NFL Season 2011-2012

[JRod]

The Tebow era has officially begun. I don't think he'll be the long term solution but I think he provides a spark Denver lost. I hope I'm wrong about Tebow as a QB. One thing is for sure, he's got a passion for the game that seems to influence the entire team when they need it. We'll see how he does that the regular starter.

Now, at least watching the Broncos is entertaining.

[MizzouRah]

I love Tebow.. he's good for the Broncos and he's good for the NFL. I hope he does well.

[wco81]

Heard that the Broncos fans have been against Orton from day 1. There have been billboards for Tebow in Denver?

Even though he didn't even show much during the preseason?

Sounds like the team has to decide whether they will need to draft another QB next year so they have to rule out that Tebow can be their guy. I thought Quinn was second in the depth chart.

[Danimal]

So I finished watching the Jets- Pats game and the station switched to the SD - Den game. They said Orton was bounced in favor of Tebow and how he gave the team a spark in the 2nd half. The freakin guy almost won it on the last play. How can you NOT start Tebow? And yes i'm a Tebow fan.

Maybe because he is not an NFL QB. Did you watch the game, sure he gave them a spark but if you dissect his play it wasn't even close to good. First he couldn't even handle a snap from center, he almost dropped the first 3 of them so they put him in shotgun and had him run. Can't do that for 60 minutes every week. He hit a screen play on a blitz which I think was his 2nd of 3 of 4 completions and he made a nice throw the llyod when SD was in prevent D.

Honestly if anyone who knows anything about football watched that game and said Tim Tebow can be a NFL QB they need to have their head examined. I'm also no Orton backer but the guy had no one to throw to, because Tebow can run around he opened up some passing lanes but once a team game plans for him he is done. I hope they start Tebow for the rest of the year this way he can show how terrible he is and possibly not even be mentioned anymore.

[greggsand]

Maybe because he is not an NFL QB. Did you watch the game, sure he gave them a spark but if you dissect his play it wasn't even close to good. First he couldn't even handle a snap from center, he almost dropped the first 3 of them so they put him in shotgun and had him run. Can't do that for 60 minutes every week. He hit a screen play on a blitz which I think was his 2nd of 3 of 4 completions and he made a nice throw the llyod when SD was in prevent D.

Honestly if anyone who knows anything about football watched that game and said Tim Tebow can be a NFL QB they need to have their head examined. I'm also no Orton backer but the guy had no one to throw to, because Tebow can run around he opened up some passing lanes but once a team game plans for him he is done. I hope they start Tebow for the rest of the year this way he can show how terrible he is and possibly not even be mentioned anymore.

Well, he won't be Rodgers or Brady, but I wouldn't discount that he could make a bad team like Denver somewhat competitive. It's not like Orton is about to set the world on fire with his skills. If I was a Denver fan, I'd want Tebow out there. At least he makes it interesting. I was glued to the NLCS today, but started flipping back & forth once I saw Tebow was in there. It's hard to see the downside to playing him this season.

[Danimal]

It's hard to see the downside to playing him this season.

There is no downside if you're Fox. One of two things happens

1) You prove he isn't an NFL QB and can draft one.

2. He plays marginal which is apparently all Denver fans need to be appeased (who knew they were so stupid must be the air) and you can keep him and be a shitty team for the next 5 years.

[RobVarak]

4/10 79 yds, 1TD

Hardly seems like it's time to start calling someone good for the NFL with those numbers. If Jesus likes him so well, you'd think he'd at least have better yds/att.

[pk500]

Couldn't agree more with Dan. Tebow only sparked the Broncos because he was someone new and because San Diego didn't draw up game plans to stop his unorthodox style. And as Dan and Rob pointed out, no NFL defense will need to do anything special to stop a guy who goes 4-for-10 for 79 yards while operating exclusively from the shotgun.

If you honestly think Denver will have a better season with Tebow under center than Orton, then Denver might have the worst depth at quarterback in the NFL. Hell, Curtis Painter is functionally a better NFL QB than Tebow.

