If you watched Friday night’s Patriots game from your couch, you had more passing yards than Tim Tebow.
But Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he’s still seeing progress from his third-stringer, who was 1-of-7 for minus-1 yards passing against the Buccaneers.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Belichick replied to a question about whether Tebow was moving in the right direction, via Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com.
“I think if you look at the entire week last week, it would look different than the game did,” Belichick added. “In some cases, the game looked better for some players, and in some cases the game didn’t look as good as some other things during the week. So we’ll just have to take all that into consideration.”
Belichick stressed that Tebow can be viewed differently because he’s a different kind of quarterback. He’s not a polished dropback passer (or even a good one), but there are apparently things there they think are worth investing time in.
“I think the passing game is still the passing game,” Belichick said. “But all players have different skill sets. Some guys do some things better than others. You have to look at the total package and what they’re able to do in all areas of the game. I think we see a lot of good quarterbacks in the NFL, they aren’t all maybe the best passers but their ability to run and pass, and make plays however they make them, . . . makes them a high-level player.
“I don’t think there is one specific style you have to have, or don’t have to have. In the end, it’s about production and being able to do enough things to be successful.”
Whether they’re interested in spending the time to create that kind of environment for Tebow remains to be seen. But it’s obvious to even a non-expert that expecting him to run the same kind of offense as Tom Brady (or even Ryan Mallett) is a waste of effort for everyone involved.