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NFL 2011

Tim Tebow is the football establishment’s worst nightmare.

From: Nate Jackson|Posted Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at 3:16 PM ET

To: Tommy Craggs and Stefan Fatsis

This NFL roundtable is a seasonlong partnership between Slate and Deadspin. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries. And click here to play the latest episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.

111025_SN_Tebow_EX.jpg.CROP.rectangle2-mediumsmall.jpg Denver's Tim Tebow passes during Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins.

Tommy, I'm going to spare everyone my X's and O's esoterica. And frankly, X's and O's are boring. I spent too many years zoning out on coaches, and, believe me, things would get more confusing, not less, if I started in on the chalkboard. I will say simply that Tim Tebow looked strikingly different from the quarterbacks we have grown accustomed to watching on television. He lacks those quarterback things that we love, or that we're conditioned to love by analysts such as Jon Gruden: tight footwork, efficient throwing motion, precision craftsmanship, pocket presence, predictability. Tebow is a study in the opposites: bad mechanics, slow delivery, happy feet, poor defensive-recognition abilities, wobbly balls.

Tebow is not a Jon Gruden kind of player. Sure, he might trumpet Tebow's competitiveness and his will to win and all those intangibles, but I'd bet that a large part of him is rooting for Tebow to fail. After all, a quarterback like Tebow is a living affront to that secret knowledge, possessed primarily by a fraternity of former coaches and players who now talk on TV for a living, of what it takes to succeed in the NFL. A successful Tebow is a quarterback who craps all over the conventional football wisdom, and this has the football world very afraid.

Once upon a time, fans were free to watch football games with their own eyes. They drew their own conclusions based on what they saw. (Remember this experiment?) They found their own heroes, and when they didn't—when the heroes came pre-made, via NFL Films—they at least saw the game from the players' vantage point. Now we are told by analysts what to look for and what we just saw. We are told why a team won and why a team lost. We are told who is in trouble and who is in the clear. And we are guided through the dark labyrinth of football chaos by voices we have learned to trust because of their football vocabulary and their service to the sport. They teach us a great deal, but they also teach us to think like coaches. They pretend to have answers for everything, and here they fail us.

Because when we run back the tape of any play, we can see the coverage and we can say: "Tim Tebow needs to see that blitzing Will linebacker and audible out of this play. Look at all of this room he has over here to work with. That's something that he's got to see if he's going to be a successful quarterback in this league." And there it is. This is what he has to do to be successful in this league. There is no way around it. This is what football must look like.

And this goes back to practice. Voices like Gruden's—I use Gruden as an example because I think of him as the gold standard of modern football punditry, and based on his contract extension, ESPN evidently agrees—were developed and refined at practice. Coaches believe that there is only one way to win in the NFL: execution. This word is beaten into the brains of NFLers over and over again. The quarterback must be the executor-in-chief. His job is to act out the dreams of his coach. He's the vessel; his coach jumps inside and operate from within. This is what gives coaches confidence going into a game. The more accurately their vision is enacted, the better they'll sleep at night in the run-up to games. So they script every play in every practice. Every scripted offensive practice play has a corresponding scripted defensive play that is designed to give the quarterback a look that he may see in the game. The goal of the coaching staff during game week is to script out every possible scenario versus every possible offensive play, so nothing comes as a surprise on game day.

But after all this obsessive preparation comes the chaos of Sunday. Surprises are bursting from every angle. The coach is helpless on the sideline. His head has split open, and bats are flying out. He is bleeding from the eyes. The game will unfold despite him, and after it is over, the coaches will race to their offices to watch it on film, confused by what has just taken place. They truly have no idea what happened until they view the tape. Then after the film viewing, everything makes sense again. They can figure out what went wrong and why. They will compile thorough notes to pass out to the players when they come back to work, and the players will be graded on their execution. The weekly cycle begins anew. It's a damned drag.

I am hoping and waiting for a brave coach to put in some plays called "Get Open" and "Throw to Whomever the Fvck You Want." Those plays will work. I'm sure of it. When things are right, there's a telekinesis on the football field that supersedes everything. I've felt it. And I've felt the triumph of flawless execution. I'll take the magic over the execution any day. The magic is Tim Tebow's milieu. The flawless execution is not.

