Anatomy of a Comeback: Take What You Can Get Edition

I would caution against. What we saw was six(6!) good plays, ALL running plays. If San Diego hadn’t gone conservative on the sure win, 6 plays may not have been enough to hang in there, and even with them going conservative, it wasn’t enough to win.

The leap too many are making is that we have solved the passing game woes with this change. We haven’t seen evidence of that yet, in fact we are seeing the opposite. Setting realistic expectation’s for Tim in Miami is healthy for this community. Consider it an immunization against those who would troll us (including our own) if Tebow continues to struggle in the passing game.

i will do the same when the broncos come to san diego. i’ll go if tebow plays. hec, the nfl ticket was ordered partly because i want to see him play. he’s exciting.

I work daily, except Monday, from 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. usually, I want him studying film at LEAST that much, if he wants it badly enough, he can be an All-Pro, screw “Pro Bowler” moniker, I hate the Pro Bowl, exhibition games as a rule of thumb suck

I remember feeling even better after the last game of last season. Tebow had had a comeback the week prior against Houston and almost did it again against the Charger (a very smilar Hail Mary, but further from the end zone). At that time, we had the entire next season to look forward to. As excited as I am now, that sense of Deja Vu makes it a little less appealing (just a little). Also the fact that we are not starting at 1-4. instead of 0-0, makes it a slightly less exciting. Regardless, I keep hope for a possible playoff spot this year…

Can’t remember, but it seemed like Royal’s production improved the last 4 games when Tebow played last year. I know it doesn’t mean anything and could be pure coincidence, but it would be nice if it improved when Royal comes back.

After all, they are probably going to be doing some switching with the playbook, but also, as you pointed out, some players.

different weapons could really open this offense up. One danger here is that maybe a whole new set of weapons for hte offense earn’s Kyle another shot? I doubt it since it was decisionmaking that got him benched today…but Fox is a conservative coach.

Being able to field a true 4 and 5 WR set would be huge for Tim. His main job would be to buy time for longer developing routes. This could prematurely kill pressure before it really becomes a problem.

He still needs to learn how to play there.

between that and the defense forcing the FGs in the redzone, this was a winnable game, which is why Orton got benched. They had to play their ace up the sleeve.

I expect that our run game could be truly potent with Tim in, but the solution is a 9 man box…this is where the passing game comes in. Also, the 4 WR sets would be quite useful here as well. Like I said in the post, the scheme opportunities are there and Fox and co. should have no trouble implementing them. It comes back to thier big picture view of this offense going forward.

Ted Bartlett was so right when he talked about Tebow vs Orton in the screen game.

Orton had a screen play in the first half that went for like 8 yards.

Tim had a screen play in the 2nd half that went for like 28 and a touchdown.

this post is about managing expectations for Tebow, and in that I would guess that we agree. It is going to take time and patience for consistent wins to come, but what he showed to day was the “1 win in 4” stuff. We are missing a credible passing attack, and until we get a chance to break down how they gameplan with Tim as the starter, we won’t really have a grasp as to whether our passing offense will improve enough to get wins.

I’ve seen this community turn too many cold shoulders when their unrealistic expectations weren’t met for a player. Tebow will have a honeymoon period because of who he is, but the problem comes in what gets missed during those periods of unrealistic expectation. We all think that we will go back during the offesason and really look into a player, but no one ever does. If outlooks get poisoned over the next 6-7 weeks, that becomes a very difficult atmosphere to reason with anyone in….

They need to use an offense similar the Steelers. Primary receiver is deep down the field with a one or two underneath. If Tebow’s first look is open down the field you try to hit him. If not, Tebow can take a dump off at 7 to 15 yards or opt to tuck it and run rather than check down for three or fewer yards.

