Tebow Top Ten?
Tim Tebow is not the best quarterback in the NFL. He isn’t even in the top 5 of NFL quarterbacks. –Hold it, I am not a hater! I love Tim Tebow. I have enjoyed following him since he entered the Swamp as a freshman at Florida. Tebow supporters have an obligation to be honest about his abilities and his limitations. So, here is my attempt to assess the value of Tim Tebow to the Denver Broncos and to the NFL. After making my case, I hope to explain further why Tim Tebow—the 6th best quarterback in the NFL—is uniquely positioned to be the #1 most criticized NFL player.
You read me rightly. Tim Tebow is the 6th best quarterback in the NFL right now. You may wonder about the basis of such a statement. My assessment is not the result of some strange, sports calculus. Unlike both the BCS ranking formula and the ESPN QB Ranking conundrum, my assessment is simple and straightforward. My assessment of a quarterback is related primarily to how effectively the quarterback scores touchdowns on offensive plays with which he is associated.
There is no need to lock this secret formula into a vault somewhere; it is both simple and transparent, something that cannot be said of typical QB rankings and 
passer ratings. Here is a very simple way to assess an NFL quarterback. How often does he score a touchdown? On average, how often does he get the ball in the end zone?
A long, long time ago (it seems now), before Tim Tebow replaced Kyle Orton as the Broncos signal caller, I made the assertion that Tim Tebow gave the Broncos the best chance to win games—much better than Kyle Orton or Brady Quinn or the guy throwing mile-high peanuts in Denver’s stadium. Tebow was reportedly demoted to 14th string quarterback or something like that. Yet, I made the assertion then that Tebow had something invaluable for an NFL quarterback: Tebow had a nose for the end zone. He proved (in only 3 starts the prior season) to be willing and able to find pay-dirt. The classic picture of him in the end zone against his college nemesis Florida State with blood-red paint from his face to his feet was no fluke. He burrowed his way into end zone after end zone in college, and he proved early to be able to do the same thing in the NFL.
In fact, Tim Tebow is the 6th best quarterback in the NFL at finding the end zone. That is one of the main reasons he and the Broncos are 6-1 over his starting stretch. Tim Tebow scores a touchdown—on average—for every 18.5 plays for which he is responsible. In other words, when he runs or throws the ball, there will end up being a touchdown (not a field goal) by the 19th play. There are only 5 quarterbacks in the NFL with better numbers this year than Tim Tebow. In order, these 5 are (not surprisingly) as follows: Aaron Rodgers; Tom Brady; Drew Brees; Matthew Stafford; and Matt Schaub.
Before his injury, Matt Schaub was getting 6 points for every 18.06 plays in which he was a primary player. Peyton Manning’s lifetime number is 18.16. So, the Broncos are not winning in spite of Tim Tebow. They are winning largely because of the contributions of Tim Tebow. The supposedly inept, unorthodox Tebow is scoring more efficiently than Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan, and Ben Roethlisberger. His efficiency is neither a freak show nor a prep school fad, as some have suggested. It is, instead, basic football well played. “Hey, quarterback, get the ball in the end zone.” The NFL is not so far removed from the prep school game if one remembers the basic goal of the game—which, for a quarterback, is to get the ball over the goal line. Tim Tebow does that better than most quarterbacks in the NFL.
[Next: Why Is Tebow So Maligned?]
