Prime Cuts

Slices of great NFL content from around the web

Kacsmar: Tebow does it differently than Elway did

Captain Comeback Week 11: The Old College Try
www.coldhardfootballfacts.com

How do you even describe watching a quarterback go to an empty backfield and just run the ball all over a defense for a 95-yard drive to win the game? Inconceivable! Tebow’s drive was the most run-heavy for a quarterback for any fourth quarter game-tying or go-ahead drive we’ve seen in the last 30 years…Comparisons to John Elway are always going to be there as long as Tebow is in Denver, and this drive features many…Elway was known to use his legs, but he usually used them to escape and throw the ball. Despite 49 fourth quarter wins, Elway never had a drive where he used his feet the way Tebow did.

Tim Tebow is thankful for so very many things in this time for giving thanks

WHAT TIM TEBOW IS SAYING WHILE HE’S TEBOWING
kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com

I would also like to thank You for Ed, the groundskeeper, a simple and humble man who maintains the grass and is fighting off the liver cancer You gave him the best he can…And I’d like to thank you for glazed walnuts, which brighten up any salad, particularly when mixed in with dried cranberries. In fact, if a salad consisted of NOTHING but those two things, I think I might be committing a sin!...Sometimes, the moon will come out during the day and I almost feel like You’re overdoing it, but I know that You are just showing me Your Greatness, which is greater than even the greatness of a good Joel Osteen audiobook.

Tebow among inaugural inductees to Trent Dilfer Club

Introducing The Trent Dilfer Club
www.advancednflstats.com

So, how is Tebow winning?  Mostly on Defense.  In his 4 wins, the Broncos defense has a -.89 WPA.  Tebow personally lost the Detroit game and would have lost the Miami, Oakland and New York games, had it not been for the Broncos solid defense and some late game heroics.

Phil Simms: Tebow just needs to take a chill pill

Phil Simms: Tim Tebow has to stop worrying about throwing INTs
www.danpatrick.com

Dan Patrick: Would you want him as the QB of your franchise?

Phil Simms: Well, not now, no…He is throwing it better, and to me his biggest problem throwing is, he’s more worried about throwing an interception than he is completing the pass. He’s being so careful when he lets it go; I know he’s not gonna miss some of these 10-yard routes that are out there in front of him. But he’s neurotic about making sure it’s not going to be intercepted. If he stops that, he’s going to start completing more, and it’s going to look a lot better to everybody’s eye.

Starts around 7:38 of the podcast. (h/t tom3565)

The revolution is starting!

Bears' Urlacher selling Tebow Time, but Lovie isn't buying
www.nfl.com

“[Caleb Hanie’s] going to be able to move around in the pocket a little bit—maybe a little (Tim) Tebow offense,” Urlacher told the Chicago Tribune on Monday.

Don’t bank on it. Coach Lovie Smith wasted no time Monday pumping the brakes on ripping pages out of Denver’s radioactive read-option playbook.

If it's going to sweep the NFL, it's gotta start somewhere, right? So what that it's only in Brian Urlacher's head...

Passing > Running, still

Running For Three Yards Is Like Going Backwards
deadspin.com

The cliché that it’s a passing league is truer than we realize. Advanced stats that can account for sacks, turnovers, penalties, and everything else show that the average running play is a setback…And what of the Denver Tebows, who have won three of their last four games with an offensive heavily tilted toward the run?...As hard as it is to believe, the Broncos won because they were the more efficient passing team. Tebow threw for 5.0 net yards per attempt, while Mark Sanchez averaged a net 4.4 yards per attempt, adjusted for his three sacks and an interception. So long as the other quarterback plays worse than Tebow, the Broncos can win. Unfortunately for Denver, that’s not going to happen very often.

What’s next, Tebowing in outer space?

Machu Picchu: The Apex Of Tebowing
deadspin.com

“AFTER A 12000 FOOT SUMMIT I HAD TO TEBOW ONCE I COMPLETED MY JOURNEY…” That is somewhat understandable, Scott.

Does Gregg Doyel mean Most Valuable Prayer?

Hear me out: Tebow a legit MVP looker -- not winner, but candidate
www.cbssports.com

If Denver does keep winning, and keeps winning the way it has been winning…How could anyone deny Tebow’s viable candidacy?...It’s not only that he plays quarterback for a team that has won four of its past five games. Tebow should be a legit MVP candidate—if this keeps up—because of the way the Broncos are winning these games. They’re winning because of Tebow. Or rather, Tebow is winning these games.

John Elway wants less sucking on 3rd downs

The John Elway Show (Part 1)
www.stationcaster.com

“I think that obviously he’s making progress week in and week out, and so I think that, you know, when you look at our third-down numbers, those have to improve, I mean, and that’s the bottom line…we can’t go 3 for 13 and win a world championship…Tim Tebow did exactly what we thought he could do on Thursday night, that when we get in tough situations, he’s a guy that’s going to be able to make those plays, he’s got the will and the competitiveness to do the things, you know, you can’t coach…and that’s exactly what he did on Thursday night…now if you look at that thing, the bottom line is defensively we played great defensively and the special teams were good because we were in the football game.”

There are a hundred ways to interpret and parse this interview (and I'm sure both sides will), but after listening to the tone of Elway's voice and the language he's using here, I came away with the distinct impression that John Elway doesn't care if Tebowmania is running wild.  John, a little part of a million evangelicals just died this morning, buddy.  I hope you can look at yourself in the mirror, pal.

Elway was asked directly if he is any closer to knowing who is quarterback of the future is.  His response: "No."

He did confirm a bias of mine, though.  When a team is less than 40% on third down, turn the lights out.  The party's over.

Thanks to my boy, magster, for pointing me to this interview this morning.

Jabar Gaffney tells Cowboys fan to kill themself

Jabar Gaffney downplays tweets
espn.go.com

On Monday, Gaffney said: “It’s something that got took out of ‘text. Cowboy fans, that’s how they are. I was just telling the dude: ‘Y’all won. All right, leave me alone. Don’t talk to me.’ And that’s all it was.”

You know, probably not the kind of thing you should say when you're the guy who sold the gun which your teammate used to commit suicide. Love ya Gaff, but come on...