Tebow and the Pyrrhic Victory

In 280 BC and again in 279 BC King Pyrrhus or Epirus twice battled the Romans during the Pyrrhic War. The two battles at Heraclea and Asculum both proved victorious as Pyrrhus won twice. He beat the Romans twice.

Somewhere along the lines as the Denver Broncos beat the winless Miami Dolphins I believe the media and some of the fans forgot all about the San Diego Chargers game.

Calling the Dolphins winless every time one mentions the Broncos victory is like referring to a black player as well spoken. It's a slap in the face (and racist if you are talking about a player), it is taking away from what was accomplished by those that were actually in the ring.

When Matt Willis was pushed out of the back of the end zone in Denver's final play against the Chargers it should have been called, had the interference not have happened at all there is a 15-1 chance Willis catches the ball and scores a touchdown. However, as a famous former Denverite said, 'Statistics are for losers,'.

If Willis had scored against San Diego, Denver goes from a game where Miami was 3 1/2 point favorite against the spread, to a team that is heavily favored against the Dolphins. Anyone remember that the Broncos weren't favored to beat the Dolphins? Even Las Vegas thought the Broncos would lose. Las Vegas hardly loses.

One thing King Pyrrhus didn't do was lose, Tim Tebow doesn't lose, but drawing comparisons between the two... That's not where I am going with this.

Amidst chants of, "Tebow sucks!" from the crowd in Miami Tebow came off the bench and did what he always does, he proved it.

He did suck, flat out, as nearly every single analyst said today, 'For the first 57 minutes.'

They would then go on to say, 'But he was brilliant for three!'

Then came the backhand: Tebow lacks throwing ability, the lame duck (or drunken pigeon), the over-throws, the under-throws, lacking proper mechanics, one receiver looks, how he should stay in the pocket, no poise, lack of vision, over anxious, underwhelming; venomous critiques just booming through fans television screens, radio speakers and head phones.

Here is something else that you probably already know, Tebow's 15 point rally is something that no one in the NFL has done since 1970.

He is Willie Beamon wrapped in a velvet glove. A warrior poet who as Peter King repeats may be the savior of American sports. What is so wrong with a good guy whose only fault is a wide throwing motion, over/under throws, an occasional drunken pigeon (wounded duck, thank you to The New Yorker) and possible sainthood?

The man can flat out ball and there may not be anyone in the history of the NFL that I'd rather have at quarterback in the last two minutes of a football game than Tebow (I said it). The victory against the Dolphins on the day that those very Dolphins were celebrating Tim Tebow's Florida Gators was the day that Tebow finally graduated being a Gator and became a Denver Bronco.

Oh, back to King Pyrrhus, so he's batting 1.000 against the mighty Roman empire at this point in my story correct? Pretty impressive, the Romans suffered greater deaths than Pyrrhus army did. However, the Romans had a gigantic empire of men from which to draw soldiers, so their casualties did less damage to their war effort than Pyrrhus's casualties did to his.

As Pyrrhus said upon returning following his decimating second straight victory against Rome, "Another such victory and I come back to Epirus alone." The critics are overwhelmingly right, but for how long can they stand to be right before Tebow proves them all wrong?

Tebow is the media's Pyrrhic victory.