“The magic is back” (UPDATED)

January 8, 2012 | Filed under Sports | Posted by

From the AP:

TebowOne of the most storied NFL playoff teams ran into a rejuvenated Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.

Sorry, Pittsburgh Steelers.

The magic is back.

Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime and the Broncos defeated the stunned Steelers 29-23 in the AFC wild-card game on Sunday. Wild doesn’t begin to describe it. The play took 11 seconds and was the quickest ending to an overtime in NFL history.

Thomas hauled in a high play-action pass at the Denver 38, stiff-armed Ike Taylor and then outraced Ryan Mundy to the end zone. Tebow, who looked as startled as everyone else, headed for his own end zone and knelt on one knee — a gesture known far and wide these days as Tebowing. Then he pounded a fist in triumph and took a victory lap.

Behind Tebow’s 316 yards passing, the Broncos (9-8) are heading to New England for a second-round game against the top-seeded Patriots on Saturday night.

Tebow’s total passing yards inspired my brother John to post on his Facebook page:

Tebow threw for 3:16 yards….. I believe in him!!

Classic!

UPDATE: Heard on the radio moments ago so it must be true:

Pittsburgh is protesting their loss last night against Denver… it seems that with God at Tebow’s side, Denver played with one too many players on the field throughout the game… you heard it here first…

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Posted by on January 8, 2012.
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  • jim_m

    Shortest OT in history sends the rapist and his thug teammates home or the season.  Good riddence!

  • http://wizbangblog.com Kevin

    As much as most football fans make fun of Tebow’s inaccuracy, it’s hard not to give him props for a game where he resembled an actual NFL quarterback for 4 quarters and 11 seconds.

  • Gmacr1

    Best finish ever.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_G7YIUZMXOD5JGZZTCYMVA75KFU Shadow

    At this time in America it is really nice to see a nice guy finish with a win.

  • UOG

    It was the most competitive of the four games this past weekend and therefore the most watchable. But… I’m still counting on Baltimore to eliminate the Patriots so I can watch the Super Bowl.

  • Meiji Man

    Watched this game and about everyone of Tebow’s throws looked like a wounded duck. The only perfect spiral I saw his receiver dropped. (probably out of shock). 

    But dayamn that kid can play. 

  • Par4Course

    Tim Tebow has played some great games and I wish him continued success.  Leo Durocher’s maxim, “Nice guys finish last,” is often wrong.  But Tebow’s “miraculous” wins hold no metaphysical or ontological message.  I hope no rational person thinks God (if there is a God) is intervening to determine the results of NFL games.

    • Commander_Chico

      It’s already started.

      • Brian_The_Adequate

        As a Colts fan, I have known that to be true for over a decade.

        • Commander_Chico

          I think that cartoon predates Tebow, but I thought it was funny.

  • Brian_R_Allen
  • Mr Kimber

    I took notice to the wounded duck passes…much harder to catch. Also took notice that  the kid isn’t afraid to run the ball and take the hit even when the” face mask” wasn’t called. Fact is he competed with a lot of people to get where he is today and he is doing it when he has to. That is the mark of a pro at almost anything. Unfortunitely those types of skills are fleeting and we all know people will come out of the wood work to laugh at him WHEN he falls short. From the looks of his team mates after the game they seem to respect him and Im sure that alone drives some people ( the same ones that come out of the wood work ) crazy. As for me I think for some body that was not even supposed to be born he is putting on a very good show and what the hell…it’s only a football came.  After all when this season is finished the sun will come up in the same place it always does …right.

  • JWH

    Well, I don’t think there is a god.  And if there is a god, I doubt it takes an interest in football games.  In point of fact, if Sunday (as opposed to Saturday) is indeed the Sabbath, then I would think the Christian god would make with the smiting, given that all of the football players, etc., are working instead of keeping the Sabbath holy.

    That said, there’s some scholarship that implies religious athletes tend to be more focused and competitive than their non-religious colleagues, a situation that is a bit more earthly and believable than divine intervention in a game of pigskin.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

      Who ever claimed “divine intervention” in the games?  Certainly not Tebow or the other religious players, who are merely grateful to God for all they’ve been given. 

      • JWH

        Welpers, I’d start with the right column of Conservapedia, then follow it up by checking the various people swooning over the 316 (get it: John 3:16) yards in yesterday’s game.

        • http://www.brutallyhonest.org Rick Rice

          I’m hearing his yards gained per pass attempt average was 31.6 yards… and didn’t he lose three games only to rise again and win last night? 

          Spoooky…
          :)

          UPDATE: Just came across the following: John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that the final quarter-hour television rating for the Broncos-Steelers game was, you guessed it, 31.6.

          • JWH

            Well, in a WaPo column, Sally Jenkins, while lecturing critics for picking on Tim Tebow, also cited the case of a Pakistani cricketer who rediscovered his faith in Islam. He became a much more productive player … although in lieu of Tebowing, he would face Mecca and do a prostrating thing after each … whatever it is … they score in cricket.

            That’s a far more cogent argument for religion, I think.

            After all, it would take divine revelation to understand cricket.

          • JWH

            PS. I can prove that George W. Bush is the Antichrist, but I have to do it in my best 1990s-era Church Lady voice.

          • JWH

            Are you sure it wasn’t a reference to Leviticus 3:16?

            And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’S.

            I’d make some remark about tailgating, but it’s cloudly outside, and I’d rather not be struck by lightning.

          • Commander_Chico

            As long as no stat is 23:20, as in Ezekiel 23:20:

            There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and
            whose emission was like that of horses.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    As a Steeler fan, I congratulate the Broncos, who deserved to win.  The Steelers were not the same team which has contended for the Super Bowl in recent years. 

    Easy to second-guess them playing Big Ben the last few games, hoping to earn a bye week to rest up all the injured, but he clearly couldn’t move well, and the O-line was not the same without Pouncey (despite all the marquee names from Harris and Swann to Bettis and Ward, the team’s offensive success has been built around the center for the last 40 years).  But injuries are a part of the game, as is the encroachment of old age.  Ike Taylor has lost several steps in the last couple of years.

    The Patriots are charmed to have their main rivals taken out this year – the Colts with Manning’s injury, the Steelers with Ben and Pouncey’s – because neither the Broncos nor the Ravens can put up enough points to play with them.

    • Brian_The_Adequate

      No kidding about the Steelers O-line, Denver was only rushing 3 and still making Ben scramble for most of the second half.

      Don’t give up hope for a Belijerk and Brady free superbowl.  The Pats have been running up big numbers against some pretty bad defenses and the only team they beat with a winning record was Denver.

      Now I expect NE to beat Denver, but assuming that the Ravens don’t play down to the level of their competition and lose to the Texans, I think they will be planting Brady in the turf early and often and when that happens the Patriots lose.

    • UOG

      Points? The Ravens won’t need that many points if Ray Lewis and Company neutralize Brady. The Patriots defense is terrible, the team has succeeded this years only on the strength of Brady’s arm. Literally, they have nothing else.