Dixie, signs of things to come

Obviously, Tebow still has great escapability. (AP)


We've spent so much time daydreaming about Tim Tebow this offseason and wondering when and if he's going to take Mark Sanchez's starting quarterback job, the Jets offense finally gave us the first indication about what really could happen this season.

Not surprisingly, the quarterback play in the team's preseason opener Friday was mostly an unimpressive affair, and at this point, it's hard to see how Tebow could overtake a healthy Sanchez anytime soon.



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Overall, the Jets only managed two field goals in a 17-6 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati, but, like we've seen the past two seasons, Tebow showed some good attributes and plenty of bad ones.

On his first offensive snap, Tebow, looking sharp early, hit rookie receiver Stephen Hill on a slant that gained 10 yards. Tebow showed us some of his usual impressive quarterback scrambling ability -- at one point, he escaped a sack from Bengals defensive end Robert Geathers and rumbled for 10 yards -- and he was also the team's leading rusher, gaining 34 yards on four carries (that stat should give you an idea of how unimpressive New York's offense played).

But Tebow also threw a terrible pass that was intercepted by a diving Vontaze Burfict -- a throw Tebow later said he never should have made -- and he wasted what could have been a good scoring opportunity for his team.

"We did some things really well,” Tebow said during the game. “... Felt pretty good out there for the first time in a while. I'd like to have my last throw back."

Overall, Tebow completed 4 of 8 passes for 27 yards and that pick. Combine that with Sanchez's 4 of 6, 21-yard performance, and you had the top two Jets quarterbacks averaging an anemic 6.0 yards per completed throw.

What does this tell us about how the offense will be run during the regular season? Not much, especially if coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, as they've insisted, insert Tebow into the quarterback spot in red-zone situations or for Wildcat plays. None of that happened Friday in the always-vanilla world of preseason football.

"We're trying to shake the dust off, get back in the swing of things,” Sanchez said during the game.

For now, it looks like the Jets -- and Tebow -- have quite a ways to go

 

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