KLEE: Welcome, Terrelle Tebow – Broncos have seen this act before
DENVER – Aside from stinking up the AFC West for the past decade, what’s the nicest thing the Raiders have done for the Broncos?
Those friendly Raiders are kind enough to appease thousands of Tim Tebow fans by returning their favorite son to the Rocky Mountains for “Monday Night Football.”
Only this time he wears a No. 2 jersey and his name is Terrelle Pryor.
Look closely, sports fans: New uniform, different name, same quarterback.
Terrelle Pryor is Tim Tebow.
I get it. You think I failed the same drug test as Von Miller. But check the tape and then the numbers comparing their first three starts in the NFL:
Tebow: 1-2 record, 40-for-81 passing (49 percent), 651 yards passing, four touchdowns, three interceptions, 21 rushes for 199 yards and three touchdowns.
Pryor: 1-2 record, 47-for-81 passing (58 percent), 493 passing yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions, 31 rushes for 211 yards and one touchdown.
Yes, it’s that freaky.
Can you guess what’s missing from Pryor’s quarterbacking resume?
All the venom and vitriol from the talking heads that ripped Tebow before, during and after he won an NFL playoff game, something the Raiders haven’t done since 2002.
What gives?
This isn’t a black-white thing. I don’t do black-white things. The color of a quarterback’s skin means as much to me as the five-day weather forecast.
I don’t care. Whatever it is, at some point I’m still going fishing.
The nasty reaction toward Tebow was absolutely, positively about his Christian faith. The haters didn’t appreciate his outspoken convictions. The arrows flew.
If not, then where’s the backlash directed at Pryor’s anemic start? Instead, here are the headlines I spotted with a quick Google search:
“Oakland Raiders’ Terrelle Pryor can restore Al Davis’ reputation”
“Terrelle Pryor move a positive for Raiders”
“Terrelle Pryor making a difference for Raiders”
Really? With those numbers?
I remember a far-less-favorable media response to the Tebow era, then and now.
Good on you, Terrelle Pryor. Snatch an opportunity and run with it. But the scouting report feels like deja vu: Plus athlete, tendency to run, bottom-third completion rate.
Converts more one-hoppers than Troy Tulowitzki.
Same quarterback.
Different response.
I can’t be the only one who sees this.
“Pryor’s better,” Broncos cornerback Chris Harris told me. Look, Chris knows quarterbacks better than I do. With two picks in two games, he has two more interceptions this season than I have in my lifetime.
“That’s what we’ve got to think in our head: Stay in coverage, stay in coverage,” Harris said. “That’s what makes him Terrelle Pryor, extending plays and trying to make a play out of no play.”
Hmm. Sounds familiar.
“People tend to slow down on mobile quarterbacks,” said Broncos linebacker Shaun Phillips, an AFC West lifer stolen from the Chargers. “But you’ve got to speed up.”
I don’t believe Tebow possesses the passing skills required of a quarterback who can win consistently in the NFL. Thirty-two teams agree with me.
This isn’t a question of whether Tebow, a confessed quarterback who must accept he’s not a quarterback, is getting a raw deal from the NFL. He’s getting the real deal.
This is about the hypocritical nastiness that defined his NFL career like silver face paint and spiky shoulder pads define the Black Hole.
Same quarterback.
Different response.
The experts suggest they are a pair of dual-threat quarterbacks.
I suggest this is a dual standard.
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Twitter: Klee_Gazette
Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor (2) runs against Jacksonville Jaguars middle linebacker Paul Posluszny (51) during an NFL football game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow carries the ball in overtime to get the ball close enough for Broncos kicker Matt Prater to get a field goal to win the game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Sunday, December 11, 2011. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett) Photo by JERILEE BENNETT/THE GAZETTE





