Tim Tebow: The Blaine Gabbert Effect

Excerpt from Nobody Hates Tebow...They Hate You

Tim Tebow (Getty Images 2011)

Tebowmaniacs will tell you that the reason they get so defensive when someone brings up one of Tim Tebow's flaws is because no other quarterback has ever received as much criticism as him. I've had a several people point out to me that Blaine Gabbert is a worse quarterback than Tim Tebow but doesn't receive nearly as much criticism.

It made me think, why don't people use Gabbert as a verbal punching bag? He's sucks too. Then, when I started juxtaposing their 2011 statistics I realized something.
 

There numbers are almost identical. Gabbert threw for more yards but Tebow made up the difference on the ground. Gabbert threw almost twice as many interceptions but also threw almost twice as many passes. (Keep in mind that Gabbert is a rookie and this is Tebow's 2nd season) 

Now, if you're arguing for Tim Tebow, here's where you play the "he's a winner", the "he led his team to the playoffs" and the "he won a playoff game" cards. Let's be real though, the Broncos lost their last 3 regular season games by a combined 40-88. Tebow was 30 of 73 with 1 TD and 4 INT's in those games including a 6 of 22 for 60 yards performance in a win-and-get-in game in week 17. Sure the Broncos beat the Steelers in the 1st round of the playoffs but Tebow also had, statistically, the worst game a quarterback has ever had in the history of the NFL playoffs (9 of 26 for 136 yards). All that, along with an 8-6 record as a starter screams mediocrity (to be nice) much more than it does All He DoesIs Win.

   

The big difference between the two is that when people say 'Gabbert sucks' everyone just nods their heads in agreement. It's accepted that Blaine Gabbert, by NFL standards, is not a good quarterback. Nobody argues that his stats don't matter or justify his weaknesses so you don't have to point out every single one of his flaws to prove your point. Gabbert’s fans (there has to be a few) accept where his current skill level is. Tebowmaniacs can't.

Blaine Gabbert (Getty Images 2011)

Anytime someone brings up one of Tebow's flaws his supporters lose their shit, start recklessly calling everyone haters and almost always wrap it up by accusing people of knocking his faith. I find that both ignorant and insulting. Look, if you want to like the guy because he's an iconic figure for Christianity in America that's fine but that doesn't mean that by default, that’s the reason others don't think he's a good football player.

There have been thousands of faith-first NFL players throughout history. Kurt Warner, Reggie White, Mike Singletary and John Kitna¹ were all just as outspoken about their faith as Tim Tebow is and no one knocked them for their beliefs. But everyone just got together and decided to hate Tebow for his?

Warner, White and Singletary are all Hall of Famers². Kitna's the most similar to Tebow from a talent standpoint. The difference is when people said Kitna was not a good NFL quarterback nobody threw a tantrum. He made too many poor throws and bad decisions to covet a starting spot for a sustained period of time.

That's the key. Whether we're talking about sports or any other career, we judge professionals on their ability to perform at a high level consistently. The key word there being consistently. Even if you believe that Tim Tebow is the most talented football player in the world, you can't honestly tell me that he plays well consistently. Kyle Orton led the Broncos to a 6-0 start the year before Tebow got there and they ran him out of town like he was George Zimmerman after a series of bad games.

Quarterbacks typically get the lion's share of the credit for a win and most of the blame for a loss. Tebow somehow received all of the credit for the wins and none of the blame for the losses last year. It's not fair to Tim, his teammates, the rest of the NFL or my stress levels to continue to grade him on a different scale than everyone else. He's not mentally or physically handicapped so patronizing him the way that his fans have been is not only an insult to him as a professional athlete but an insult to him as a person.

I believe in God and more importantly I believe in a person's right to freely express their religious beliefs. I would be lying though if I said that Tim's constant need to remind everyone of how much he loves God doesn't get annoying at times (just like Tim would be lying if he said that he wasn't aware that the cameras are on him when he hits the Tebowing pose 10 times a game for 20 seconds at a time). There are a lot of things in sports that are annoying though. Like Dwight Howard's constant whining about fouls, Michael Jordan being one of the biggest assholes on earth and Chris Johnson's inability to speak understandable English. But none of those things change the way I feel about them as athletes.

And ultimately, that's what we're talking about with Tim Tebow. His ability, or lack thereof, to play quarterback at the professional level. Not his religious beliefs or whether or not he's a nice guy. It's about whether or not he can consistently hit a 12 yard out, how many points he can put on the scoreboard and how often he can pick up 3rd downs. Blaine Gabbert isn't very good at those things and neither is Tim Tebow.

Tim is, however, a nice, polite, charismatic, good looking young man with inspiring positivity. If he doesn't end up being a successful NFL quarterback I'm pretty confident that he's still going to be ok in life. Enough with the justifying of all of his weaknesses. He would be the first to tell you that he wants to be treated the same as everyone else and deserves to be judged the same way as the Blaine Gabbert's of the world.

So let's root for Tebow to succeed in the NFL. Let's hope that his positivity spreads throughout the world like a plague. But let's do it rationally. When he struggles it's not because the coaches and GM are out to get him. When he takes a sack after holding the ball for 7 seconds it's not because the line sucks and when he overthrows a wide open receiver by 10 feet it's not because that receiver isn't Larry Fitzgerald. It's because he's a 23 year old kid trying to reinvent himself and learn how to play the toughest position in all of sports.


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1. Kitna used to wear a super tacky $2 fishing hat with a cross on the front of  it to all of his interviews. Tebow definitely has him in style. 
2. I'm presuming that Warner makes it in. Even if he isn't a lock now he definitely will be after they make the movie about his life From Bagging Soup to Bagging Super Bowls.