Tim Tebow showed off his arm at the Jets’ training camp today, and the reviews were not encouraging.
Tebow threw a few wobbly and underthrown deep balls and heard groans from the fans, Jenny Vrentas of the Star-Ledger reports, and he heard it even more when he struggled while leading the second-string offense in 11-on-11 drills.
Tebow completed three of his eight passes while running the offense, and when he held onto the ball too long on another play, a fan yelled, “Throw it, Tebow!” His bad passes were met with jeers of “Tebow, come on!” and “That’s a Tebow ball!”
It’s worth noting, however, that training camp practice doesn’t take advantage of what Tebow does well. When Tebow thrives is when a play breaks down and he’s able to improvise. In training camp the quarterbacks wear red jerseys, the coaches blow the play dead when it breaks down, and a quarterback who can break tackles and make plays with his feet never gets a chance to show his stuff. So just because Tebow doesn’t look good right now doesn’t mean he can’t come in and provide a spark for the Jets during the season, any more than last year’s training camp reports that Tebow was the fourth best quarterback in Denver prevented him from eventually becoming the Broncos’ starter and leading Denver to the playoffs.
So don’t be surprised if the same Jets fans jeering Tebow on a Saturday in July are chanting his name on a Sunday in October.