Monday night's game between the Ravens and Jags was a perfect example of the limits of an execution-based offensive system. The Ravens, like every other NFL team, are full of dynamic athletes, but their offense looked like garbage against Jacksonville. Coach John Harbaugh rightly said after the game that it was the worst offensive performance he had ever seen. "It was a lack of execution," he said. But I watched the game. They were executing. They did exactly as coached: They ran the plays that were called, and they were hamstrung by the rigidity of their offense. When a play is called, the receiver runs it, even if the route plays into the defense's coverage. There is no flexibility within these systems. All any of those receivers had to do was break rank and run by one of those squatting corners and he would have been alone in the end zone. The Ravens needed to allow for a little magic.

Which leads me back around to Solomon Wilcots' comments and his praise for the ineffable virtues of Tebow. That's the thing, Craggs. We're all too smart for God these days, and to believe in Tim Tebow is to believe in God in a world that tells us God is an impossibility, and that Tim Tebow is a bad quarterback because a bunch of guys on television said so. Well, screw that. We need some new heroes.

So Stefan, who are your heroes? Tebow? Janikowski? Alfred M. Butts?

link: http://www.slate.com..._nightmare.html

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...and then the next five Super Bowls get won by QBs who stand in the pocket and spread the ball around to six different receivers as the stodgy old "football establishment" nods smugly. Meanwhile, the new-age thinkers quickly dispose of all the evidence they ever produced where they talked about how Randall Cunningham/Kordell Stewart/Doug Flutie/Tim Tebow/Mike Vick/etc/etc/etc were going to prove their haters wrong.

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...and then the next five Super Bowls get won by QBs who stand in the pocket and spread the ball around to six different receivers as the stodgy old "football establishment" nods smugly. Meanwhile, the new-age thinkers quickly dispose of all the evidence they ever produced where they talked about how Randall Cunningham/Kordell Stewart/Doug Flutie/Tim Tebow/Mike Vick/etc/etc/etc were going to prove their haters wrong.

lol.. had the same reaction, def read this article a few times in the past about other young qb's on short term luck walks

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NFL 2011

Tim Tebow is the football establishment’s worst nightmare.

From: Nate Jackson|Posted Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at 3:16 PM ET

To: Tommy Craggs and Stefan Fatsis

This NFL roundtable is a seasonlong partnership between Slate and Deadspin. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries. And click here to play the latest episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.

111025_SN_Tebow_EX.jpg.CROP.rectangle2-mediumsmall.jpg Denver's Tim Tebow passes during Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins.

Tommy, I'm going to spare everyone my X's and O's esoterica. And frankly, X's and O's are boring. I spent too many years zoning out on coaches, and, believe me, things would get more confusing, not less, if I started in on the chalkboard. I will say simply that Tim Tebow looked strikingly different from the quarterbacks we have grown accustomed to watching on television. He lacks those quarterback things that we love, or that we're conditioned to love by analysts such as Jon Gruden: tight footwork, efficient throwing motion, precision craftsmanship, pocket presence, predictability. Tebow is a study in the opposites: bad mechanics, slow delivery, happy feet, poor defensive-recognition abilities, wobbly balls.

Tebow is not a Jon Gruden kind of player. Sure, he might trumpet Tebow's competitiveness and his will to win and all those intangibles, but I'd bet that a large part of him is rooting for Tebow to fail. After all, a quarterback like Tebow is a living affront to that secret knowledge, possessed primarily by a fraternity of former coaches and players who now talk on TV for a living, of what it takes to succeed in the NFL. A successful Tebow is a quarterback who craps all over the conventional football wisdom, and this has the football world very afraid.

Once upon a time, fans were free to watch football games with their own eyes. They drew their own conclusions based on what they saw. (Remember this experiment?) They found their own heroes, and when they didn't—when the heroes came pre-made, via NFL Films—they at least saw the game from the players' vantage point. Now we are told by analysts what to look for and what we just saw. We are told why a team won and why a team lost. We are told who is in trouble and who is in the clear. And we are guided through the dark labyrinth of football chaos by voices we have learned to trust because of their football vocabulary and their service to the sport. They teach us a great deal, but they also teach us to think like coaches. They pretend to have answers for everything, and here they fail us.

Because when we run back the tape of any play, we can see the coverage and we can say: "Tim Tebow needs to see that blitzing Will linebacker and audible out of this play. Look at all of this room he has over here to work with. That's something that he's got to see if he's going to be a successful quarterback in this league." And there it is. This is what he has to do to be successful in this league. There is no way around it. This is what football must look like.

And this goes back to practice. Voices like Gruden's—I use Gruden as an example because I think of him as the gold standard of modern football punditry, and based on his contract extension, ESPN evidently agrees—were developed and refined at practice. Coaches believe that there is only one way to win in the NFL: execution. This word is beaten into the brains of NFLers over and over again. The quarterback must be the executor-in-chief. His job is to act out the dreams of his coach. He's the vessel; his coach jumps inside and operate from within. This is what gives coaches confidence going into a game. The more accurately their vision is enacted, the better they'll sleep at night in the run-up to games. So they script every play in every practice. Every scripted offensive practice play has a corresponding scripted defensive play that is designed to give the quarterback a look that he may see in the game. The goal of the coaching staff during game week is to script out every possible scenario versus every possible offensive play, so nothing comes as a surprise on game day.

But after all this obsessive preparation comes the chaos of Sunday. Surprises are bursting from every angle. The coach is helpless on the sideline. His head has split open, and bats are flying out. He is bleeding from the eyes. The game will unfold despite him, and after it is over, the coaches will race to their offices to watch it on film, confused by what has just taken place. They truly have no idea what happened until they view the tape. Then after the film viewing, everything makes sense again. They can figure out what went wrong and why. They will compile thorough notes to pass out to the players when they come back to work, and the players will be graded on their execution. The weekly cycle begins anew. It's a damned drag.

I am hoping and waiting for a brave coach to put in some plays called "Get Open" and "Throw to Whomever the Fvck You Want." Those plays will work. I'm sure of it. When things are right, there's a telekinesis on the football field that supersedes everything. I've felt it. And I've felt the triumph of flawless execution. I'll take the magic over the execution any day. The magic is Tim Tebow's milieu. The flawless execution is not.

Monday night's game between the Ravens and Jags was a perfect example of the limits of an execution-based offensive system. The Ravens, like every other NFL team, are full of dynamic athletes, but their offense looked like garbage against Jacksonville. Coach John Harbaugh rightly said after the game that it was the worst offensive performance he had ever seen. "It was a lack of execution," he said. But I watched the game. They were executing. They did exactly as coached: They ran the plays that were called, and they were hamstrung by the rigidity of their offense. When a play is called, the receiver runs it, even if the route plays into the defense's coverage. There is no flexibility within these systems. All any of those receivers had to do was break rank and run by one of those squatting corners and he would have been alone in the end zone. The Ravens needed to allow for a little magic.

Which leads me back around to Solomon Wilcots' comments and his praise for the ineffable virtues of Tebow. That's the thing, Craggs. We're all too smart for God these days, and to believe in Tim Tebow is to believe in God in a world that tells us God is an impossibility, and that Tim Tebow is a bad quarterback because a bunch of guys on television said so. Well, screw that. We need some new heroes.

So Stefan, who are your heroes? Tebow? Janikowski? Alfred M. Butts?

link: http://www.slate.com..._nightmare.html

And somewhere Bill Walsh rolls in his grave.

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...and then the next five Super Bowls get won by QBs who stand in the pocket and spread the ball around to six different receivers as the stodgy old "football establishment" nods smugly. Meanwhile, the new-age thinkers quickly dispose of all the evidence they ever produced where they talked about how Randall Cunningham/Kordell Stewart/Doug Flutie/Tim Tebow/Mike Vick/etc/etc/etc were going to prove their haters wrong.

What's next? You will tell us that Billy Beane isn't the best baseball guru ever?

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I got a kick out of it more for knocking Gruden than building up Tebow.

Gruden is totally out of his mind. I think its more him trying to have something to say and he puts his foot in his mouth rather than him being an actual idiot. he is a true character

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You know what, I'm just gonna call this the way I see it. Vick, Young, Russell, Newton, Culpepper, McNabb, McNair, etc.. ALL had to endure constant criticism when they came out of college about how their game would never translate in the NFL. They weren't smart enough to read defenses, had poor mechanics, etc. It was always a foregone conclusion that either they learn to play the QB position the way it conforms in the NFL or they would fail. Now we get a white, religious, boy next door guy who also has terrible mechanics, horrible at reading defenses, pretty much terrible at everything besides running the ball and he's given the benefit of the doubt because he's a "winner"? It's total BS and frankly it's insulting to all the black QB's who were just as much "winners" in college, yet they are immediately handicapped as potential busts.

