DENVER, CO – Tim Tebow is awful. But despite posting embarrassingly bad stats game after game, he just keeps winning. Why? Is it because God loves him more? Is it because he “knows how to win,” whatever the hell that means? Or is he just plain lucky?
In my view, the man’s a Luck Box. Let me explain.
While Tebow is now 7-1 at quarterback for the Broncos, it has not come against elite competition. Of the eight teams he’s faced, half have a winning record. One of them, the Detroit Lions, savaged the Broncos in Denver, handing Tebow his only loss. The other “winners” on this slate are the banged-up Bears and over achieving Raiders (both 7-6), and the 8-5 Jets, who can’t seem to win on the road; they lost in Denver of course. The rest of the teams? Garbage.
And so thus far, Tim Tebow has racked up his victories against teams with a combined record of 39-52. Meanwhile, Kyle Orton went 1-4 to start the season, but every team he faced, including the one he beat (Cincinnati), all now have winning records. In fact, they’re all either in the playoffs or still alive, and sport a combined record of 33-25.
Now, one could rightly point out that Denver lost to Oakland and San Diego when Orton was at the helm, while they beat those same teams when Tebow was running the show. But that leads us to another important factor in explaining the Buckin’ Broncos’ recent success: the defense has come together and is now playing much better. So for example, they gave up 29 points to San Diego the first time around, but only 13 when The Chosen One was leading God’s Army.
During Orton’s reign, Denver gave up 28 points per game on average. But during Tebow’s era of aerial wizardry, they’ve given up 15 points or less four times.
The defense has kept Denver in games, which it did not do when Orton was quarterbacking. And as we all know, solid D and a good running game will give a mediocre team (which is what the Broncos are) a chance to win most of the time. But not all the time. Ergo the 45-10 thumping at home to Detroit. And I strongly suspect another dismemberment is on tap for this week. The New England Patriots still boast one of the league’s elite offenses, averaging over 30 points per game.
So, can Denver exploit the Pats’ shoddy D and keep pace in a high scoring match, they way they did against the now 2-11 Vikings? Probably not. New England’s soft spot is pass defense. Running just won’t get it done. I smell a blowout.
More interesting to me, however, is the playoffs. If they began today, Denver would host the Pittsburgh Steelers. Watchout. Me and Cookie in a steel cage mud wrestling death match.
Stay tuned. Cheesy Bruin hits it tomorrow.
