As many of the "experts" have weighed in on Tim Tebow, I can't help but laugh at the ones who obviously never played QB and how they say that he could never be a viable backup, let alone a starter. His throwing problems are being worked on but according to them, when he gets into a game, he will revert to form but you know what, Peyton Manning changed his form and he's managed to make it a permanent part of his game and so has Tony Romo.

Like it or not, every QB comes into the NFL with flaws. College football isn't anywhere near the same creature and even teams that run a pro-style offense have to come clean and admit that while THEY are running a pro-style offense, their opponents AREN'T running a pro-style defense and even if they are, they just don't have ht speed of NFL players NOR are they being shown all the looks that a cagey coordinator can throw at them. With the proliferation of spread offenses that are successful at the COLLEGE level, more and more QBs are leaving school without taking as many snaps from under center as the past and they need more work than guys from traditional pro-style offenses but BOTH require work when they go to the NFL.

While what I'm going to say may seem like its common sense, the fact is, there are a lot of NFL teams that just don't get it and they piss away their talent by making poor choices. Every team needs a QB coach and yet, you see teams that either don't have them or they make poor choices. The TWO qualities that an NFL QB coach should have are he should be a former NFL QB and he should be AT LEAST 33 years old. If you're going to be teaching a QB what it takes to be an NFL QB, you should have at least played the position so that you know what you're talking about when you're in the film room or on the field with them. The age factor is because if you hire some young guy, just so they can relate to the guy, you end up with a couple of buddies and the young QB may not necessarily respect his "mentor" and the "mentor" may not give him the tough love that he will need (I think that the Raiders made a BIG mistake when they hired John DeFilippo, age 29 and with no NFL QB playing experience, to be their QB coach for their rookie QB, JaMarcus Russell. JR needed someone to kick his ass on a daily basis and someone that he could respect and I think that this was the worst hire that the Raiders could have had when they knew they were going to put a rookie in charge of their franchise. Of course, the BIGGEST mistake that they made was not locking him into a contract before they took him and keeping him off the field until AFTER the season had started).

A good QB coach will help straighten out a guy's mechanics and take him under his wing and show him everything that he needs to know when breaking down film, which is THE most important skill that a QB has to master to be even a capable backup. Some people see a veteran backup as the guy that they can bring in and help with a younger QB but seriously, some of these guys have NO intention to be mentors and see these guys as competition that they can take down and take over their spots (Jeff Garcia). If you put your eggs into a veteran QB's basket and skimp on the QB coach then you deserve all you get when the backup doesn't do what you expect him to do.

A cautionary tale about screwing too much with a QB's mechanics/