The Perfect Scenario for Mr. Tebow

Two games into this new season, the Denver Broncos sit at 1-1, and Tim Tebow is in the absolutely perfect situation.  True he hasn't played a single snap at quarterback.  Yes, he's still considered the third-stringer.  No, Orton hasn't played that badly.  So why is this the best case?  It helps to start by thinking about the other possibilities:

1.  Orton plays great.  This legitimizes what the "football pundits" have been saying throughout the preseason - that Orton is the best solution for the Broncos to win, and Tebow is a sideshow and back up at best.  How it plays out:  this season looks a lot like last season, where Tebow doesn't see action until playoffs are out of the picture or Orton gets hurt, at which time he would invariably perform worse than Orton, or any successes would be written off as meaningless/garbage-time fluff.



Is getting off the bench really
the best situation for Tebow?

                                                         
2.  Orton gets removed half way through the first game.  This almost definitely would not have happened without an injury - John Fox is too intelligent to over-react in the first week of the season.  Fox is also a man of his word, so even if Orton did come out, it would most likely be Quinn coming in to save the day.  That's a no-lose for Quinn because if he wins, he's a hero.  If  he loses, well, they were already losing.  Going into Week 2's extremely favorable match up at home again Cincinnati, Quinn would once again start with high probability of success against a train-wreck of a team.  Because Fox is viewed (correctly) as a good coach, this would strengthen the sports world's already adamant view that Tebow must be truely terrible to be riding the pine behind Quinn.

3.  Tebow starts Week 1, Week 2, or plays significant time.  Let's face it - this Broncos team was not that great to start with.  There is some serious promise with the young talent, but overall, their defense is sub-par, the running attack is among the worst in the league, and now the receiving corps is getting decimated.  There is very little chance that Tebow would have succeeded out of the gate.  A failure - either statistically or in the Win/Loss department - would have flipped the current situation on it's head:  fan would actually be pining for Orton!

That leads back to where we are now.  With Orton scraping by, one ugly win, one ugly loss and mediocre stats.  His QB Rating and Yards are in the bottom half of the league, while his completion percentage is 26th after two week.  Not that this should shock anyone.  His 55% this year is just slightly below his career 58% average.  Orton's semi-futility has Bronco fans pleading to a higher power for Tebow's insertion at quarterback.

Tebow would have escaped this exact same situation.

From a purely logical standpoint, this makes very little sense.  Not only is Orton clearly better Tebow, but apparently so is Quinn, and "everyone who knows anything about football knows it."  So even if the Denver faithful were done with Orton, shouldn't they call for Brady?  Of course not.  They've seen him play, too.  At least Tebow is "unproven".  Quinn is proven in the wrong way.

And while Tebow-mania continues to build at a head-scratching pace, Tim continues to do all of the right things.  After week one, he pacified the masses by thanking them (+1) and letting them know that he will wait his turn (+2).  He followed that up by unselfishly playing WR on scout team (+3), then filling in during the game (+4).  Tebow even threw in the obligatory, "I'm doing what's best for the team" (+5).  This man is on a mission!  Sorry, that was almost as lame as the "best-for-the-team" remark.

With a Q-Score approaching 10, this situation can't get any better.  All Timmy needs to do is keep looking pretty while the Broncos hover around or below .500, and Orton hangs on the bottom rung of starting quarterbacks.  They just can't be bad enough to warrant a benching - otherwise, Tebow might have to actually go into a game . . . and ruin everything.