Tim Tebow starts strong for Philadelphia Eagles, then regresses

Twice in Tim Tebow’s first drive with the Philadelphia Eagles — his first football action since the end of the 2013 preseason — Tebow had to wave his arms for the crowd to quiet down. Eagles fans were cheering loudly for him, chanting his name the second time, and it was disrupting him calling out signals.

That sums up the Tebow experience. He’s always interesting, and still beloved by many. He quickly became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter after he got in the game.

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If Tebow could have called it a day after his first drive of Philadelphia’s 36-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts, it would have been a nice afternoon. Unfortunately, he didn’t do much after a good start.

His oft-discussed throwing motion, which he worked on while he was out of football, looked much more compact on that first drive. When he was with the New England Patriots in 2013 he struggled with holding the ball too long. He was more decisive on his first few plays with the Eagles. He went 4-of-5 for 43 yards on his first drive. The one incompletion was thrown way too high to a covered receiver in the end zone, but at least he didn’t hesitate to get the ball out.

Tebow has always had a strong arm, just not a very accurate one, and he threw a nice pass on his first drive to convert a third-and-12. He threw a couple of touch passes that were caught as well, including one to well-covered rookie Rasheed Bailey that Bailey pulled in with a one-handed grab.

He fell into some bad habits after that nice opening drive. On one read-option pass on his second drive, Tebow held the ball too long, didn’t see the tailback sneak out of the backfield wide open and threw the ball into the ground. On the next play he anticipated the rush too early and tried to take off, and couldn’t run away from the Colts and got dropped for a long sack. On the third drive he waited too long on a third down and took a sack. On his fourth drive Tebow took another sack when he tried to run as the pass rush got through immediately, though there was a penalty on the defense that play.

The rush clearly affected him, and the line didn’t protect well. Tebow also gets in trouble when he holds the ball too long, and that happens too often.

Tebow and the Eagles’ offense was set up with great field position late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t move the ball. Tebow’s third-down pass was way too high for his intended target. It’s worth noting this was Tebow’s first football game action in almost two calendar years. It’s also worth noting he was playing with a lot of players who probably won’t make the team, especially on the third-team offensive line.

Tebow did finish with a highlight, after the Eagles defense again set up the offense with great field position. On a read option Tebow kept the ball, ran to the right and got into the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown run.

Tebow finished 6-of-12 for 69 yards passing and had 15 rushing yards on four attempts.

Even if Tebow plays well this preseason, the problem might be that the Eagles don’t have a spot for him. Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez are the top two quarterbacks. Matt Barkley did pretty well as he tries to win a job, completing 12 of 20 passes for 192 yards against the Colts. He looked sharp and comfortable in Chip Kelly’s offense. It’s hard to believe Kelly would keep four quarterbacks.

There’s still time for Tebow to make an impression, if not with the Eagles then maybe with someone else wanting to give him a shot. He started well on Sunday. He needs to bottle that up and show more of it the rest of the preseason.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab