Please Hire Tim Tebow - Week 6

I have to be honest with you. I was pretty sure that Tebow would be a first, second, or even third string quarterback with some NFL team by now. It's week six; there are three winless teams in the league. There are four one-win teams in the league. That's seven teams that basically have stunk it up so far this year.

I've heard all the arguments. I've had Tebow's NFL stats thrown in my face. I've been kicked around like Cinderella in a house full of step-sisters. But I'm getting back up and I'm stating for the record - again - that I believe Tim Tebow can be a quarterback in the NFL. I don't blame him if he retires and goes on to lead his life completely for the cause of Christ. But I believe that Tim has the talent, ability, maturity and leadership to be an NFL quarterback.

So sue me.

Jacksonville Jaguars: The Jags put up a fight in Denver yesterday. But I don't think anyone seriously gave them a chance...not even Jimmy Johnson.

WARNING: Jimmy uses a crass term to describe Jacksonville's collective derrieres

Maybe the Jags need to hire Johnson as their new head coach?

In an interview last week, Jaguars owner Shahid Khan admitted that it would take more than Tim Tebow to turn around the on-field fortunes of his NFL franchise. But at least he's not saying, "No," anymore.

Honestly, while I think that Jacksonville makes the most sense geographically for Tebow, it would likely be the worst possible destination for him as a jumping off point for resurrecting his career. Unless the team was fully committed to him and ready to tailor their offense around him, it's likely Tebow would have little more success than the quarterbacks they have today.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Mike Glennon showed a little spark yesterday as well. The Bucs new starter is still 0-for the season but he did score twice yesterday with both touchdown passes going to to Vincent Jackson. Glennon's stats were a respectable 26 of 43 for 273 yards with those two TDs and 1 interception. He was also sacked twice. Is this what the Bucs want going forward? Will the Glazers be content to win moral victories every week or is it becoming a race against Jacksonville for the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft?

Glennon goes down against the Eagles on October 13, 2013

Looking over Mr. Glennon's stats while quarterback at North Carolina State, I don't think you can compare them to what Tebow achieved at Florida. I know that college and the NFL are light years apart, but I still prefer Tebow with the Bucs over any of their current options. There are a lot of things to recommend this match...I hope it happens.

New York Giants: I don't think anyone predicted this. If you look at the passing stats for Eli Manning it's not terrible at first. He's near the top for yardage, completing 123 of 229 (53.7%) passes for 1,721 yards. It's the next stats that are horrifying: 9 touchdowns against 15 interceptions and 16 sacks. I don't think Tim Tebow is the answer in New York. Frankly, I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe this is just the Giant's typical terrible start to the season and they'll win out from here?

Long shots...

If not the Bucs or the Jags, then where? There are some other teams who are struggling as we wrap up week 6 of the 2013 NFL season.

Oakland Raiders: The Raiders have entered the conversation before but that was before everyone (but me) started jumping on the Tyrelle Pryor bandwagon. I don't know that you can hang their loss to the Chiefs yesterday on Pryor alone; football is a team sport. Offsetting his better than 50% completion rate and a touchdown in the second quarter were 3 interceptions and 10 - TEN! - sacks. Swap out the name Pryor with Tebow and tell me the prognosticating public would not be calling for Tebow's head if he had that kind of performance. In fact, I challenge you to go and find an NFL game in which Tebow has played where he was that bad. Go ahead...I'll wait.

Mommy!

Minnesota Vikings: I can't dog pile the Vikes today, I just can't. Cam Newton played out of his mind and AP was hurting over the death of his son. It didn't help that Matt Cassel played like he did, well, last year in Kansas City, but we'll see where the Vikings go from here. They've signed Josh Freeman off of waivers from the Bucs so I expect we may see Josh on the field next Monday night against the Giants.

Houston Texans: I'll be honest. I don't know squat about what's going on in Texas other than the fans were cheering...cheering...when Matt Schaub went down hurt. The Texans have some playmakers but I think coach Gary Kubiak may be more concerned with saving his job than bringing in a new QB project.