I’ve never understood why teams don’t attack deep more often and I will be especially be dumbfounded if the Broncos don’t “take the lid” off the defense so-to-speak with Tebow behind center. It plays to our strengths at receiver and QB. Essentially two things will happen; you’re going to force defenses to play 2 deep AND Spy – that is 3 defenders now occupied which means that either Tebow will have more time due to lack of rushers or you will have less underneath coverage. In either case it is a win for the offense.

I can see a very successful offense predicated on deep balls, draw plays (QB and RB), and screens. Extremely.

there isn’t anything hypothetical about the passing game today. It didn’t improve with Tim in. What I am interested in is how much should it have improved, and what will we do to continue to get it improved.

I like the answers about practice time with the offense, I like the idea of a gameplan built to his strengths. Once we see that, then we can continue the evaluation.

hopefully we are able to contend for a playoff berth somehow this season, but when you are 1-4, that’s tough to do

the ball was moving only on 6 plays, all of which were runs. This is my only caution to offer in an otherwise fantastic finish, that almost became comeback #2 for Tim.

TT is already as good at extending plays as Plummer was. I have hopes that he will attain Elway’s level of improvisational mastery and pocket 6th sense, but even if that doesn’t occur I will guarantee you that we will see an “Elwayesque” pocket escape-receiver break downfield-long TD pass this year. Heck, we almost saw one yesterday to Decker.

I haven’t seen an injury update yet.

getting used to the internal clock that tells them they need to be coming back to the play will be a huge adjustment and would have made the difference in at least one play today on the first 3 and out. Hopefully ALL the starting WRs are a go against Miami.

Everybody seems to forget how much of his rookie season came because Cutler was buying that extra little bit of time, and sometimes a different throwing lane as he rolled out. That was often when the play to really opened up for Royal.

I can’t believe that Steve Watson isn’t in the Ring of Fame.

the majority felt that 6 to 10 games was enough to make the decision about him going forward, though i agree with you, I would prefer teh largest sample size possible in any player evaluation. Flashing, especially for players who have starred at various levels is just too common of an occurrence in small doses.

Also, in my mind, the only person who can ressurrect any Orton discussion at this point is Fox, and though he didn’t fully commit to Tebow, he hasn’t yet brought Orton back into the discussion.

you and I are on the same page here. For a team that apparently supported Orton in the locker room, it sure never translated onto the field. Ayers, Moreno, DJ, the O-line and several others feed off Tebow’s exuberance in a way you NEVER saw with Orton. Same with the crowd.

Fox needs to stop fighting momentum of this tide because it will drown him.

We don’t need to make excuses for Tebow, we just need to have patience, something that has been in short supply for about 5 years. Everyone is singing his praise now, but I have seen this play out before. It gets ugly fast when the wins don’t come, and I think a lot of fans think the wins are now inevitable, and that expectation could be setting them up for a fall when the reality of Tim’s development sets in.

I’m hoping conversations like these will allow the members to feed off of eachother in a positive way as we watch Tim develop, rather than create a Tebow version of La-La-Land, which might feel positive at first, but can become poisonous very fast.

Your boy is the man.

I cannot wait to see this kid grow. He has unmatched good vibes surrounding him. Tebow’s intangibles are literally tangible. I can touch the momentum. Hell, I feel it flowing thru my body when he is playing.

It’s amazing. I’m not a drug user, but it can’t be better than the feeling I get watching Tebow score TDs.

Sports are supposed to be fun. That concept got lost with me some years ago and I haven’t gotten it back. Tebow makes sports fun for me again and it’s been A WHILE.

I’m just interested in what we will do to improve the passing game. I agree completely with the idea that it doesn’t matter how we move the ball, as long as we score but I just don’t think the offense we saw today was a sustainable, game in, game out offense.

What I think I am hearing from everyone is that “somehow” Tebow will move the ball and score in any given situation. I don’t understand that. “Somehow” is a blank that needs filled in, and outside of a QB draw, handing the ball off, and a screen pass, today really didn’t fill it in for me. McGahee was running fine before Tebow came in, which is to be expected since his success is mostly a function of the OL.

