Posted by Will Brinson Some folks wore No. 15 Broncos jerseys. Some wore Florida tees. Some did Gator chomps. All of them cheered when Tim Tebow entered the game with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter of the Broncos - Bengals preseason game Sunday night.
There was good reason to cheer, too: Tebow went 8/13 for 105 yards, 0 interceptions, 0 TDs (passing), and two rushing attempts for 10 yards and a TD.
Not a mind-blowing collection of statistics, but certainly something that's worth talking further about. Why? BECAUSE IT'S TIM TEBOW, DUH. And because we've all been so quick to dismiss the possibility that he could succeed at the NFL level. And because we've all been so quick to dismiss the 2010 Broncos. And because it's Tim Tebow, duh.
On the first series -- a three-and-out -- Tebow nearly went up top to Matt Willis on third and five, but the UCLA product dropped the ball near the sidelines and the Broncos punted.
The second series was similar -- also a three-and-out -- as Tebow took a shot downfield to Willis again on third and four, but his pass was off the mark and nearly intercepted.
Nothing that remarkable, but nothing that disappointing -- Willis absolutely should have caught the first ball which would have padded his stats, but those things happen.
Then, on Tebow's third series, the kid saw a lot of pressure. The Bengals brought extra men on first down (an incomplete pass to Alric Arnett), a standard rush that nearly got to Tebow on second down (a six-yard dumpoff to Bruce Hall), and extra men on third down (a 21-yard strike to Arnett on third-and-four).
Tebow got "sacked" while trying to scramble out to the right on the next play. Of course, it wasn't a huge hit ... particularly in comparison to what happened next: Tebow took a snap out of shotgun and didn't see the Bengals bring a cornerback and a safety on a blitz and he got absolutely ROCKED while tucking the ball/throwing the ball.
As you can guess, a defensive touchdown resulted, though it was eventually overturned on a Josh McDaniels challenge. One aborted fourth down later, the Bengals took back over.
Fortunately for Broncos fans, Tebow got a shot at a last-minute touchdown run. That resulted in a pair of passes (one a 17-yard screen, one a 7-yard dump-off) to Hall. Tebow then hit Marquez Branson for a 7-yarder across the middle before nailing Davis on a 33-yard laser as he rolled out to the right.
Yes, Davis got out of bounds, and yes, all of this happened in less than a minute. The next attempt to Branson in the end zone was incomplete, but only by a little bit -- it was eventually challenged.
Fortunately, the incomplete pass was upheld, because we got to see Tebow's first touchdown as an NFL player come in the form of a run, which, as Pete Prisco said on Twitter, was completely appropriate.
It's a run you'll see for the next few days over-and-over again, because Tebow took a pair of hits at the goal line diving in for the score. And it's a play that kind of epitomizes how he plays the game. (Read: Hate him all you want, but he hustles his ass off and is more than willing to sacrifice his body on the goalline for a preseason touchdown.)
Given the way that Brady Quinn played on Saturday -- 6/16 for 68 yards and an interception; that actually looks nicer in print than Quinn did on the field -- don't be shocked if you see Tebow jumps him on the depth chart.
Not only did Tebow look substantially better on the field anyway, but locking in Quinn as the No. 3 quarterback and having Tebow play the backup would make McDaniels' activation decisions on Sundays significantly easier.
From what I saw in the Broncos game, it's not even much of a choice right now.
But maybe I'm just a simple cock-eyed optimistic (a la Billy Mumphrey) who gets excited at seeing Tebow succeed. After all, he did his damage against the Bengals' third-teamers (while getting rocked by some of the second-teamers) and he did have issues with his mechanics, in terms of being able to get passes off quickly.
If his instinctive action when he's faced with heavy pressure from NFL defenses is to extend his throwing motion, life will be a disaster. But he'll also learn to read pro defenses better as time goes on, giving him more time/less surprises.
Which means the Broncos might have something nice on their hands after all.
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