[Danimal]

Paul -

They are kind of f***ed now. They have to start him and if they do they can't go back. Also I can;'t believe Fox caved to the pressure he was #3 on the depth chart. If I was Brady Quinn I would be mailing it in for the season now.

The worst thing that could happen to the Broncos is he performs marginal, which is about all they can hope for with him. Then they are forced to keep him because the fans like him for some unknown reason. This franchise is a few Tim Tebow runs from being a disaster for the next decade.

The guy that put them in this situation is long gone too.

[Brando70]

4/10 79 yds, 1TD

Hardly seems like it's time to start calling someone good for the NFL with those numbers. If Jesus likes him so well, you'd think he'd at least have better yds/att.

I think he'll find a way to turn those meager yards and TDs into a multitude of points.

My suggestion would be for the Broncos to trade Orton and two first-round picks to the Bears for Cutler.

[XXXIV]

[wco81]

Kind of surprising that there's so much attention paid to the Broncos, which is in a smaller market. Even in the preseason, there was a lot of national coverage about the QB competition, which wasn't much of a competition.

Maybe because Tebow still has a big following from his college career?

[pk500]

Kind of surprising that there's so much attention paid to the Broncos, which is in a smaller market. Even in the preseason, there was a lot of national coverage about the QB competition, which wasn't much of a competition.

Maybe because Tebow still has a big following from his college career?

The Broncos are different because they command an entire region, not just a market. So their market is bigger than you think. Much like the Patriots.

But you're right: There is an almost unhealthy fascination with Tebow from the media and fans. He's not the first running QB to enter the NFL, and he's not the first "good kid" to play in the NFL.

[XXXIV]

But you're right: There is an almost unhealthy fascination with Tebow from the media and fans. He's not the first running QB to enter the NFL, and he's not the first "good kid" to play in the NFL.

I agree he is drawing a lot of unwarranted attention.... Maybe a bit like it was watching Evel Kneivil do his crazy ass stunts back in the day. Seems to me there are just as many people watching and waiting for the inevitable crash.

I seriously dont get what hes done to deserve either the love or the hate he is getting.

[TCrouch]

I will preface this by saying Al Davis certainly earned respect for his accomplishments over his career, and may he rest in peace. I've had such a love/hate relationship with the "persona" of Al Davis for most of my life, that I can barely put it into words. But I'm going to try anyway, so I apologize in advance for what will surely be a post that's far-too-lengthy Not even sure why I feel the need to throw this out there, as it's not related to anything that anybody's talking about, but please indulge me.

I've long said that the Raiders would remain easily beaten on defense as long as Al Davis had control of the team. There have been tales over the years of why the Raiders would never defend the run properly, and it all started with Al's dictatorial control of the scheme. It's also the same reason they always hired offensive coaches. The defense was Al's baby, and why most of the same problems persisted from coach to coach throughout the last 15 years of his tenure. He dictated what the defense would do (man to man with absolutely no run fits whatsoever...just cover your man and beat your man repeatedly), and that led to the typical Raiders' D game: stop the run for 1 yard, 2 yards, 1 yard, and then give up a 60 yarder. With the defense in man to man almost all the time and their backs to the ballcarrier, they are too easily exploited. The head coach could install whatever offense he wanted as long as they tried to throw it deep, but the defense was Davis' call entirely. As recently as last week, they allowed the Patriots to just rip them to shreds on the ground after the Pats had been unable to run on anybody all season.

I saw the Raiders running a lot more zone yesterday than I've recalled in any recent game. He wasn't overseeing the day to day operations this year (or last, which may explain the improvement), but he still made all of the personnel calls and actually got some pretty talented players in the building. He'd still review game tape and get notes to the coaches...or so I read, since I didn't know him or the coaching staff personally. So they'd still be limited in what they'd call on game day on defense since they knew they'd hear about it later if they deviated from 'the plan'.

