Call It Mile High

“I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions. Every decent and well-spoken individual affects and sways me more than is right. I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways… Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say `I think,’ `I am,’ but quotes some saint or sage.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson in “Self-Reliance”

Sports media analysts, especially ex-professional athletes, constantly remind the audience that they are paid to analyze the game, and that it is not their job to view the game through the eyes of a fan. Ok, fine. But are sports analysts paid to analyze the present or predict the future? Are they paid to foster debate? Is it their duty to entertain or inform an audience? Or are they paid to simply piss people off?

The correct answer to this question is that analysts are handsomely paid to analyze the present in an effort to give the illusion that they can predict the future, and, in doing so, ask questions and make statements that foster entertaining and informative banter. This banter results in debate that more often than not pisses off countless people.

National and local media has taken its coverage of and debate over the Broncos’ present situation much too far into the future.

In doing so, these pundits seem to ignore or even ruin a riveting and potentially historic sports story that re-writes itself each Sunday. Instead of worrying about who John Elway and Brian Xanders decide to scout[1], let’s celebrate defense, clutch performances, and, most importantly, playoff relevancy during the week of Thanksgiving 2011.

For a moment, please savor the simple fact that Orange Sundays in Denver truly matter again. Enjoy knowing that the Broncos are not a fractured team for the first time in two years. Take pleasure in observing how this team is feeding off of new energy and confidence as it rounds into top-form at the perfect time of year; when was the last time we saw real defense in Denver? Ignore the questions about next season because this season is so very far from over.

Speaking of fretting over the future, why are members of the media so worried about Tim Tebow’s?

Besides creating bold, clickable headlines that boost ratings, absolute prognostications about Tebow’s long-term future do little good, especially to the credibility of the analysts who continue to make overwhelmingly negative ones.

Yes, Tebow is not a good pocket passer, and he does not complete nearly a high enough percentage of his throws. But these are not observations that I’d expect a professional expert to provide me with; it’s readily apparent to anyone who watches ten minutes of a game that Tebow struggles to consistently throw a crisp ball, and even the most casual fan can look up Tebow’s passing percentage online.

Thus, it is infuriating and even a little confusing to hear analysts (paid, self-proclaimed football experts) stick to these obvious and thoughtless criticisms when evaluating Tebow’s performance. Delve a little deeper gentlemen, please. Oh, and do yourself and everyone else a favor by not declaring Tebow a failure or statistically comparable to John Elway after eight starts.

Resident ESPN sage Merril Hoge and “Pro Football Weekly’s” Hub Arkush sounded particularly asinine during their respective appearances on national programs earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Hoge appeared on “Mike and Mike” to weigh in on the AFC West playoff race. After Hoge predicted that the Raiders would win the division (fair enough), the talk shifted to Tebow’s game. Hoge remained consistent to his original opinion of Tebow, saying, “I think, it’s like the Wildcat…Wildcat became a non-factor.” He insinuated that opposing teams would ultimately solve Tebow and the Denver offense, and, as a result, the Broncos will not be able to sustain their current momentum. Hoge’s comments imply that he has not altered his original opinion that “it’s embarrassing to think the Broncos could win with Tim Tebow.”

Did the Jets not solve the Broncos’ offense last Thursday night? Other than the final drive orchestrated by Tebow being Tebow, the Jets eliminated the threat of the read-option running game. Did the Broncos still manage to beat a formidable Jets team? Yes. Did the Broncos beat a very formidable Jets defense led by a head coach who wrote a book on the 46-defense? Yes (and who cares about Rex’s book). Did this defensive-minded (and sexually deviant) head coach possess four weeks of Tebow tape from this year that he used to scheme against the Tebow-led offense? Yes. Did that defense successfully stop Tebow on the final drive? No. Is the Broncos’ defense currently more impressive than any facet of the Broncos’ offense? Yes. Is the team currently winning with Tim Tebow as its starting quarterback? Yes.

Like the mechanical flaws of Tebow’s throwing motion, the shortcomings of Hoge’s analysis are self-evident.

Given the realities of the current situation, Hoge should consider re-considering his consistent, unwavering criticism of Tim Tebow…or at least devise new criticisms! Lest we forget what Ralph Waldo Emerson thought of consistency. Emerson could have been writing about Merril Hoge when he declared, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds…with consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.”

The only thing more foolish than Hoge’s refusal to even slightly adjust his critique of Tebow is the fact that he has already written off Tebow’s entire career. It is legitimate to acknowledge and analyze Tebow’s traditional shortcomings. Yet, at this point, it is unfair and borders on incredulous for any analyst to declare Tebow incapable of both learning the quarterback position and succeeding in the future, especially since Tebow is succeeding in the present despite posting unimpressive traditional statistics.

Speaking of statistics, how many interceptions has Tebow thrown in five starts? Oh yeah, one. No one can predict the future, not even Merril Hoge.

Hoge’s analysis (or lack thereof) of Tebow and the playoff race also demonstrates the shortsightedness with which many analysts break down the Broncos these days.

Clearly, Tebow is only part of the reason why the Broncos are finally winning games. Yet, analysts still tend to tie the Broncos’ playoff hopes solely to his efforts. Hoge was asked about the team’s playoff chances, and he said that the team would go the way of the Wildcat (and the Dodo bird) because Tebow is the starting quarterback. Hoge constantly reminds us how much tape he watches, so why didn’t Von Miller, a healthy Elvis Dumervil, and a resolute Champ Bailey factor into his assessment of the Broncos’ playoff chances? Other players have been lost in the hype, too. Do not undervalue the inspired yet unheralded play of defensive anchors Marcus Thomas[2] and Brodrick Bunkley. These two guys have recently raised their level of play as much as anyone on the Broncos’ roster, and, as Hoge loves to say, they have “controlled the tempo” of the past three games from upfront.