Apparently the lack of contact from potential NFL suitors is not causing Tim Tebow to sit around, wring his hands, and wait for the phone to ring. Reports are he was enjoying some family time in Hawaii. By all accounts he still looks to be in pretty good shape although I suspect it would take him at least a couple of weeks to be at anywhere near game shape/speed.

Still, at least for the Jaguars and Buccaneers at least, I'm thinking it would be worth the wait.

What do you think?

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Please Hire Tim Tebow - Week 3

Week three of the 2013 NFL season is nearly in the books and Tim Tebow remains unemployed. Despite intriguing offers from Satan's own Arena League team in LA and a (ba) bush (ka) league team in Moscow, my favorite Florida Gator is still riding the ultimate quarterback pine.

So what would-be opportunities are out there this week for Mr. Tebow despite all the haters? Week three was just another great example of why I shouldn't play Fantasy Football. I am consoling myself with the fact that I never play in paid leagues. I have an aversion to funding other people's good times when I'm being kicked like a Ray Finkle field goal attempt.

LACES OUT!

Over the first couple of weeks this season, there have been some pretty clear front-runners in the Tim Tebow sweepstakes. Let's take a look at whether those franchises should continue to have Tebow's agent on speed dial...

Jacksonville Jaguars:

The hags...I'm sorry...the Jags travelled north by northwest to play in the new 12th Man kingdom known as Centurylink Field. I know this stadium more from watching the Seattle Sounders MLS team but it's every bit as hostile toward opposing NFL franchises when the Seahawks are in town. This game went pretty much according to script. Backup QB Chad Henne had an even worse day than last week with a sub-50% completion percentage and two interceptions. Chad did manage to recover his own fumble but was also sacked four times. Jacksonville eked out a late score on a Jones-Drew 2-yard carry but that didn't take the sting out of the final score: 45-17 Seahawks.

Shhh! Don't tell anyone but we want Tebow!

Oakland Raiders:

A number of people disagree with me on this one. The Raiders play Peyton Manning and the Denver TD Passes, er, I mean Broncos, tonight. We'll have to wait and see how they do. Oakland still has Terrelle Pryor managing their meager offense but I guess if they keep winning...

Cleveland Browns:

What in the world? With the week's most amazing player personnel move in trading Trent Richardson to the Colts, the Cleveland Browns had become the first team entered into the 2014 NFL Overall First Draft Pick sweepstakes. Cleveland had so much as announced, "We give up!"

Apparently no one told Brian Hoyer and Jordan Cameron, who combined for three touchdowns, including the game winner with 51 seconds left. While that throws a monkey wrench in my Tebow to Cleveland campaign, it definitely creates a new entry on the potential candidate list.

Minnesota Vikings:

Christian Ponder may not be the cause of the Vikings starting 0-3 this year but when Minnesota scores three rushing touchdowns and two of them are by Ponder...something isn't quite right. Tebow may not be the answer as long as Ponder continues to run for his life, but the former Purple People Eaters bear some watching.

Teams you would have previously thought were as far from even thinking about Tim Tebow as the Sun is from the Earth...

New York Giants:

What the what? Who has the most Super Bowl MVP trophies in the last six years? If you said Eli Manning, go to the head of the class. The Giants are 0-3 and if no one is panicking in New York yet, it may start getting a little jittery in the Big Apple very soon. New York is extremely impatient with its sports teams and is the poster sports city for the, "What have you won for us lately?" mentality. Manning can't all of a sudden begin to stink overnight, but he is 32 and he has more interceptions (8) than touchdowns (5) in this young season and has been sacked 11 times. How sweet would it be for Tebow to return to New York and lead the G-Men to the playoffs? Take that J-E-T-S Jets!

Washington Redskins:

Robert Griffin III was supposed to be the next big thing in the NFL. Washington banked everything on his amazing skills. Supposedly he was (and is) everything Tebow isn't - basically someone with all the running skills of Tebow but who could actually - and accurately - throw the rock. Griffin's numbers aren't as startling as Manning's, but the 'Skins are also 0-3 and with RGIII coming off major, major knee surgery, his issues could be just  rust and having to work his way back into football shape, getting re-acclimated to the speed of the game. Still...

