Talking Tebow ... Everyone Else Does

I grew up loving Joe Namath and the NY Jets.

So even though I gravitated to the NY Giants when my son Dave (known as The Professor in Section 137 for his football acumen) started loving football in the late 1990s and we started going to all the Giants games, I can't let a Jets QB Controversy go without a few thoughts..

Especially when I can mix business (MeiGray sold one 2012 NY Jets white Tebow game-worn jersey for $7,000) with the pleasure of following NFL football.

I understand the fascination with Tebow, the absolute joy he brought fans (including my nephew Cullen) in Florida throughout his college career as a Gator. I understand why collectors would spend $5K, $10K, $15K on a jersey Tebow wore in college, or during his scintillating 2011 season in Denver.

What I cannot understand is how and why the NY Jets spoiled a season by bringing Tebow in and disrespecting a good player and a good man by the way they handled him all year long.

Tebow is a polarizing athlete. He does not possess prototypical QB skills. He throws poorly, does not have an NFL-caliber arm. But he runs well, has terrific football instincts, and he wins. He has won throughout his career.

What were the Jets thinking in 2012? No matter whose call the addition of Tebow was _ ownership to add juice to the off-season and sell tickets; the GM to give head coach Rex Ryan a unique weapon, or Ryan himself to push QB Mark Sanchez _ the personnel move was atrocious because it exposed the Jets' two biggest problems:

1. Poor management
2. Poor coaching

You cannot add a player whose very addition to the locker room adversely affects your starting quarterback.
You cannot add a player whose abilities are not maximized by the offensive coordinator and the playbook.

You cannot go 15 weeks into an NFL season, spending $2.668,750 against the salary cap for a player you won't use as your No. 2 quarterback despite being No. 2 on the depth chart, and who offensive coordinator Tony Sparano can't incorporate into an offense that is starving for creativity.

And if this coaching staff had any read on their incumbent No. 1, Sanchez, they should have known that Tebow over his shoulder was not going to improve his play. And that's what happened.

Benching Sanchez for the final two games of a forgotten season and giving the starting job to the No. 3, second-year QB Greg McElroy, was insulting to Tebow. It was unfair. It sends a message to the Jets' players that anybody could be unceremoniously discarded

Tebow is better than McElroy. Tebow took the 2011 Denver Broncos to the playoffs and shocked the Pittsburgh Steelers in his first NFL playoff start. I don't care if Tebow can't throw well, or can't read defenses well, or won't ever win a Super Bowl. He earned the right to start Sunday because of the honorable way he handled a horrible situation.

Is Rex Ryan afraid Tebow would do well and make him look bad? If so, he is not an NFL-caliber head coach ... which I believe he is not. He's a great defensive coordinator who is in over his head as a head coach.

Is the personnel department legitimately assessing that Tebow is not as good as Greg McElroy? If so, why was he on the team all season?

Either way, the Jets botched Tebow Time. After they release him, or trade him for a seventh-round draft choice, they had better hope he doesn't lead the 2013 Jacksonville Jaguars to the playoffs.