Bottom line, Tebow is not nearly the complete QB that Cam Newton is or any of the guys I mentioned above. All of those guys could pretty much run as well as Tebow, and ALL of them were better in their footwork and mechanics. Even Vince Young's delivery is better than that Byron Leftwich wanna be windup of Tebow's. And speaking of Leftwich, at least he threw spirals. I'm sorry but IMO the Tebow lovefest across the nation sends the message that white=presumed winner, black=potential bust.

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Monday night's game between the Ravens and Jags was a perfect example of the limits of an execution-based offensive system. The Ravens, like every other NFL team, are full of dynamic athletes, but their offense looked like garbage against Jacksonville. Coach John Harbaugh rightly said after the game that it was the worst offensive performance he had ever seen. "It was a lack of execution," he said. But I watched the game. They were executing. They did exactly as coached: They ran the plays that were called, and they were hamstrung by the rigidity of their offense. When a play is called, the receiver runs it, even if the route plays into the defense's coverage. There is no flexibility within these systems. All any of those receivers had to do was break rank and run by one of those squatting corners and he would have been alone in the end zone. The Ravens needed to allow for a little magic.

I dislike Brian Schottenheimer as much as anyone else out there, but this paragraph was about as hard to get through as the scene in 127 Hours where Franco drank his own piss.

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I dislike Brian Schottenheimer as much as anyone else out there, but this paragraph was about as hard to get through as the scene in 127 Hours where Franco drank his own piss.

Or as hard as it was to watch 127 Hours.

You know what, I'm just gonna call this the way I see it. Vick, Young, Russell, Newton, Culpepper, McNabb, McNair, etc.. ALL had to endure constant criticism when they came out of college about how their game would never translate in the NFL. They weren't smart enough to read defenses, had poor mechanics, etc. It was always a foregone conclusion that either they learn to play the QB position the way it conforms in the NFL or they would fail. Now we get a white, religious, boy next door guy who also has terrible mechanics, horrible at reading defenses, pretty much terrible at everything besides running the ball and he's given the benefit of the doubt because he's a "winner"? It's total BS and frankly it's insulting to all the black QB's who were just as much "winners" in college, yet they are immediately handicapped as potential busts.

Bottom line, Tebow is not nearly the complete QB that Cam Newton is or any of the guys I mentioned above. All of those guys could pretty much run as well as Tebow, and ALL of them were better in their footwork and mechanics. Even Vince Young's delivery is better than that Byron Leftwich wanna be windup of Tebow's. And speaking of Leftwich, at least he threw spirals. I'm sorry but IMO the Tebow lovefest across the nation sends the message that white=presumed winner, black=potential bust.

Awesome post.

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You know what, I'm just gonna call this the way I see it. Vick, Young, Russell, Newton, Culpepper, McNabb, McNair, etc.. ALL had to endure constant criticism when they came out of college about how their game would never translate in the NFL. They weren't smart enough to read defenses, had poor mechanics, etc. It was always a foregone conclusion that either they learn to play the QB position the way it conforms in the NFL or they would fail. Now we get a white, religious, boy next door guy who also has terrible mechanics, horrible at reading defenses, pretty much terrible at everything besides running the ball and he's given the benefit of the doubt because he's a "winner"? It's total BS and frankly it's insulting to all the black QB's who were just as much "winners" in college, yet they are immediately handicapped as potential busts.

Bottom line, Tebow is not nearly the complete QB that Cam Newton is or any of the guys I mentioned above. All of those guys could pretty much run as well as Tebow, and ALL of them were better in their footwork and mechanics. Even Vince Young's delivery is better than that Byron Leftwich wanna be windup of Tebow's. And speaking of Leftwich, at least he threw spirals. I'm sorry but IMO the Tebow lovefest across the nation sends the message that white=presumed winner, black=potential bust

Throw in uber-religious homoerotic icon and you'd have all the Tea Party staples.

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You know what, I'm just gonna call this the way I see it. Vick, Young, Russell, Newton, Culpepper, McNabb, McNair, etc.. ALL had to endure constant criticism when they came out of college about how their game would never translate in the NFL. They weren't smart enough to read defenses, had poor mechanics, etc. It was always a foregone conclusion that either they learn to play the QB position the way it conforms in the NFL or they would fail. Now we get a white, religious, boy next door guy who also has terrible mechanics, horrible at reading defenses, pretty much terrible at everything besides running the ball and he's given the benefit of the doubt because he's a "winner"? It's total BS and frankly it's insulting to all the black QB's who were just as much "winners" in college, yet they are immediately handicapped as potential busts.