The worst of the rest:

It could happen...

There are a couple of other 0-3 teams out there who never would've entered the Tebow discussion a few weeks ago: The Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I honestly see no way Big Ben Roethlisberger gets pulled in Pittsburgh but I could totally see Tebow being given a shot in Tampa. It would be a friendly environment, being just down the road from Gainesville, and in Greg Schiano they have an ex-college coach who has shown a flair for the unusual since coming to the NFL. Despite the fact that Schiano endorsed Josh Freeman today as his QB, if Freeman continues to post the big L, who knows?

I still believe Jacksonville makes the most sense for Tebow. It would ostensibly show the fans that the team has not completely given up on the season, or them. But as a long-time resident of Tampa who endured the bad old days from the get-go in 1976, I'd love to see Tim come to town.

What do you think?

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Eli and the Beanstalk

I'm a sports fan and a writer. I sit at home or at work after a big game and want a recap of the action on the Internet right after the game. Trying to do something like that gives me a whole new respect for journalists who have to put out a meaningful, accurate article immediately after an event.

The Super Bowl is over. Eli Manning and the Giants beat Tom Brady and the Patriots...again. I have to say that this is one of the best Super Bowls I've watched in years - the game was literally a nail-biter. Eli Manning, the Giants quarterback scored a nice trophy and an even nicer looking centennial edition Corvette convertible as the MVP.

New England led for most of the second half after taking the lead 10-9 at the end of the first half on a Tom Brady touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez (which was cool, because Hernandez played his college ball at Florida).

But the Giants hung in there and played their hearts out. With 3:45 left and 88 yards to go for a touchdown, the Giants got the ball back, needing at least a field goal to take the lead. On the first play of the drive, Manningham made a stupendous catch down the sideline as Manning dropped a beautiful ball in over his shoulder for a 38 yard gain. Honestly? I think that was the play of the game.

Building off of that, the Giants completed two more passes – one each to Manningham and Nicks to get inside the Patriots 30 yard line.

With 1^st and goal at the Patriots 7, New England called time-out with a minute and twenty-four seconds left. Trying to run out the clock, Manning handed off to Bradshaw, who had a hole big enough to drive a (Chevy) truck through and was so surprised, he couldn't kneel before he crossed the goal line – thus running out the clock. As a result, the Patriots got the ball back with 57 seconds left and the Giants leading 21-17; to win the game was simple - New England needed a touchdown.

It didn't happen.

I think we'll see more of the Patriots in the future but for now, the Giants and Eli Manning, who won this Super Bowl in what is called the House That Peyton Built (in reference to Eli's brother Peyton and the stellar career he's had at the Indianapolis Colts and their home: Lucas Oil Stadium), are champions.

Of course, it wouldn't be the Super Bowl without the commercials.

I know I missed a few of them, but I counted roughly eighty (80) commercials. A thirty-second slot on this year's Super Bowl cost in the neighborhood of $3.5 million. If I'm doing the math right, that's a whopping $280 million in commercial revenue alone. But enough about that, let's get to the ads.

My votes for the top three 2012 Super Bowl commercials:

1. Matthew Broderick's Day Off: A clever play off of Broderick's iconic role in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Matthew (and the viewer) would really rather call in sick and drive their Honda CRV.



2. Doritos - There were a couple of very good commercials from Doritos - the snack my doctor says I can't eat anymore (high sodium, don't you know). But I picked this one because, well, I'm a dog person.



3. With over eighty commercials to choose from, it's hard to pick just three but the one that really stood out for the number three spot was an ad that Chevrolet called, "Joy." Basically, the owner of a new Chevy Sonic is going for a drive and the local insect population wants to go for a (joy) ride, too. this one got me, ahem, right in the thorax...


Of course, there were a lot of terrible commercials, too. And a lot of commercials that were good, but would never get me to buy their products...if I could figure out what they were selling. With my top three picks, it's crystal clear what each company is selling; the ads are very creative and well produced. And of course, they're all funny...at least to me.

But that's the beauty of this thing we call Super Bowl commercials: everyone has their own opinions. I'd love to hear yours!

What do you think?

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