Tebow a less than average QB

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Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow in action during the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the New England Patriots Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Updated: February 17, 2012 8:14AM

Maybe it was a Holy Anger, but dozens of citizens of Tebow Nation were seriously ticked off at me last Saturday afternoon over a few tweets.

First tweet: “What do Neil Lomax, Jeff Hostetler, Jeff George, Elvis Grbac, Jon Kitna, Chad Henne & Trent Edwards have in common?”

Answer: “All have higher career passer ratings than Tebow.”

I tweeted this knowing Tebow has other skills that don’t factor into QB passer ratings, including his mobility, his tenacity and yes, his penchant for late-game comebacks.

Over the last month, we saw one of the most rapid ascensions to crossover superstar status in the history of sport. Tebow was already a Florida Gator icon and a popular role model, but within a few weeks he became as well known as any movie star, pop singer or TV personality in the nation. The “Saturday Night Live” skit, the magazine covers, the Drudge Report’s mad crush, the sales of all manner of “Tebow 3:16” merchandise, fans getting Tebow tattoos, polls indicating nearly half of all Americans believed God was taking an active interest in Tebow and the Broncos . . .

By the time the Broncos took the field Saturday night, I half-expected Tebow to eschew the huddle for a Last Supper tableau with him in the middle and his teammates to the left and right.

Tebow Nation gets riled up

So when I Tweeted that fun little stat about Tebow on Saturday afternoon and followed it up with a prediction of New England 41, Denver 10, you would have thought I had ripped into Jesus himself.

Some true believers chided me for not mentioning Tebow’s intangibles. Others pointed out that eventual stars such as Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning had early career stumbles. Some made suggestions that were not at all Christian.

If Tebow and the Broncos had pulled off another upset, I would have been blasted by Tebow Nation — and that’s OK, that’s how it works. When I’m right, some of you guys let me know it, and when I’m wrong, you REALLY let me know it.

But it didn’t happen. Tom Brady had one of the most impressive games in postseason history as the Patriots romped 45-10. At one point, Brady had five touchdown passes to Tebow’s three pass completions.

Not that Tebow personally “lost” the game any more than he “won” when the Broncos lucked out against the Bears. Denver is a mediocre team led by a less-than-average quarterback who became a sensation thanks to a formula of a few amazing fourth-quarter comebacks paired with his polarizing evangelical personality. For every fan who worships Tebow, you could find a fan who hates him more than he despises any of the convicted criminals playing sports.

Ask a football fan the first thing that comes to mind when Troy Polamalu’s name is mentioned. Most would invoke the Steelers, “great defensive player” or Polamalu’s hair. Only a few might mention that Polamalu, a devout Orthodox Christian, crosses himself before and after every play, prays on the field, has taken pilgrimages to Greece and Turkey, keeps religious icons in his locker and even named his children Paisios and Ephraim after Greek Orthodox Christian saints.

Polamalu once told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review that pushing one’s faith on others “can lead to resentment. . . . There is also a sense of arrogance sometimes when people are really hearty evangelizers, and that is the opposite of what faith is. Like, ‘I know this better than you.’ There are a lot of pitfalls to that.”

Tebow is hardly the only man of faith in the NFL. But the last time we saw people get this worked up over an athlete’s faith might have been when Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

None of this changes the fact that there are at least 20 teams in the NFL that wouldn’t think of trading their starting quarterback for Tim Tebow.