Broncos’ fall to Vikings after early turnovers
The spotlight was on Denver quarterback Tim Tebow in the pre-season finale on Thursday night before he was even under centre. And at first glance, this huge wave of pressure seemed to overwhelm the rookie as the Minnesota Vikings capitalized on costly turnovers to beat the Broncos 31-24.
Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner from Florida, got off to a rough start and appeared overly anxious in his first two series. He fumbled his first snap, which was scooped up and brought back 35 yards for the major by Vikings’ linebacker Erin Henderson.
"I try to have a short memory and move on and just keep playing," Tebow said. But once again his nerves got the best of him shortly after, as he threw a floater which was easily intercepted by safety Tyrell Johnson and which eventually led to a Vikings field goal.
Two early turnovers is certainly not the way you want to start the night playing against a stout Minnesota defence, and Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels can attest to that.
"The turnovers in this league will kill you. We know that, and he [Tebow] does, too."
Despite his sloppy first quarter, Tebow regained his poise, completed a few short passes and tossed his second pre-season touchdown to Matthew Willis. Tebow finished the night completing 12-of-16 passes for 167 yards and one touchdown. He also added 21 rushing yards on four attempts.
Thursday’s game saw a full dose of Tebow, which leads many pundits to believe that he has done enough in training camps and in the pre-season to have taken over the backup quarterback job from veteran Brady Quinn. McDaniels had no comment on the issue.
Running-back Correll Buckhalter took his name off the injury list and made his first pre-season appearance since a back injury kept him sidelined for much of training camp. He saw a limited number of snaps and caught two passes for 26 yards.
The Vikings sat out Brett Favre along with pretty much all their starters as they prepare to battle the Saints for their September 9 season opener. Backup Tarvaris Jackson got the start, but failed to get the offence in gear, and ended his dreadful night completing 2-of-8 passes for 2 yards. Jackson did not receive any support from fans and they booed him throughout the entire night.
"Regardless of the situation, regardless of why they're booing ... I can't do anything about it," said Jackson, who remains the second on the depth chart despite his lacklustre performance.
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