Hub Arkush, an editor at ProFootballWeekly.com and the Bears’ former radio announcer, is another pundit who is as incapable of rationally making sense of the present as he is at predicting the future.

When asked about Tebow and the Broncos on “The Jim Rome Show” Tuesday, Arkush explained that the Broncos are in fact doing Tim Tebow a “disservice” by playing him right now. He also proclaimed that the Broncos are only playing Tebow because of his off-field appeal.

Um, what? Seriously, what the hell is this man talking about?

Arkush’s comments on the Broncos’ quarterback situation are stranger than his name.[3] Seriously, Arkush, as Mike Ditka would awkwardly yell, “C’mon, Hub! Stop it!”

Did Hub even watch the Broncos with Kyle Orton under center? Orton was effective in a Broncos uniform for six to ten games…ever. The Broncos offered Orton every chance to succeed with the franchise, and he simply could not pull off being the starting quarterback on Sundays, not to mention on third down, in the red zone, or in the clutch.

Moreover, Fox and Elway started Orton at the beginning of the season because they a) wanted to win this season and b) firmly believed that Orton gave them the best chance to do so. Well, Orton failed to live up to their expectations. Everyone who watched the Broncos’ first five games this year recalls that Orton failed to achieve even a mediocre level of play. He was pathetically bad, save for one game against a Cincinnati team that has overachieved this season; not even the all-knowing Arkush saw Cincy’s success coming this year[4].

Orton’s first half against San Diego in Week 5 was so putrid that Fox finally pulled Orton. Fox decided that Orton no longer gave the Broncos the best chance to win. After halftime, Fox inserted the team’s second-string quarterback (also known as Tim Tebow); mind you, this second-string quarterback experienced some success as a spot-starter in the final three games of the previous season.

Simply put, Orton deserved to be benched, Tebow deserved the chance to play, and the fans deserved a better on-field product.

Once Fox went to Tebow and the team began winning games, there was no turning back. There is certainly no turning back after the release of Kyle Orton. Tebow will start this Sunday because he not only gives the Broncos the best chance to win against San Diego, but also because the team has won four of five games with him under center. To suggest otherwise, literally ignores reality.

Additionally, I hope Arkush was just trying to “stir the pot” (God, I hate that expression) when he claimed that the Broncos are damaging Tebow by playing him in an offensive system tailored to accentuate his strengths. Arkush implied that the Broncos are threatening Tebow’s NFL future by not forcing him to pass (and fail) from inside the pocket. This assertion and line of logic is just a big bowl of wrong.

Let’s get this straight….

After a poor showing in Miami and a thrashing at the hands of Detroit in which Tebow consistently dropped back and threw from the pocket[5], Fox and Co. alters the offense. As a result, Tim Tebow morphs in one of the more effective game-managers in the NFL[6]. This new offense boosts the running game to the top of the NFL while enabling Tebow to make the special plays he consistently made in college that no one (paid experts included) thought he’d be able to make in the NFL. The Broncos win all three of their games after the coaching staff makes and firmly commits to these adjustments.

Am I missing something here? There is no way Tebow’s stock has dropped over the past three weeks.

The Broncos would have threatened Tebow’s future and hindered his development if Fox had forced him to play in the original Orton-based offense, which clearly did not allow Tebow to showcase his talents.[7] The Broncos would have threatened Tebow’s future if the franchise had simply not trusted him enough to be the starting quarterback. The Broncos would have threatened his future had the coaches not played him and instead started Brady Quinn.

It is John Fox’s goal to win week in and week out. This is true or else Kyle Orton would not have been the starting quarterback coming out of training camp. Considering the Broncos are winning, how is the new offense bad game-planning, poor roster management, or damning the development of a quarterback who continues to win while playing within its confines? Winning is good for the Broncos, it is great for Tim Tebow, and it is what makes us fans so proud of our franchise and city.

Emerson was also onto something when he wrote, “Man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.” In these words, Emerson identifies and laments our all too human tendency to ignore and belittle the present due to our interpretations of the past and our expectations for the future.

Let’s trust transcendentalism for at least one more weekend. Until the Broncos are out of the playoff picture, let’s stop fretting the future because the present holds some promise. Why let the excitement of a playoff race, a real pass rush, and all the other riches of the present pass you by?

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[1] This is their job by the way…I’d be much more concerned if these two had decided not to scout the Oklahoma-Baylor game. At the moment, let’s allow Elway and Xanders to do their job by worrying about the future. It’s time for us fans to simply enjoy the present.

[2] Like Champ Bailey, Marcus Thomas can do a backflip. The guy is an impressive athlete, and hopefully he’ll continue to shine because it looks like Dennis Allen, unlike his predecessors, will be here for more than 1 season.

[3] Having only met one Hub in my life, I’ve always wondered if Hub is short for something.

[4] Proof that Arkush (a paid expert) is not clairvoyant: he, like most of us mortals, predicted the Bengals to finish dead last in the AFC North in his pre-season predictions.

[5] Tebow threw the ball an un-Tebow-like 39 times in this game.

[6] See his 1 interception and his inherent ability to eat the clock.

[7] Re-watch the Detroit game if you do not believe me. Seriously.