What the heck has happened to the New York Jets? The team just signed Tim Tebow, who may be pro football's greatest curiosity and most incomplete player, to be its back-up quarterback. Welcome, Tebow-mania to the New York Jets media circus! It's a sad commentary on the publicity-hungry Jets franchise.
Meanwhile, Tebow had to preside over his own press conference on Monday, in which he introduced himself to the Jets' media. It was a bizarre scene as the swarm of 250 reporters watched Tebow's every move and gesture. No owner. No general manager. No head coach. They were all attending the NFL owners meeting in Florida.
Tebow comported himself in a commendable manner but that wasn't the main point. It was a circus. A circus belongs under the big top, not in the NFL.
Only two years ago, Gang Green played in its second consecutive American Football Conference championship game, placing the squad one win away from the Super Bowl, the promised land. The Jets played a horrendous first half against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the opportunity slipped away.
In 2011, the Jets were plagued by poor play on the offensive and defensive lines and a lack of productivity at running back. Naturally, most of the blame fell on the shoulders of third-year quarterback Mark Sanchez. The Jets missed qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in three years.
Compounding the severe frustration of the team's fans, the crosstown team, the New York Giants, won the Super Bowl — by defeating, you guessed it, the New England Patriots, the Jets' biggest division rival. No wonder Jets' fans are by nature a little neurotic.
The Jets could have signed a running back or a wide receiver or a pass rusher instead of Tim Tebow. Now, the team has two quarterbacks and no improvement, yet, in its weakest areas.
Plus, there is the detriment to the confidence of incumbent quarter Mark Sanchez, who is coming off a sub-par 2011 season. Jets fans will be howling for Tebow to take Sanchez's place the minute Sanchez starts to play poorly. He has no margin for error, a condition which is bound to make him more nervous on the field and defensive off it.
Clearly, the Jets want to achieve a public-relations splash by signing Tebow. The team seems to have a compulsion to match the Giants in the city's tabloids and on sports talk-radio stations. The fans want a championship, miserable that the Jets haven't won the Super Bowl since Joe Namath's triumph, on Jan. 12, 1969.
But the fans will have to wait a little longer for a title. They will, however, have plenty of opportunities to follow the exploits of Tim Tebow.
Jon Friedman writes the Media Web column for MarketWatch.com. Click here to read his latest column. Read more reports from Jon Friedman — Click Here Now.
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