Bottom line, Tebow is not nearly the complete QB that Cam Newton is or any of the guys I mentioned above. All of those guys could pretty much run as well as Tebow, and ALL of them were better in their footwork and mechanics. Even Vince Young's delivery is better than that Byron Leftwich wanna be windup of Tebow's. And speaking of Leftwich, at least he threw spirals. I'm sorry but IMO the Tebow lovefest across the nation sends the message that white=presumed winner, black=potential bust.

Wait, you're serious?

1 article from dead spin of all places and it erases the constant criticism that Tebow gets from EVERYONE that he's not a NFL caliber starter because of all the things you mentioned? And you pulled the race card.

I'll just say wow.

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Wait, you're serious?

1 article from dead spin of all places and it erases the constant criticism that Tebow gets from EVERYONE that he's not a NFL caliber starter because of all the things you mentioned? And you pulled the race card.

I'll just say wow.

That was the best part.

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You know what, I'm just gonna call this the way I see it. Vick, Young, Russell, Newton, Culpepper, McNabb, McNair, etc.. ALL had to endure constant criticism when they came out of college about how their game would never translate in the NFL. They weren't smart enough to read defenses, had poor mechanics, etc. It was always a foregone conclusion that either they learn to play the QB position the way it conforms in the NFL or they would fail. Now we get a white, religious, boy next door guy who also has terrible mechanics, horrible at reading defenses, pretty much terrible at everything besides running the ball and he's given the benefit of the doubt because he's a "winner"? It's total BS and frankly it's insulting to all the black QB's who were just as much "winners" in college, yet they are immediately handicapped as potential busts.

Bottom line, Tebow is not nearly the complete QB that Cam Newton is or any of the guys I mentioned above. All of those guys could pretty much run as well as Tebow, and ALL of them were better in their footwork and mechanics. Even Vince Young's delivery is better than that Byron Leftwich wanna be windup of Tebow's. And speaking of Leftwich, at least he threw spirals. I'm sorry but IMO the Tebow lovefest across the nation sends the message that white=presumed winner, black=potential bust.

Dear Lord, why is it always about color? Why can't it be about the old guard refusing to beleive in the "running" qb? And put me in that camp too. Running QB's have health issues. Always have.

Plus, hate to break it to you, but there is more Tebow hate, than Tebow love. I like the kid because he seems like a good, genuine kid. Some people hate him because he's a good, genuine kid....who happens to be a sh*tty qb. Honestly, I have never seen more analyst just level a guy more than they have Tebow. Plus, Newton is well on his way to rookie of the year and analyst fall over themselves in praising him.

I just love it when people pick and choose things to fit their argument, regardless of the facts. This isn't black or white.....actually, I think it's more of a "he's got lousy mechanics and loves G-d too much" thing - and I'm talking about Tebow. Interestingly enough....a black QB thanks G-d, praises G-d, etc.....cool and accepted.....a white QB does it.....effin' Tebow! Who does he think he is? Fooball Jesus?

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Dear Lord, why is it always about color? Why can't it be about the old guard refusing to beleiving in the "running" qb? And put me in that camp too. Running QB's have health issues. Always have.

Plus, hate to break it to you, but there is more Tebow hate, than Tebow love. I like the kid because he seems like a good, genuine kid. Some people hate him because he's a good, genuine kid....who happens to be a sh*tty qb. Honestly, I have never seen more analyst just level a guy more than they have Tebow.

Exactly. Tebow might have a lot of supporters and fans, but there are more doubters from the "expert" community than I've ever seen toward a player. I mean down right nasty toward his inability to play the position.

And one dead spin article suddenly changes that so Boozer pulls the race card?

Again, wow, is all I can say.

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Exactly. Tebow might have a lot of supporters and fans, but there are more doubters from the "expert" community than I've ever seen toward a player. I mean down right nasty toward his inability to play the position.

And one dead spin article suddenly changes that so Boozer pulls the race card?

Again, wow, is all I can say.

Cam Newton.

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Cam Newton.

I challenge you to find anyone disparaging Cam Newton now. Unlike Tebow who was disparaged then and now.

I hate when people pull the race card in football. If anything, football is one of the most colorblind places in the world.

