After three weeks of futility to end the regular season, Denver’s quarterback suddenly found his groove again in the first half against the Steelers’ defense. Then, after Ben Roethlisberger led his squad back,
Tebow’s death-blow to Pittsburgh on the first play of overtime had more than just John Elway and all of Bronco Nation going nuts.
Thanks to ESPN, though, you already know all this. You’ve probably already seen the Tebow highlights so many times that you dream about them at night. From the moment Demaryius Thomas hauled in Tebow’s pass and stiff-armed his way to the Broncos’ first playoff victory since 2005, ESPN has been running Tebow coverage just about non-stop.
Undoubtedly, this will only intensify over the course of the week, as Denver gets closer to its postseason showdown with the Patriots in Foxboro.
By game time on Saturday, an avid SportsCenter watcher might actually begin to believe he or she knows Tebow firsthand, thanks to the numerous packages, interviews and “mic’d up” sessions on him that ESPN will have broadcast throughout the week.
It’s enough to make even a football-loving, Tebow-respecting fan like myself vow to never, ever watch SportsCenter again.
The real crime here is not the media’s infatuation with the miracle-working Tebow. The guy has had a great (lucky) season, and he deserves a lot of the hype that’s given to him. But at this point, it’s overkill.
We need to be realistic: Tim Tebow’s party is ending this Saturday at Gillette Stadium, and it’s not going to end well.
Leading up to this game, it’s the Patriots that SportsCenter should be dedicating the majority of their coverage to.
Not only is New England the No. 1 seed in the AFC and a favorite to represent the conference in the Super Bowl, the team just rehired Josh McDaniels, a man quite familiar with both the Broncos and the Patriots as the former Denver head coach who drafted Tebow 25th overall in 2010.
McDaniels has been hired as an offensive assistant for the rest of the season before he steps fully into the Offensive Coordinator role for next year. He will surely be looking to bounce his former organization from the playoffs, as his departure from the Mile-High City was anything but amicable.
Now that’s a storyline that I want to hear more about.
While ESPN is distracted by Tebow’s religious smoke and mirrors, Bill Belichick’s team will be preparing to make another championship postseason run. Yes, judging by the way Tebow and the rest of the Broncos’ offense played against Pittsburgh — and especially considering their domination of the Steelers’ offensive line — Denver should be good for a few scores against a Pats defense that ranked 31st in the league this year, allowing 411.1 yards per game. There’s simply no way Tebow and company can keep up with Tom Brady’s bunch, which averaged 32.1 points per game this year (3rd in the NFL, behind the Packers and Saints).
Remember the last time these two teams met? The Patriots’ offense put up 41 points without breaking a sweat and stopped Denver’s momentum dead in its tracks. Expect to read a different chapter of the same book this weekend.
My hope is that ESPN, and the sports media world as a whole, will give equal coverage to both teams heading into Saturday. This, however, is wishful thinking, as we all know it’s going to be Tebow Time on ESPN until the Broncos are eliminated from contention.
After Saturday, I’m looking forward to a few weeks of peace — that is, of not hearing Tebow’s name every time I turn on the TV — until at least the conclusion of the season. Of course, after that, SportsCenter viewers are going to be inundated with the likes of Mel Kiper, Jr. and Todd McShay telling us whether they think Tebow is the Broncos’ quarterback of the future.
It’s like I’m listening to the same song over and over, and it’s driving me bonkers.
Nothing personal against Timmy, but Tom and the Pats must — for the sanity of the general populace — put an end to “Tebow Mania” on Saturday.
Reach the columnist at kjnewma2@asu.edu
