthought when
discussing quarterbacks in the NFL. (http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2012/04/eli_manning_jokes_hes_the_thir.html).
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