NFL

Tebow’s time runs out today

BUFFALO — Tim Tebow’s bizarre, overhyped time with the Jets will come to an end today, barring some major change of heart from the player and organization.

Tebow is expected to be traded or released sometime in the next two months. He attracted a ton of attention, played very little and then got annoyed in the season’s final weeks. The question today is whether he will even play. Jeremy Kerley worked as the Wildcat quarterback in practice all week, so Tebow probably has seen his final snap as a Jet.

People around the Jets privately have started conceding the trade for Tebow was a huge mistake. Publicly, they still are avoiding saying anything too strong. The move hurt starter Mark Sanchez, created a distraction with all of the media attention he attracted and posed a question of how to use him that coaches never figured out.

Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano admitted the Jets had trouble working Tebow into the offense with the limited practice time they could use for his plays. Sparano drew a distinction between Wildcat plays and the zone-read plays the Jets tried with Tebow.

“The Wildcat and what Tim did are really two different things,” Sparano said. “The Wildcat snaps that we’ve run this year have really been pretty productive, the Wildcat snaps. The zone-read snaps have really been hit or miss. They’ve either been 12-yard plays, negative-2-yard plays or 2-yard plays. I think if it’s not something you do all the time where you’re showing your line and you’re showing your quarterbacks and your running backs those looks on a consistent basis … and you really can’t do that all the time right now with a player that’s a part-time player. You can’t afford to be able to do that all the time, and I think that’s where maybe the lack of big plays come because you’re not able to do it all the time.”

* TE Dustin Keller (ankle), WR Chaz Schilens (knee) and CB Ellis Lankster (concussion) were all downgraded to out and did not make the trip to Buffalo.

This could mean the end of Keller’s Jets career came against the Cardinals four weeks ago when he sprained his ankle. Keller is a free agent after this season. He has said he would like to return to the Jets, but the team decided not to give him a contract extension over the summer and he may be too costly to keep with the team having so many needs. Keller has said he does not want the team to use the franchise tag on him.