What will the next team throw at us? Zone blitz? Should we try option plays? I thought option was a good call for the 2nd 2pt conversion. What wing concepts could help Tim?

Bottom line, I want to know where in the heck our passing production is going to come from….

since the defense held SD to FGs on some of their drives instead of allowing TDs.

you put it much more succintly than I do…

Glad to see you back!

If you fell in love with McJedi and wanted him to sweep you off your feet. You better write something nice about Tim Tebow.

Don’t be THAT GIRL that is always falling for the wrong dude.

I have always felt Tebow was money inside the 10, and I lean towards preferring him to most anyone inside the 25, just in terms of what his physical running style brings to the game. Tebow packages in the redzone was the one package I was getting frustrated not to be seeing during the ‘11 Orton experiment. They can run a 4 WR set very effectively int he redzone with Tim such a threat to pick a seam, because they know he can fight a DB and most LBs on the goalline. Of course, that wouldn’t be a preferred playcall, at least not to me, but you could call it enough to create all sorts of mismatches.

It would be a killer vs most nickles.

How did San Diego get their only red zone TD yesterday?

Phil Rivers ran it in on a broken play.

Thankfully I’ll never have to see Orton bypass the easy running TD ever again.

Thanks Fox? Orton did John’s job for him. Kyle has been bad to abyssal this season and the fans boos finally chanced him off.

Fox wasn’t even ready to commit to Tebow after the game. He had to be dragged kicking and screaming into playing Tebow.

It will also lead to huge gains and TDs.

Big Ben has been doing it very successfully for years now. Many great NFL QBs used their feet to extend the play and then used their arms to hit the now wide open receiver because no DB can cover for THAT long.

I’m a realist, but I am seeing more good than bad in TT’s ability to extend plays, ala Rapelisburger

he benched him because of his performance this whole season.

or at least paid like it! orton is gone after this year. there’s a difference benching your $100 million qb compared to a qb who is gone at the end of the year. oh, and we also had a first round qb on the bench, the eagles dont have that

I am a huge supporter of whoever is starting, to the point of being viewed, likely, as a zealot, and even I can’t complain about the decision to bench in this game. The running game was hitting on all cylinders, defense held the Chargers to FGs in the redzone on 3 occasions early… and the decisionmaking from Kyle was getting out of hand, with the game right behind. That was a must win game (the coaches view it that way…unlike a fan, a coach can’t get away with writing a season off for rebuilding), worth a 3 game swing in the division, and Fox obviously was willing to try anything.

enough said.

Crow tastes bad. Orton’s play got him benched. Kyle Orton was a much better QB a year ago than he is now.

renders Orton untradeable

The run D was pretty terrible, but we did lay 6 or 7 huge hits on their RBs or Rivers. I can’t think of one big hit they laid on us. The pass D was decent.

Vaughn has a pick 6 off a WR bobble. Miller had another sack and Ayers was the MVP of the entire D. Mays was hit and miss. Elvis is MIA and SD ran right at him A LOT with A LOT of success. Von Miller sucks in coverage.

Tebow played an excellent 4th quarter, Moreno made a big play and the refs really sucked (except in the replay booth)

To make that call in a game where you made ZERO calls on San Diego was inexcusable. Prater should have been kicking the game willing FG from 46 yards.

How was he supposed to stop his momentum?

I think that was a run blitz and you could literally see the SS thinking “oh crap… what do I do” as Tebow kept dropping back.

Or training camp or weeks 1 thru 5. That Tebow played even remotely competent without the benefit of practice is amazing.

Fox kept saying he was building the team’s preparation and practice around Orton, a QB that has nothing in common with Tebow.

The run D was a lot better in the 2nd half. Everything was better in the 2nd half (expect the refs).

Vaughn’s pick 6 was also a hoot. We physically kicked their ass a lot more than they kicked ours. Rivers took several big hits. He even got plastered by Carter on his TD run.