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Dear Lord, why is it always about color? Why can't it be about the old guard refusing to beleiving in the "running" qb? And put me in that camp too. Running QB's have health issues. Always have.

Plus, hate to break it to you, but there is more Tebow hate, than Tebow love. I like the kid because he seems like a good, genuine kid. Some people hate him because he's a good, genuine kid....who happens to be a sh*tty qb.

That's where I stopped reading. No one hates Tebow because he is a good, genuine kid. That's a complete load of BS.

I don't hate Tebow as a person at all and I don't see anyone citicizing him for his religious beliefs. I think he's a great kid and an outstanding role model. I just think he's a sh*tty QB. The two things are mutually exclusive.

I hate Tebow lovers who act like you just called the kid a child molester who rapes puppies when you say his throwing motion sucks.

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That's where I stopped reading. No one hates Tebow because he is a good, genuine kid. That's a complete load of BS.

I don't hate Tebow as a person at all and I don't see anyone citicizing him for his religious beliefs. I think he's a great kid and an outstanding role model. I just think he's a sh*tty QB. The two things are mutually exclusive.

I hate Tebow lovers who act like you just called the kid a child molester who rapes puppies when you say his throwing motion sucks.

I'm not a Floridian, so I will defer to you....but I see a gazillion things written and tweeted about the kid and all of it is about his religion and his skill sets....I'd say it's a 50-50 split.

You know, if you want to take this argument into the stratosphere.....Wes Welker - who leads the league in receptions and yards - could not possibly be a top wide-out because, well.....he's short.....and he's a slot guy mostly.....and it's the system....and he's white.

There, I went there (just for arguments sake, people).

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I'm not a Floridian, so I will defer to you....but I see a gazillion things written and tweeted about the kid and all of it is about his religion and his skill sets....I'd say it's a 50-50 split.

You know, if you want to take this argument into the stratosphere.....Wes Welker - who leads the league in receptions and yards - could not possibly be a top wide-out because, well.....he's short.....and he's a slot guy mostly.....and it's the system....and he's white.

There, I went there (just for arguments sake, people).

:face:

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You know what, I'm just gonna call this the way I see it. Vick, Young, Russell, Newton, Culpepper, McNabb, McNair, etc.. ALL had to endure constant criticism when they came out of college about how their game would never translate in the NFL. They weren't smart enough to read defenses, had poor mechanics, etc. It was always a foregone conclusion that either they learn to play the QB position the way it conforms in the NFL or they would fail. Now we get a white, religious, boy next door guy who also has terrible mechanics, horrible at reading defenses, pretty much terrible at everything besides running the ball and he's given the benefit of the doubt because he's a "winner"? It's total BS and frankly it's insulting to all the black QB's who were just as much "winners" in college, yet they are immediately handicapped as potential busts.

Bottom line, Tebow is not nearly the complete QB that Cam Newton is or any of the guys I mentioned above. All of those guys could pretty much run as well as Tebow, and ALL of them were better in their footwork and mechanics. Even Vince Young's delivery is better than that Byron Leftwich wanna be windup of Tebow's. And speaking of Leftwich, at least he threw spirals. I'm sorry but IMO the Tebow lovefest across the nation sends the message that white=presumed winner, black=potential bust.

Post of the year.

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I challenge you to find anyone disparaging Cam Newton now. Unlike Tebow who was disparaged then and now.

I hate when people pull the race card in football. If anything, football is one of the most colorblind places in the world.

Cam Newton was blasted, BLASTED before the draft. There were analysts and fans who actually felt that CAR drafted him with more of an intent to sell jerseys and put themselves on the map over building a winning team. How's THAT for insulting?? Let's face it, if Tim Tebow is a black, non religious QB with the same resume and skillset there would be no push at all. In fact, we'd probably be wondering how he would transition to TE.

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Exactly. Tebow might have a lot of supporters and fans, but there are more doubters from the "expert" community than I've ever seen toward a player. I mean down right nasty toward his inability to play the position.

That's kind of the point though. Guys like Newton, Vick, Culpepper, McNabb, Young, all experienced similar degrees of negativity towards their ability to play from a technical standpoint, but none experienced the same level of masses dying for them to succeed sans their alma maters. Can't say the same for Tebow at all. It's not lame to claim that race, religion, or both, plays a part in that. The majority of this country is white and Christian, that factors into enough mobilizations in itself, it certainly has the ability to carry into the sports realm.

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