GIVE TIM A CHANCE: With the Jets needing a spark, Mike Vaccaro writes it’s time to let loose with Tim Tebow’s segment of the playbook. (Anthony J. Causi)
The truth is, we’re asking the wrong question about the Jets. Inevitably, there is a rush now to start clamoring for Tim Tebow, because that is what happens when starting quarterbacks look as lost as Mark Sanchez looks now.
These movements never factor in the inconvenient fact that a first-string Tebow would be as doomed to fail as Sanchez, given the dearth of playmakers around him. So, no, the question shouldn’t be: Is it time for Tim Tebow to be the starting quarterback?
It should be: Isn’t it time to unshackle the man? Isn’t it time to unleash his segment of the playbook, which was supposed to be thicker than “The Power Broker?”
Like it or not, Sanchez, even in his present condition, is one of the few members of the Jets’ present incarnation — both sides of the ball — with a proven ability to make plays. He has led game-winning drives. He has won NFL playoff games. And on a team whose No. 1 receiving option is now Chaz Schilens, and whose best running back, Shonn Greene, is currently averaging 2.8 yards per carry, the last thing it needs is to have even fewer playmakers on the field.
So, yes, it is time for the Jets to get their money’s worth out of Tebow, time to stop treating Tony Sparano’s playbook like some kind of mystical land of hidden treats and unconventional goodies. Let’s see it. Did the Jets really take on Tebow — and all the attendant hysteria that goes along with Tebow — solely so he could look impressive blocking blitzing linebackers, so he could run pass patterns that go instantly viral when he gets conked in the back of the head, to be a decoy?
Think about that: Right now, Tim Tebow is earning $2 million to be a decoy.
That’s madness, of course, especially now, with Santonio Holmes and Dustin Keller on the shelf, with Braylon Edwards in Seattle, with LaDainian Tomlinson in a blissful state of retirement, with Thomas Jones and Plaxico Burress also out of the game, with all the men who used to be playmakers gone. Mike Tannenbaum has done a lousy job replenishing the exile of talent. That’s for him to answer for eventually. But the coaches need answers sooner than that.
“As competitive as Mark is, I know this is killing him,” coach Rex Ryan said yesterday. “He’s going to want to respond. But you have to stay within the structure of what we need, too. Do his job. When guys are open, get him the football. Don’t force the issue. And protect the football. I think he will. We’ve seen him before. He’s responded.”
He has responded when he has had guys he could lean on, veteran running backs and athletic receivers. What he has now is the occasional promise of Jeremy Kerley and … well, what? And that is precisely what Tebow the quarterback would get, too.
Here’s a fair question Jets fans have to be asking themselves: Was the acquisition of Tebow simply a ploy to get Sal Paolantonio more reps in Cortland this summer? If not … why is Tebow still wrapped in bubble wrap? He has attempted one pass this year, which would have resulted in a first down if not for Dedrick Epps, who turned in a classic Same-Old-Jets exacta Sunday by both fumbling and busting up his knee simultaneously.
It was something. It was progress. And it is getting old simply playing the how-many-snaps-will-he-play-today game. You know how many snaps he should play? As many as he can. As many as Sparano’s magic playbook allows. It’s time to see if Sparano’s cutting-edge mind can figure out how to make Tebow at least as useful as the 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick. If not?
Well, then you really can turn out the lights on the season. They’re dim now, and with reason, because this is a grim time for the Jets. Maybe this is one of those seasons that speeds south and never stops until it crashes in January. But at 2-2, don’t you at least have to attempt a rescue mission? Starting Tebow won’t make that happen.
Playing him just might.