Champ Bailey talks Tebow and the Jets

NEW YORK -- Champ Bailey looks at "Tebowmania," the passionate fan frenzy that follows Tim Tebow wherever he goes, in a very realistic way.
"Roll with it," the veteran Broncos cornerback said today at the unveiling of the new Nike NFL uniforms in Brooklyn. "You can't stop it."

Video: NFL and Nike unveil new uniform
At the unveiling of Nike's new NFL uniforms, the Giants Victor Cruz dances the salsa and the Jets Shonn Greene talks about new teammate Tim Tebow. Video by John Munson/The Star-Ledger
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Bailey saw firsthand the swell of Tebow supporters in Denver last year, as the young quarterback took over the starting job and led the Broncos to a division title and first-round playoff win. Now that Tebow has been traded to the Jets, Bailey said starter Mark Sanchez should be on notice.
"He’s going to challenge him, absolutely," Bailey said. "Sanchez can't be too comfortable in his seat. He's just got to keep playing, play well, and he doesn’t have to worry about it. But if he doesn’t play well, we all know what is going to happen next."
The 13-year veteran's advice for Sanchez was to stay focused on his own work -- which is what Sanchez is doing in training sessions out in Southern California -- and not get caught up in the speculation, because that's how players can lose their jobs.
The Jets have repeatedly and publicly asserted that Sanchez is their starter, and Tebow will back him up and run a package of Wildcat and direct-snap plays. This is a delicate balance contingent on Sanchez taking a step forward from an inconsistent 2011 season, and Tebow taking a step back from his former starting role with the Broncos.
"I'm sure he’ll do it. Will he like doing it for the rest of his career? I don’t think so," Bailey said of Tebow. "I think this is a short-term thing. The guy is going to be a starter at some point, whether here or somewhere else, because he's going to work to get it done."
Both Sanchez and Tebow have publicly said all the right things since the trade two weeks ago, but those who know Tebow say he's planning to compete to be a starter again.
"The thing I love about Tebow is, when I see him give interviews, I know exactly what he is talking about," said Vikings receiver Percy Harvin, Tebow's college teammate at Florida. "For anybody to think he's not going in there to win the starting job, you'd be fooling yourself. Sanchez and those guys, they want to sit back and say how calm and cool and they're not worried about it. Anybody other than Peyton Manning, Michael Vick, some names like that -- if you have Tebow coming to your team, you have a situation."
While Tebow had success running an option-style attack for the Broncos last year, he has been criticized for his passing and his ability to run a conventional offense. Harvin, who played with Tebow for three seasons at Florida, admitted Tebow "doesn't throw the best ball." But Harvin added that he "never, ever, ever had a problem" with Tebow's passes.
Bailey says Tebow is focused on improving.
"I absolutely think he can be a starting quarterback," Bailey said. "I know he's not content with the way he plays right now. He wants to get better at a lot of different things. If he gets better, he’ll be a consistent starter in this league at some point."
Bailey had no shortage of praise for his former teammate. He called him a "great kid" and added, "I love him to death." Even though Tebowmania became hectic at times, Bailey said, Tebow made it easier on his teammates by handling it with class and professionalism.
He also pushed those around him by being a "great competitor," Bailey said. He expects that will transfer to the Jets locker room.
"I think once Sanchez sees how hard (Tebow) works – I don’t know anything about Sanchez, but it’s going to make him even work harder," Bailey said. "I'm sure he's a hard worker now, but when you see guys doing things very well, it makes you want to do them better because guys are always trying to take your spot."[/QUOTE]


Thanks! Great article. I love to hear what his former teammates say. They are in the trenches with him day in and day out.

 

Champ Bailey has been a classy player and a team leader for as long as he's been in the NFL. He also is willing to take a stand when he believes it's necessary. Bailey was the Bronco who finally said enough was enough with the Josh McDaniels experiment. His words were what it finally took to open Pat Bowlen's eyes about just how horribly incompetent McDaniels was as a football coach and as a leader of men.

I know he had a fondness for Tebow. Just about everybody in the Bronco lockerroom had respect for Tim, primarily because he's a very tough man who doesn't get discouraged no matter how badly things happen to be going at any particular time. There were very few Broncos who didn't like and support Tebow. One of the few who didn't, Brandon Lloyd, was traded away before his negativity could infect the lockerroom after Tebow took over as the starter.

Of course, the irrational segment of Tebow's supporters (a percentage of individuals which is open to debate) seized upon the Lloyd trade as a sign the front office wanted Tebow to fail. The stupidity of these people and their inability to discern fact from paranoid fantasy is indisputable. Most of the people on this board have only seen the tip of that iceberg.

 

Is it a shock that Tebow wants to be the starter? so does Greg McElroy but that doesn't mean either have a chance. If tebow didn't have the desire to be a starter I'd be more concerned

 

That might be exactly what they want....Many in the media have spoken in finite terms when projecting Tebow as an NFL QB...

