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Former Heisman winner deserves time at the helm

COUNTERPOINT - Tebow brings excitement and winning back to Broncos fans

I'm a life-long Broncos fan with memories of the Orange Crush defense and of course John 'The Game is Never Over' Elway. But never has a football season been so fun for me to follow since Denver appointed Tim Tebow as its starting quarterback back in October.

Sitting at 1-4 this looked to be another in a series of lost seasons since Elway retired at the turn of the century. But enter Tebow and suddenly Sundays have become 'Must-See' TV.

The thrilling comebacks and unbelievable finishes have brought hope back to the fourth quarter for Denver fans in a way that only a certain #7 could once do.

While many around the NFL want to focus on his errant and often wobbly throws, I look at what his coaches and teammates bring up when talking of Tebow - leadership, passion and character.

This is why Denver is never out of any game, because even down double-digits with five minutes to go, Tebow is on the sideline encouraging his teammates to continue the fight. His spirit gets the best out of everyone on the team, and it's that never-give-up attitude that we admire.

Speaking of admire, it is refreshing to see a player display sportsmanship that is sorely lacking on our sports landscape today. Most QBs fire an interception and the camera catches them chewing out a teammate for running a 'wrong' route. But with Tebow he jumps up quickly after being hit and offers a 'good play, good hit' to the tackler who just brought him down.

After a win, he is quick to deflect the credit to his teammates. After a loss, he accepts his role in the team's mistakes and vows to do his best to get better.

As fans, we need to be willing to give Tebow something that many NFL analysts seem unwilling to do - time.

We are too quick to judge players. You are only as good as your stat line from the previous week.

Players need a longer leash, a chance to prove themselves over the course of several seasons. Remember, this is only Tebow's second year in the NFL and this last off-season was lost to the labor lockout.

The tendency is to overanalyze players until we can place them into a robotic box. You must have a fluid throwing motion, perfect feet position, release the ball in 3.2 seconds, and on down the line. Whatever happened to some creativity out there on the field. Let's not forget the value of making plays. The goal after all is to get the ball into the end zone, not to throw it through a tire.

Former Broncos QB Kyle Orton, now with Kansas City, fires a nice spiral, but he often tossed those passes 5 yards out of bounds after giving up on the play.

Counter that with Tebow who keeps plays alive with his ability to bounce off charging lineman and to scramble around in the backfield. Sure his 30-yard pass downfield might not be a work of art, but it gives his teammates a chance to make a play.

I don't care how many yards you throw for or how many TDs you pile up. A quarterback's job is to lead their team to victory. The stats I care about are Ws and Ls. To this point, Tebow is 7-3 in that category, Kyle Orton was 1-4 in his time with the Broncos.

When those two QBs take to the field this Sunday with Denver's season in the balance, the only stat that will matter is which team puts up the most points.

I'm confident Tebow has what it takes to get that done.