Why a Lower Standard?

All season long you have read my articles, either here or at StateoftheSport.com, in which I question the effectiveness of Tim Tebow as a QB in the NFL.  I wrote those articles in the hope that people would learn to look past the hype and see the reality.  The reality is that he isn't very good.  Actually, he is the worst in the league.  I say this not from a position of hatred towards the man but hatred towards the overblown coverage and praise for what is less than average play.

I am not blind to the fact that the Broncos won 7 games while Tebow was the QB.  I watched most of those games and have to say that it was painful doing so.  I watched an offense go from scoring over 20 points a game to barely being able to break into the teens in most games.  The offense was terrible after the switch yet the Broncos won 6 games in a row and 7 games in total.  Tebow was deemed the reason for the turn around and since then I haven't been able to listen to sports radio because it is just infuriating.

When it comes to Tim Tebow all the supporters can talk about are his intangibles and the fact that "he wins games."  The reason that people talk about his intangibles is because every bit of tangible evidence that he has provided as a pro would have seen him bench after 2-3 weeks.  So, lets look at the tangibles that Tebow brings to the table.  In his 11 games as a starter he is passing for 124 yards per game, averages 11 completions per game, and 3 sacks per game.  He doesn't rank higher than 28th in any category and he ranks dead last in completion percentage (just over 46%) and yards per game.  I'm glad he has great intangibles because the work he has done on the field is measurably poor.

Now, the statement that he wins games must be looked at based on performances that can be duplicated and will win most games.  If Tim Tebow is the starter in Denver for the foreseeable future, what have we seen from him that leads us to believe that he can lead a winning team?  The fact that the team has 4 overtime wins, the last minutes "heroics" to win games in regulation?  If he didn't play poorly for the first 3 quarters then the "heroics" wouldn't be needed and maybe those 4 games that went into overtime would have been settled in regulation.  To this point, though, I haven't seen any substantial improvements that you can say prove he will be effective as a starter in the NFL.

So, If Tim Tebow is rated lower than at least 28 other QB's in this league in every category then why are the people in Denver and around the country sold on him being the QB of the future?  Why is the standard of play that is acceptable for a starter lowered for this man?  He doesn't work any harder than any other top quality player does, he doesn't have a greater will to win than a Manning or Brees, and he has proven that he can't produce anywhere near the same level as even average QB's.  Maybe the standard in Denver needs to be just a little bit higher and find a guy that can be talked about tangibly.