Most never left a "he could improve with time" clause in their arguments, just that he can't be a QB and never will be.

With each win that defied conventional wisdom last year, their reputations were damaged. It was almost comical to see some of the talking heads like Keyshawn Johnson or Merril Hoge have to face the cameras after each Tebow come from behind victory.

Some of these guys would love to see nothing more than for Tebow to crash out of the league.

 

I agree with this.

Tebow should be striving to be the starter. That's the sign of a winner.

 

Don't feel sorry for those guys. They didn't look so comical when Denver lost four of its last five games. Including to the Kyle Orton led Kansas City Chiefs, who pretty much sucked last year.

 

316 yards in the playoff victory....

Guys like Hoge said "it is embarrassing think the Broncos could win with Tebow"...

Yeah it was pretty embarassing.

 

Also funny how people have to grasp at the few late losses and ignore the nearly twice as many wins as if they didn't happen.

 

So, you're just going to ignore the four losses out of last five games thing? Don't tell me, you don't care much about your cred here. Another Tebot - I am beginning to see a pattern.

 

to be fair 2 of the losses were to the pats, and Denver gave up 40 point to them both times....only 1 team won a game last year while still giving up 40 points. The win was a record setting defeat of Pittsburg, who is no slouch.

The games he got graded down on on PFF was Miami, Detroit, 2nd KC game and Bills. All in all he finished 8-5 regardless of how when the wins came. Would it be any different had it been win 2, lose 2, win 3, lose2, win 3, lose 1?

 

Don't you know every win was because of Tebow and every loss was not because of Tebow? Nothing is ever Tebow's fault like nothing is ever Sanchez's fault. The team let him down, except when they won and then he carried the team

 

Haven't seen anyone say it was all Tebow on the wins, or all the D on the losses, seen plenty of the opposite. Realistically the D played a majority role in the win streak with the exception of the Minn game. They also were largely responsible for the losses as they were the only team to give up 40 point more than 2 times(they did it 5) when a team gives up 40 points it wins less than 1% of the time. All in all Denver only won 1 game where the D played poor and only lost 1 game where the d played great

 

The Bronco defense was under tremendous pressure to keep Denver in a lot of those games they won late because their offense produced more three-and-outs than almost anybody last year. Quite an achievement for a squad that had to start Andre Goodman opposite Champ @ cornerback.

 

the offense was 26th in DSR(measure % of drives that result in a first down or a TD), not good, not the worst either. Better than Chicago and KC though and both their defenses managed to do ok.The real problem was the fumble rate which was the 2nd worst in the NFL. The D did pretty good causing 3/outs, but poor causing turnovers. Overall you are looking at a slightly above average D, who suffered greatly by Dawkins absence at the end of the year. (they played incredibly good during the wins, and pathetically bad during the losses, more or less) And a below average offense that was able to assist the D by limiting turnovers in the games they won. When they had turnovers the D got exposed.

 

When posters were first coming here, that is all I heard. And let's not forget the special teams also. Prater was kicking very well in end of game situations. It was a great team effort, but they also ended the season on a same type of slide as the Jets. In the AFC East 8-8 gets you sent packing, luckily in the AFC West this year 8-8 gets you a home playoff game.

 

you hafta realize that in the beginning Denver fans made a concerted effort to fuck with you Jets fans just for the fun of it...I think they mostly got banned now. Aside from a few wingnuts the Tebow fans are mostly like me. They know he isn't perfect, but feel he isn't as bad as some think and it is too soon to write him off given the potential.

 

They ended their regular season similarly, but Denver went to the playoffs, won in the wildcard round and lost to the Pats in the divisional round. That's not the same. Playoffs and playoff wins don't matter anymore?

Why are you picking the "last 4 out of 5"? You're taking the last 3 regular seasons games and lumping in a playoff loss in there just so you can say the last 4 out of 5. Tebow didn't start the last 4 out of 5. If you want to lump everything together then Tebow started in week 7 and played 13 games. Not 5.

And 2 of their last 4 losses were to the Patriots. It's not like if Denver had someone else at QB they would have beaten the Patriots. You can't play ground and pound football when you give up 40+ points. That right there pretty much ends that.

I still don't see why you're ignoring that there is a separation there with his last two games being playoff games. And how did Tebow play in the playoffs? Everyone knows about the Steelers, but despite his loss to the Patriots he still ended up with one of the best passer ratings in the playoffs last year. He's proven he can be clutch even in the playoffs when it matters. Not only did he win in over time and put up great stats against the Steelers but he also didn't throw an interception despite the pummeling he took from the Pats. That says a lot about him and being able to handle the pressure.

Because in the end, we all know it doesn't matter how good of a damn passer you are, if you can't handle those moments. Half the decent passers in this league will never get their teams past that because they can't handle that pressure.