Tim Tebow
What Tebow Said After Beating Steelers; No Mention of 3:16
By TONI MONKOVIC
It was great football theater, but a lot of the talk on Monday about the Broncos-Steelers game figures to be about Tim Tebow’s 316 passing yards and his favorite Bible verse, 3:16. Which is harmless fun, or another opportunity to argue about religion (as a Fifth Down post argued last month, that would be a shame.)
Here are a few postgame quotations from the Broncos, then the transcript from Tim Tebow’s news conference, as provided by the Broncos’ Web site(No, no mention of 3:16).
“He really answered the bell. He came out, played great. And you know what? He pulled that trigger. He put it on the money. I love it. It’s perfect.” – John Elway, Broncos vice president
“When I saw him scoring, I jumped in the stands. It was my first time doing that.”
— Tim Tebow on his reaction to Demaryius Thomas’s touchdown in overtime
— Tim Tebow on his reaction to Demaryius Thomas’s touchdown in overtime
“We had struggled over the last couple of weeks, and I think a lot of that progress was because of our quarterback. A lot is said. A lot was written. A lot of critique on him, and I thought he stepped up in a huge way tonight.” John Fox, Broncos coach.
“He showed that he’s a quarterback in the NFL. Case closed. They said he can’t throw. They said we weren’t going to be able to move the ball on them. We did that. I wonder what they’re going to say next week.” Willis McGahee, on what Tebow proved
TIM TEBOW POSTGAME TRANSCRIPT
On feeling pressure in his first postseason
“I don’t know if I felt extra pressure from it. I knew it was a big game. We had a great week of practice—we practiced hard—and I felt like we had a great game plan, and we were playing a very good Pittsburgh Steelers team. They came out and they played hard, and we played hard, and it was a great game, and I’m very thankful we were able to get the win.
“I don’t know if I felt extra pressure from it. I knew it was a big game. We had a great week of practice—we practiced hard—and I felt like we had a great game plan, and we were playing a very good Pittsburgh Steelers team. They came out and they played hard, and we played hard, and it was a great game, and I’m very thankful we were able to get the win.
“First and foremost I just want to thank my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He’s done so much in my life. And I also want to thank my teammates for the effort that they put out there and just showing so much character—whether it’s good; whether it’s bad—all year, and then our coaches, who every game, whether I’m doing good or bad, stick with me, and I’m very appreciative of that.”
On the winning play
“It’s a great call, first of all. It’s something we had ran earlier in the game. Just off some of our zone-read stuff, [Pittsburgh was] bringing the safeties, playing, like, a Blitz Zero look but not blitzing the [linebackers] inside. It was a great call by Coach [offensive coordinator Mike] McCoy. We wanted to try and get [WR Demaryius Thomas] in there, behind the safeties blitzing, and he did a great job getting off the corner and just waiting for the pass through the second window from the backer, and [I] just tried to fit it in there, and he made a great catch and a great run after the catch, and the offensive line blocked phenomenal. It was also a great call. It’s a pretty good fake, and [RB] Willis [McGahee] really sold it, and the [offensive] line really sold it, so [Pittsburgh] couldn’t really get a lot of pressure, and [Thomas] made a heck of a play.”
“It’s a great call, first of all. It’s something we had ran earlier in the game. Just off some of our zone-read stuff, [Pittsburgh was] bringing the safeties, playing, like, a Blitz Zero look but not blitzing the [linebackers] inside. It was a great call by Coach [offensive coordinator Mike] McCoy. We wanted to try and get [WR Demaryius Thomas] in there, behind the safeties blitzing, and he did a great job getting off the corner and just waiting for the pass through the second window from the backer, and [I] just tried to fit it in there, and he made a great catch and a great run after the catch, and the offensive line blocked phenomenal. It was also a great call. It’s a pretty good fake, and [RB] Willis [McGahee] really sold it, and the [offensive] line really sold it, so [Pittsburgh] couldn’t really get a lot of pressure, and [Thomas] made a heck of a play.”
On WR Demaryius Thomas’s performance (Four receptions, 204 yards)
“I think a lot of different guys stepped up and made plays, including [Thomas]. He just did a great job. I think the coaches coached him up well this week on how to attack the corners and giving him a lot of different looks, with splits, with timing, with the different play actions, double moves, and he did a great job with it and just made a bunch of big plays.”
“I think a lot of different guys stepped up and made plays, including [Thomas]. He just did a great job. I think the coaches coached him up well this week on how to attack the corners and giving him a lot of different looks, with splits, with timing, with the different play actions, double moves, and he did a great job with it and just made a bunch of big plays.”
On if he was more aggressive in the past game than in the past month
“I think it’s just a mentality, being aggressive. Whether it’s in the pocket, when I was stepping up and I start to scramble, which we got a few first downs on that, [or] whether it’s when I’m stepping up and giving a receiver an opportunity on a deep ball. Like, early, on third down, beginning of the second quarter, when I hit [WR Demaryius Thomas] down the sideline—that’s a play I was being very aggressive, trusting him. I couldn’t see exactly where the [defensive back] was—it was kind of a broken play—[I] just trusted him, and he made a great play.”
“I think it’s just a mentality, being aggressive. Whether it’s in the pocket, when I was stepping up and I start to scramble, which we got a few first downs on that, [or] whether it’s when I’m stepping up and giving a receiver an opportunity on a deep ball. Like, early, on third down, beginning of the second quarter, when I hit [WR Demaryius Thomas] down the sideline—that’s a play I was being very aggressive, trusting him. I couldn’t see exactly where the [defensive back] was—it was kind of a broken play—[I] just trusted him, and he made a great play.”
More reactions are available at the Broncos’ site.
Extra point Tebow has mastered the language of deflecting credit. It makes for dry reading — too specific (with play jargon) to be understandable sometimes and too selfless to be insightful. But as Mark Kriegel of FoxSports.com writes, one of his best traits is humility.
