Tebowmania is alive and well, at least for three more days. That's when the Broncos come to Foxboro to face the Patriots in the AFC Divisional round. Denver is coming off an overtime victory over the heavily favored Steelers and the Patriots are coming off the bye week they earned by virtue of having the conference's best record.
But here's the thing: even though the Broncos backed into the postseason at 8-8 they do have a playoff win since the 2007 season. The Patriots do not. That shouldn't have any bearing on Saturday's result, just another peculiar fact that only makes sense when viewed through the lens of Tebow's powers, imagined or otherwise.
Whatever the Broncos' second-year quarterback may have willed his team to do in previous games, he had no answer for Bill Belichick and the Patriots the first time they met in Week 15. New England cruised to a 41-23 victory and things don't look to get any easier for Denver this time around.
"(Belichick) has confused a lot of quarterbacks and stopped a lot of offenses," Tebow said Tuesday according to the Denver Post. "They do a lot of different things."
And Broncos guard Russ Hochstein, who played for Belichick in New England, said nothing his former coach might do would surprise him.
They're very well-coached, a very disciplined team," he said. "Their record speaks for itself. We'll try to be ready for everything. We expect a lot of different fronts. Anything they throw at us, we have to find an answer for."
Tebow has been the most scrutinized quarterback in the NFL this season but his 316 passing yards against the Steelers last Sunday wasn't completely unexpected to everyone.
"Really, one of the best things that Tebow did at Florida was he threw the ball downfield really well," Nick Caserio, the Patriots' director of player personnel, said this week. "They hit some big plays (Sunday), which was a big part of his success. I mean, anytime you have 10 completions and 316 yards passing, I would say that's a pretty good day in the passing game."
Include Belichick's name among the unsurprised.
"He's had a real good season," the Pats coach said. "He does a lot of things well. He's a winner, and he does things to help his team win. I have a lot of respect for him and the way he plays the game and certainly his performance and production. (Against Pittsburgh), he took advantage of those opportunities and put the ball on the money."
Tebow, as he is known to do, had only laudatory things to say about the opposition, this time Tom Brady.
“Number one, he’s one of the best when it comes to championships," he said via ESPNBoston. "He’s won three championships and played great in them and he played great in a fourth one (a last-second loss to the Giants). Ultimately, as a quarterback, that’s what you want to accomplish.
“It’s how he handles himself. The emotion he plays with. The calmness he plays with. His accuracy, his leadership. As a young quarterback he’s someone I can learn from. He’s one of the best in the business. He’ll go down as one of the (all-time) best. My hat is off to him. He’s a great QB and has been his whole career.”
It's not exactly Jets-Pats week, is it?
