Tim Tebow is not the quarterback the Broncos are looking for

When pressed by storm troopers upon entering Mos Eisley, Obi Wan Kenobi waved his hand and said, “These are not the droids you’re looking for. Move along.” Similarly, John Elway, John Fox and Brian Xanders need to move along from the Tim Tebow experiment.

While he hasn’t had enough time as a starter to definitively proclaim his demise, his past two games have been thoroughly underwhelming. As a matter of fact, they’ve been deplorable. An unconscionable Miami Dolphins defensive collapse saved his bacon two weeks ago and he was able to squeak out a victory. This past Sunday against the Detroit Lions, Tebow looked totally out of his depth and nothing like an actual NFL quarterback.

Sure, he put together a late touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, but up to that point he was 8 for 25 with 87 passing yards and an interception. He was sacked seven times. That is worse than your normal, run-of-the-mill Curtis Painter bad. That is historically bad.

Statistics don’t show the full story, though. Watching the games showed Tebow’s egregious overthrows, panic in the pocket and sloppy footwork in its full awfulness. Tebow may yet find a helpful role on an NFL team, but I don’t think it will be as a starting quarterback.

He could find a role as a fullback or tight end if he could enhance his blocking and pass-catching skills. Teams could also make use of him as a latter-day Kordell Stewart as a change-of-pace quarterback for special packages. His destiny does not seem to be as a starter, however.

Head coach John Fox has said that he has at least one more week to show that he can move the Broncos offense. If Tebow looks like he did against the Lions, we’ll surely see Brady Quinn under center Week 10 for their game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tim Tebow is not the only problem area for the team. I’ve never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villany than the Broncos defensive line and secondary (with the exception of Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey). John Elway and the rest of the Broncos staff will have their work cut out for them in the 2012 draft to try to restock a talent-poor defense, but it’s likely that they will need to find a quarterback as well.

Tebow is not who they are looking for at that position. College quarterback studs like Kellen Moore, Landry Jones, Nick Foles are much more likely to be the next Luke Skywalker for the Broncos.