So I can't really say much else other than the Texans team which had been very good running the ball ended up with 25 carries for 70 yards yesterday, and over 20 of those came on the first run of the game when they just got blown off the ball on the right side. A case could be made that Schaub lit them up for 400, and that's certainly up for debate. But well over 100 of those came on the last 2 drives when they were chucking it downfield with abandon (on 3rd and 23, for example, at the end). There are still enough blown coverages and mix ups that the Raider defense will still make too many mistakes to beat a great team....see the New England game for an example.

But I think we'll see a defense that steadily improves each week. I'd be shocked if they don't. The schemes and blitzes and (gasp!) zone coverages they were running last night were amazing. Seeing Henderson deflect a ball that DE Lamarr Houston intercepted in coverage was something OTHER teams do...not the Raiders.

I still think that the coaches being allowed to coach without Davis mandating what to do is the right call. I just wish Al would have relinquished control and been allowed to see the results before his death. If he did that, however, then he wouldn't have been Al Davis. He certainly did EVERYTHING his own way, up until his dying day. Oakland will be a better team without him interfering now, but they wouldn't be who they are in history without him interfering for the past five decades.

R.I.P., Al.

[greggsand]

But you're right: There is an almost unhealthy fascination with Tebow from the media and fans. He's not the first running QB to enter the NFL, and he's not the first "good kid" to play in the NFL.

It's a bit bizarre both ways: the over-the-top supporters who boo their own team (even in a win) and the people who think playing him will set football back 30 years.

So, a mediocre team will be starting a suspect QB in hopes to shake things up? It's not like that's the first time that's ever happened. Hell, I'm an AZ fan. They do this crap every 3 to 4 years... (Stoney Case anyone??)

[wco81]

It will be interesting to see if the Raiders evolve. You can say football may have passed him by but he was the owner so he was going to decide how to build and run the team.

Heard that they will be looking for a GM so Mark Davis won't be hands-on like his father. There was a rumor that Al offered Matt Millen the GM job a couple of years ago.

Of course the other thing is, head coaches haven't always been allowed to hire key assistants. So the thing to look for is whether there are changes to assistants. And see if in the next draft, some of their draftees aren't always the fastest for their position.

[Rodster]

I seriously dont get what hes done to deserve either the love or the hate he is getting.

Well I live in SW Florida so I like the Canes and the Gators.

[fletcher21]

The Arizona Cardinals might be one of the 2 worst teams in the league. The Vikings first quarter reminded me of their 98 team or the 99-00 Rams "greatest show on turf" team. It's too bad that they won, since it may hurt them in the Luck sweepstakes. Kind of bummed about that for the people of LA.



Buffalo Bills are GOOD this year. They started out pretty well, but I was waiting for them to come back down. Fred Jackson was running like a raped ape yesterday. Bills and the Lions are the reason the NFL is fun.

[Rodster]

I'm really surprised how the Jets have played this year.

[XXXIV]

I seriously dont get what hes done to deserve either the love or the hate he is getting.

Well I live in SW Florida so I like the Canes and the Gators.

Gator fans dont count. They are a different story. Altogether.

[Danimal]

Watching the Bears tonight.... well now I know what it must be like to be a Rams fan

I'm packing my jersey's away for the season, let me know when Angelo and his cast of misfits are gone then I'll be back.

[XXXIV]

Watching the Bears tonight.... well now I know what it must be like to be a Rams fan

Its not paper bag time yet but that did look like Ram football. Sloppy undisciplined crap. From repeated player false starts to stupid coaches challenges to qbs taking a major beating.

Why the good lord gave us beer.

[Rodster]

You guys cracked me up. You don't know what bad is until you watch the Dolphins play.

Bears/Rams > Dolphins

[ScoopBrady]

The NFL is toying around with the idea of having the Bears start each drive at 1st and 15 in order to speed up the games and give the poor referees throwing arm a break.