Hartnett: Tebow's Flaws Apparent At Jets Camp
By Sean Hartnett
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All eyes are focused on the No. 15 jersey of Tim Tebow. The backup quarterback has garnered megastar attention at Jets' Cortland training camp as 'Tebowmania' has drawn unprecedented droves of media coverage to the SUNY campus.
Tebow has put in hours of hard work with the Jets' coaches, even hanging around to work on extra drills. It's clear that Tebow brings a tremendous work ethic to Jets camp. He's putting in the hard work and saying all the right things.
The attention and intrigue is completely out of Tebow's control. He's doing his best to focus on improving his deficiencies -- and Tebow certainly has his work cut out for him.
Tebow struggles when he puts his hands underneath the center in the pro-style offense. He has difficulty processing reads in the pocket and takes an unusually long time to deliver the ball.
Generally, it has taken Tebow between three and four seconds to make his read and release passes. During drills, he's unable to make appropriate reads before the offensive line has collapses, resulting in sacks.
Should Tebow be asked to run a pro-style offense in actual NFL games, he must cut down his decision-making process. Otherwise, he will be sacked frequently or forced into bad reads -- resulting in interceptions.
Compared to Tebow, Mark Sanchez is able to release the ball one and a half seconds faster. That is the difference between a first down completion and taking a sack. Sanchez also has significantly better zip on his passes and arm strength needed to complete deep passes.
Tebow's long throws leave plenty to be desired. Often, his long passes tend to wobble. His arm lacks the zip needed to avoid interceptions on deep routes.
In practice, Tebow is throwing to uncovered receivers. Many of these 'wobbly duck passes' would give opposing NFL cornerbacks the time needed to step in front of a Jets' receiver for any easy interception.
We all know what Tebow is -- a shotgun quarterback who can occasionally make highlight plays using his feet and scrambling abilities.
The Jets are trying to fit Tebow, a square peg, into a round hole by attempting to mold him into a pocket passer. It's clear he doesn't have the attributes to ever run an NFL pro-style offense.
So much for football analysts and fans predicting Tebow will start for the Jets by Week 5. Unless Sanchez suffers an unplayable injury, Tebow will not start a single game this season.
Will Tebow grasp the Jets' pro-style offense? Share your thoughts below and send your tweets to @HartnettWFAN.
