AMERICAN FOOTBALL PLAY-OFFS:TO BEGIN what turned out to be the biggest week of his professional football life, Tim Tebow was down in the dumps. All the Broncos were down. By now, everyone knows the Denver Broncos would snap out of their doldrums in time to stun the heavily-favoured Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in overtime on Sunday.
Tebow’s exhilarating 80-yard dart-and-run pass play targeted Demaryius Thomas, who capped the game-winning touchdown on the first play in overtime by pulling a Bo Jackson and running straight into the tunnel that led to the victorious locker room.
“I was coming back out, and I got crushed,” Thomas said of his celebrating team-mates. “Everybody got me in the tunnel.”
The sellout crowd of more than 75,970 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High erupted in celebration. Witnesses said that in Denver neighbourhoods, delirious people were screaming from their balconies. Patrons at Denver-area bars were heard chanting, “Te-bow! Te-bow!”
Tebowmania is once again inflated. It was the Broncos’ first play-off victory in six years. Heads up, Josh McDaniels. The new assistant coach of the New England Patriots was the Broncos’ head coach in 2010 when he drafted Thomas and Tebow in the first round. Thomas, Tebow and the visiting Broncos will play New England on Saturday in the second round of the AFC play-offs. The winner advances to the AFC championship game.
Thomas should be known as Mr Big Catch. Just two years ago, the Broncos’ Brandon Marshall had 200 yards receiving while setting an NFL record with 21 catches. Thomas had 204 receiving yards in his first-ever play-off game on only four catches.
“This was the most accurate Tebow has been passing the ball,” Thomas said. “It was up to us as receivers to find the right spot. Tebow had just come off back-to-back rough performances against the lowly Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs to close out the regular season. He spent the week covering his ears from a deluge of insults from local and national media outlets.
Worse, Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs joined current players Steve Smith, Jermichael Finley and Joe Flacco in bashing Tebow, breaking the unwritten code already long broken by former players. “I don’t get it,” said Champ Bailey, the Broncos’ star cornerback. “You can say it looks different or whatever you want, but don’t say he won’t make it. You don’t do that. This is like a big fraternity for me. Guys who do that, I lose respect for them.”
So what did Tebow do? He went John 3:16. That’s what Tebow thinks when he hears 316, anyway. Broncos fans of all beliefs will remember Tebow throwing for 316 yards and two touchdowns, and running for another score to outduel two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger.
The week’s happy ending had such a sorrowful beginning. The Broncos not only had lost the regular-season final to Kyle Orton and the Kansas City Chiefs last week, they fell by an embarrassing 7-3 score. All seemed doomed, play-offs or not.
And the Broncos’ mood early last week reflected it. “I think that’s fair to say,” Tebow said in a quiet hallway outside the home locker room. “We were down, but it was like a focus and very intense frustration that we wanted to get back on the field to show that wasn’t us. I feel like our attitude and mind-set kind of grew all week.”
Tebow said he awoke from his doldrums Wednesday, when the Broncos began their formal preparations for the Steelers. During practice, a horn or whistle will blow marking the end of one period and the start of another. Tebow, the gung-ho Joe College guy that he is, sprinted from station to station. Everybody else walks or trots from one station to another.
Tebow – after four pre-season games, 16 regular-season games and 23 weeks of practice – sprinted from here to there. Between every period. At every practice. “I wanted to be focused and have that game face all week,” Tebow said. “Not that I wasn’t enjoying it, but I wanted to have that focus and concentration all week.”
Helping Tebow last week was a push from team front-office boss John Elway, who advised his young quarterback to “pull the trigger.” Tebow didn’t just pull the trigger, he started launching bombs. Early in the second quarter, he unleashed a beautiful 51-yard pass to Thomas. Seconds later, he threw a perfect 30-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Royal for a 7-6 lead.
“We tried to be aggressive,” Tebow said of Elway’s “pull the trigger” instruction. “I wanted to be aggressive and (offensive co-ordinator Mike) McCoy taught us to be aggressive, and guys really stepped up and made some great plays.”
The run-and-chuck offense was getting warmed up. On his next possession, Tebow connected with Thomas again, this time for a 58-yard pass play to the Steelers’ 12. One play later, Tebow ran eight yards on a quarterback draw off a four-receiver spread formation for a touchdown. The Broncos were up 20-6 at half-time, but Roethlisberger, playing on a severely sprained left ankle, brought the Steelers back to a 23-23 tie with a 31-yard scoring pass to Jerricho Cotchery with just under four minutes left.
“Yeah, I’ve watched him come through in Super Bowls,” Tebow said of Roethlisberger. “He’s such a clutch player. He was clutch today.”
Just as it appeared all was lost, Tebow delivered. The Steelers called tails and the coin came up heads for overtime. On the Broncos’ first play, from the 20, Tebow winged a perfect pass to Thomas, who was crossing from left to right. Thomas stiff-armed away from one defender, Ike Taylor, and outran another who had the angle – and kept running until he left the stadium.
“He can still throw the ball better,” Broncos running back Willis McGahee said of Tebow. “It’s not like he can’t do it. He did it. But I know what they’re going to say next week.
“What’s that?”
“Can he do it again?” McGahee said.
Denver Post
SATURDAY
NFC – New Orleans Saints v San Franciso 49ers, 4.30 (ET).
AFC – Denver Broncos v New England Patriots, 8.0 (ET)
SUNDAY
AFC – Houston Texans v Baltimore Ravens, 1.0 (ET)
NFC – New York Giants v Green Bay Packers, 4.30 (ET)
WEEKEND RESULTS
Wild Card matches
Cincinnati 10 Houston 31
Detroit 28 New Orleans 45
Atlanta 2 Giants 24
Pittsburgh 23 Denver 29 (OT)
