The crowd might have been calling for it and Mark Sanchez’s play may have warranted it, but Jets backup quarterback Tim Tebow was about as likely to get on the field as one of the members of the team’s Flight Crew.
Tebow didn’t play in the Jets’ 49-19 loss to New England last night at MetLife Stadium because of two fractured ribs, an injury he sustained in the Week 10 defeat at Seattle.
“I was only going to play Tim if we absolutely had to have him,” coach Rex Ryan said. “You could tell he was hurting. His breathing was a little bit different. I was like ‘Shoot, I’m not going to play this kid.’ I wouldn’t play my son if it was that kind of situation.”
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Last night was the first time all season Tebow did not take a snap on either offense or special teams. Though he dressed and third-string quarterback Greg McElroy was inactive, there was no scenario short of disaster that would have brought Tebow into the game.
Tebow couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the injury happened, but did say it definitely occurred in the Jets’ 28-7 loss to the Seahawks.
“It was on offense,” Tebow said. “I didn’t really know. I just kept playing and started to feel it later on.”
Tebow, who was listed as questionable on the injury report, had to do some lobbying on his own behalf to even put pads on.
“I appreciate [Ryan’s] concern, obviously,” Tebow said. “I had to do a little bit of talking just to dress. I just want to be there for my teammates in case they needed me in an emergency situation.”
Even if Tebow had played, he might have done more damage to his already battered body. After playing last Sunday against the Rams and practicing fully all week, he hinted he might not have given the ribs enough time to heal.
“You try to do whatever you can for your team and sometimes there are some setbacks with that,” Tebow said. “Obviously playing in St. Louis and then trying to go and practice, it’s tough to let it get a chance to heal.”
The good news, if any, is that the Jets have a 10-day layoff until the Cardinals come into MetLife Stadium on Dec. 2, giving Tebow’s ribs a little bit extra time off to recover.
“Yeah, [The ribs] are getting better, they need a little time,” Tebow said. “I think that’s up to the trainers and the coaches.”
This isn’t the first time Tebow has suffered a rib injury in his NFL career. Last season, in the Broncos’ playoff loss to the Patriots, Tebow fractured the second rib on his right side, but because the season was over, he didn’t clearly remember the timetable for his recovery.
Regardless of the rib injury, the 30-point blowout or the Jets’ 4-7 record, Tebow is trying to keep things positive for his teammates.
“We’ve got to find a way to improve,” he said. “We have five more games [we have to] try to get some wins, keep it positive, keep working hard, keep getting better. We don’t know what our future holds and try to improve every day.”