Nick Creegan Interviews ESPN's Skip Bayless & Rob Parker

Part 1

Part 2


Nick Creegan

Skip Bayless and Rob Parker share their opinions about Blake Griffen's race along with their thoughts on other athletes.

Give Him a Chance

Nick Creegan

Through the “Tebowing” imitations, to being considered a QB who will never prosper in the NFL and to being mocked for wearing his religion on his sleeve, Tim Tebow still manages to stay poised.

After a devastating blowout loss a week ago to the Detroit Lions, Tebow was challenged for the first time in his football career. He responded Sunday to this adversity he faced from the media and from his Denver teammates by leading the Broncos to a 38-24 victory over their division rival, the Oakland Raiders.

He not only rushed for 118 yards — the only QB to do so this season — on 11 carries, Tebow also threw touchdown passes of 27 yards to Eric Decker and 26 yards to Eddie Royal with no interceptions.

Tebow’s dual-threat game complemented running back Willis McGahee well, and they became the Broncos' first quarterback-running back combination to rush for 100 yards each in the same game since Norris Weese and Otis Armstrong pulled off the feat in 1976.

Now, Tim Tebow is far from the team’s savior, but why not give him a chance to develop?

It’s too early to consider him a bust. Five starts into a NFL career do not define an elite quarterback or turn him into the next Ryan Leaf. Just look at the first five starts of some of the current “elite” quarterbacks:

• The Colts' Peyton Manning, a No. 1 overall pick, went 1-4 with four touchdowns and 12 interceptions before going on to win a Super Bowl.
• The Giants' Eli Manning, No. 1 pick (traded from Chargers after the draft) went 0-5 with three touchdowns and seven interceptions. He, too, went on to win a Super Bowl.
• The Packers' Aaron Rodgers, after sitting behind Brett Favre, went 2-3 as a starter, finally, in his fourth season. His record included nine touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also won a Super Bowl.

In his first five starts, Tebow has passed for 984 yards, rushed for 321 yards and completed 48.3 percent of his passes. So he’s in good company in terms of his mixed results, but he has shown signs of future success. He just has to fine-tune his accuracy and learn to convert third downs.

But some who follow the Broncos argue that veteran Kyle Orton should still be starting because he’s the best option that the team has for winning this season.

What are these Tebow critics basing that on?

The last time I checked Orton won only three games last year.

In the past two seasons, the Broncos are 4-15 when Tebow doesn't start; they are 3-3 when he does. So it looks as if Denver has found its quarterback of tomorrow, and it’s not Orton.

But, then again, Andrew Luck hasn’t entered the NFL draft yet.