http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5933385
The Denver Broncos will give rookie quarterback Tim Tebow his first NFL start Sunday at Oakland, a team source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Saturday.
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Agreed....... A total mystery
You can bet the Oakland D will be licking their chops though....
QB draw on 3rd and 24 is an outstanding call....w/ Tebow at QB....otherwise a draw to a RB is a perfect call on 3rd and 24. You don't expect to get the first down on 3rd and 24, so getting 6-10 yards and punting it away is generally a good call (especially early in the game).
Denver has a lot of problems. It's amazing an NFL franchise like Denver can fall this far....
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Teams are getting grinded down and have no clue:
http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...taining-football-tactics-heart-denver-success
Obviously one aspect of the string of Denver fourth-quarter comebacks is that Tebow is a special player. Equally important, since football is a team sport, is that other members of the Broncos squad are performing well. But there is a football-tactics aspect, too.
There is a method to the Broncos' crazed comebacks.
Denver has become the NFL's top rushing team, and the running game often starts slowly. In the first half the defense is fresh, and may stop the run. By the fourth quarter, the front seven is tired and becomes vulnerable. Denver is hammering opponents with rush after rush in the early part of the game, and seeming not to accomplish much. Then the Broncos switch to attack mode in the fourth quarter, when the defense is tired.
Denver's use of the high-school-style zone-read option also forces defenses to defend all 11 Broncos players on rushing downs. Usually in the NFL, on a rush down the defense defends only 10 players. Against the Broncos, all 11 offensive players must be defended. By the fourth quarter, defenders are more winded than they would be against a standard offense. Tebow carried 12 times versus Chicago, and there were many other downs on which he ran out zone-read fakes, forcing the defense to account for him. That's a lot of snaps on which the Bears' defense had a more tiring task than it would have had against most of the NFL's teams. By late in the fourth quarter, Chicago's defenders were visibly sucking air -- the high altitude didn't help either. On Denver's touchdown drive that began with 4:34, the Bears' defensive line got no push -- merely brushed the offensive line, then stood there watching Tebow.
So it's not just craziness in these Denver comebacks, though craziness surely is a big factor in the entertainment value. It's tactics. Denver is using tactics that are likely to result in an explosion of yardage late in the game. Opponents need to realize this, and "roll" their defenses -- bringing personnel out to rest -- from the first quarter on.
