And if Woody Johnson owned the Redskins, Tebow would already be here. Draw your own inferences about Johnson after he brought Tim Tebow to the New York Jets … to get in the way of coaches who clearly did not want him.
Davis is normally a good football analyst. He and Marshall Faulk are the two former players I most respect on cable's NFL Network. But it is airtime silly season with everyone guessing where Tim Tebow will land next now that the Jets dumped him.
Good theater. Tortured logic
The talking heads speculate that Tebow will land on a quarterback-needy team or on a team with a coach who had a personal connection to him.
That thinking has yet to play out (see below **), so Davis resorted to an out-dated fallback – linking the Redskins to a big name free agent. 'Skins fans everywhere gagged in unison.
NFL.com carries a video of Davis' offending comments that you can watch here.
Oddly, Davis opens his comment by explaining why Tebow would be a poor fit for the New England Patriots. Why would the Patriots ever want the ball out of Tom Brady's hands? He never asks the same question of the Redskins. Why would they want the ball out of Robert Griffin III's hands?
Allen based his argument on Mike Shanahan, Washington's football czar who could dictate the offense without interference from above, Davis' soft swipe at the Jets organization.
The point about Shanahan is the only one Davis got right. The flaws in the rest of his argument are numerous.
Davis thinks the Shanahan's called all of Griffin's running plays, as opposed to leaving it to RGIII's option. Shanahan was almost as surprised by Griffin's running as were opposing defenses. Shanahan has already said that he wants Griffin to run less in the future and out of bounds more often. Why bring in Tebow to run out of bounds from the pistol formation?
The Redskins read option worked because Griffin, unlike Tebow, is a genuine duel threat. If the opponent defends against Griffin's running, he kills them with his deadly accurate passing. It's Griffin, not the scheme, that made this work.
That's the mistake made by Johnson and the Jets. No team worries about Tebow's passing. His passing skill puts the lie to read-option. If Tim Tebow is in the game, you defend against his running threat. You react to his non-threatening passing. If Tebow and Alfred Morris were in the backfield together, opponents would simply crowd the box with eight or nine players.
Show RGIII eight defenders in the box and he might complete a pass to himself for a touchdown. He is (presumably still) just that fast.
The last factor is Griffin the rookie vs. Griffin the first year player. Griffin played his entire college career at Baylor without a playbook. Kyle Shanahan after the 2012 Draft presented him with the first one he ever saw. The read-option provided Griffin the best chance at immediate success.
Now, Griffin has a year's experience with that playbook. Joe Gibbs once said that teams change about 30 percent of their playbook every year. The past is no indication of how much read-option we will see this season. Only Shanahan and Griffin know that. Even they won't know how much until training camp. That's too late to bring in a quarterback.
Tebow to the Redskins? Don't make me laugh. Even Mr. Snyder isn't that stupid.
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** Teams looking for quarterbacks filled the need before the NFL Draft (Chiefs, Raiders), or during it (Bills). The Jaguars are steadfast in their rejection of Tebow.
The personal connections are either to Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels who, as Broncos head coach, selected Tebow in the 2010 NFL Draft, or to Mike McCoy, now head coach of the San Diego Chargers. When he was the OC for the Denver Broncos in 2011, McCoy changed his whole offense to accommodate Tebow's peculiar talents.
Hog Heaven doesn't understand the notion of converting Tebow to another position like tight end or fullback. For one thing, I can't find video of him catching a ball in game. Redskins fans are watching Niles Paul struggle to convert to tight end, and Paul is a former receiver. The Redskins and most teams these days use fullbacks to block. Tebow would have to compete, as a blocker, with Darrel Young. Past glory at quarterback will not help.
Joe Gibbs won a Super Bowl with fullback named John Riggins. Tebow is built like Riggins. That's old man football, bro' The Redskins don't run the downfield offense anymore. These are not your father's Redskins.
The Redskins don't need Tebow to sell tickets. I fear Mr. Tebow, like fellow Florida Seminole legend Danny Wuerffel, has taken his last snap as a NFL quarterback.
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