Comparison of the Year

Tomorrow is the big day, and I haven’t slept since Sunday. I’ve been drinking a lot of soda and eating a lot of sugar. Of course, I turn on the TV at 2 to listen to Felger and Mazz and as I am researching my statistics for this comparison I am about to give you, they bring up the same comparison. Always stealing my thunder, not that any of you listen or watch them anyways. So before I tell you this I just want to make it clear that I am in no way saying Tebow is going to be as good as Brady.

We all know the amount of scrutiny Tim Tebow has been under coming into the league, and everything he does has been analyzed over and over and over again. Tom Brady was an end of the draft pick who nobody knew. In Brady’s first 11 games in his 2nd season, which was 2001 when he led them to the Super Bowl, Brady threw and rushed for 2,278 yards, 16 total touchdowns and 9 interceptions while posting an 8-3 record. Tim Tebow in his first 11 games in his second season he threw and rushed for 2,317 yards, 16 total touchdowns, and 6 interceptions while posting a 7-4 record. Eerily similar? I think so. If you took these two players, put the stats in front of someone who didn’t know who they were, they would say they were about the same. The difference now is that Tim Tebow has been under a microscope since he came out of college. He had expectations the second he stepped on the field, and because of some of his flaws, people are quick to judge his ability when in reality, we all forget he is still a rookie for the most part. This is his first full season (if you want to call 11 games a full season) and his numbers are the same as Brady’s in his first full season. Now I won’t be ridiculous and claim Tim Tebow will be as good as Brady someday or that he’s better than him because it’s not true. Tom Brady and Tim Tebow have what Skip Bayless calls the “clutch gene” that many players don’t possess. Tom Brady told Robert Kraft after they had drafted him that he was going to be the best decision he ever made.

That season I was comparing Tebow to Brady was 2001, and that was the year Drew Bledsoe went down against the Jets in week 2. That year, the Patriots as a team were much better than the Broncos are as a team this year. The Patriots had a top 5 defense. The playoff games the Patriots won that year were won by defense, special teams, and of course the one referee in the entire world who knew what the tuck rule was. It is crazy to even think about what would have transpired the next few years had that ref been like the rest of the world and not known that new rule. The Patriots would have lost in that first round and I wonder if they would have been the same team going forward? I think it was Troy Brown who had the big touchdown against the Steelers in the AFC Championship on the punt return that won them the game in a game that everyone expected them to lose. Had Brady come out of college as a top prospect with high expectations, what would we have said about his numbers that season? Would he be thrown under the bus in games they lost and praised in games they won? Would his success have been written off because it’s what people expect he should do? If Tebow pulls off the unthinkable and wins the Super Bowl, would anyone give him credit? Probably not, but I just thought that was an interesting comparison I found which you all should look at and think about. Enjoy the Patriot’s last game of the year tomorrow, it’s going to be a long offseason. Make sure you guys tweet @Ochocinco for all his help this year.