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QB RankingsThe Numbers Don’t Lie.
When Compared to Other NFL Quarterbacks in Their First 16 Games Tebow Ranks Among the Best.
There is something refreshing about numbers.
They have no opinion, no bias, and no prejudice.
Numbers don’t care what the name on the jersey is or how good or bad you are supposed to be.
Numbers don’t lie.
Numbers reveal a truth that is too often hidden behind the opinions, personal bias, and unfair prejudice that we use as tools to help us see the world the way we want.
Numbers simply are.
Within this world of numbers however, there are subsets. Some numbers mean more than others. Some numbers carry more weight. Some numbers tell more of the story.
When it comes to Tim Tebow, numbers have been used to show how ineffective he is, to demonstrate how inaccurate he is, and to illustrate how inept he is at the quarterback position. However the comparisons have been selective, dismissing his good performances against the Vikings and the Steelers as flukes or luck and picking his worst single game or pre-season performances and highlighting them over and over again on ESPN to reinforce his ineptitude as a quarterback.
The question that seems to be asked, answered and argued all of the time is whether or not Tebow is a good enough quarterback to play in the NFL. To help answer that question without bias or opinion we need to use numbers. To have a fair comparison of quarterbacks, the numbers to be compared need to be from the same period of time within a players’ career. The obvious time period to compare since Tebow has only played 16 games, and there are 16 total games in a season is the first 16 games. For most quarterbacks their first 16 games take place in multiple seasons and may have gaps where they ride the bench for a few games, so the first 16 games are those games when a player plays a minimum of 2 quarters regardless of season or number of games between. If a playoff games occurs before the first 16 regular season games are reached, then they are counted in the first 16.
The statistics to be compared are the standard quarterback stats:
Total TDs
Completion %
Total Pass Yards
Average Yards per Completion
Interceptions
W-L Record
QB Passer Rating
When a comparison was done between Tebow and 15 Super Bowl winners, 10 Hall of Fame inductees, and several past and present quarterbacks, the numbers lead to one very decisive conclusion....Tim Tebow can play quarterback in the NFL.
Not only can he play quarterback in the NFL, he ranks among the elite as compared through the first 16 games.
While Tebow scored one of the highest number of total touchdowns with 28, he doesn’t excel in all of the categories, as you would suspect he ranks lower in Completion %, with a 47.1%, and he is average in Passing Yards with 2753, however he had the highest Average Yards Per Completion with 15.64, the fewest Interceptions with only 9, a W-L Record of 9-7, and a QB Passer Rating of 78.12.Those numbers rank him #2 overall only behind Aaron Rodgers over the first 16 games of the 28 quarterbacks compared in the study.
For a heads up comparison, Elway came in with the lowest number of total touchdowns with a meager 11, he had a lower 46.6 Completion %, fewer Passing Yards at 2282, an Average Yards per Completion of 14.1, he threw 19 Interceptions, finished with an 8-8 record and had an abysmal QB Passer Rating of 55.25.
It should be understood that the list of QBs is only a partial list and will grow over time and become more complete, however the current names on the list represent some of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game including Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Drew Brees, John Elway, Steve Young, Jonny Unitas, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Joe Namath, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Bob Griese, and Troy Aikman as well as other current and past players.
The next time Tebow comes up in conversation, and you know he will, and someone tries to explain to you why he was such a bad quarterback and never should have played in the NFL, ask them for some statistics to back that up. Not statistics from practice scrimmage games against his own defense, or meaningless preseason games with rookie third and fourth string players, but statistics from real games that go in the W-L column and determine if a team makes the playoffs or not. Games that matter.
Now this isn’t really fair because you already know those statistics and how he compares to some of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but let them mumble around like Merrill Hodge and wait for them to throw out Tebow’s 2/8 for 69 yards, 1 interception and 1 TD game against Kansas City. Then casually respond by reminding them that Denver Won that game.
Then ask them if they were aware that John Elway, who went to 6 Super Bowls and won back to back Super Bowls, went 1/8 for 14 yards and 1 interception in his first 16.
Did they know that Eli Manning who won 2 Super Bowls went 4/18 for 27 yards and 2 interceptions in a loss in his first 16.
Were they aware that Terry Bradshaw, who won 4 Super Bowls, went 3/12 for 30 yards and 2 interceptions in a Loss, and also went 3/20 for 110 yards and 4 interceptions in a Loss during his first 16.
Continue by informing them that Bob Griese who went to 3 Super Bowls winning 2 of them, who also quarterbacked the only undefeated team in NFL history, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, went 2/17 for 24 yards and 2 interceptions in a Loss in his first 16. That is an 11.7 Completion % with a QB Rating of 0.0.
Eventually they will get the idea. Statistics show that every quarterback has those moments, those games when they look like anything but an NFL quarterback.
One thing statistics don’t show is that Tebow’s first 16 took place with a coach, John Fox, who mocked his faith in the post-game press conference and with a VP in Charge of Football Operations, John Elway, who reminded everyone of the team owner The Judge in "The Natural" just waiting for the team to lose to secure a decent draft spot and secretly cringing every time Tebow won, and lets not forget the media circus and constant scrutiny that surrounded his entire first 16.
Under those conditions, to put up the numbers that he did and rank where he does against the games’ best over their first 16, the numbers don’t lie....Tebow is an NFL quarterback.
