The Jets’ plan is for Tim Tebow to be inactive tomorrow, but the team has not yet made a final decision on his status.
Tebow is dealing with cracked ribs, and while he was active on Thanksgiving against the Patriots, he didn’t play. A tweet from ESPN’s Ed Werder yesterday said Tebow would not be active. The Jets are listing him as questionable, and coach Rex Ryan said he had not determined what to do yet with the famous backup.
“We’ll see how he feels,” Ryan said. “Could it be a game-time decision? It could be. Hey, [the report Tebow will be inactive] could be true. But right now, we haven’t done anything. I haven’t made that decision [nor has] anybody else made that decision.”
The likelihood is Tebow will not be active, but the Jets will give him an opportunity to change that thinking.
Tebow was limited in practice yesterday and admitted to not throwing a lot.
“I feel like I’m getting a little bit better every day,” he said. “Just slowly progressing with things every day. It’ll be up to Coach and the docs.”
Ryan said the idea of potentially having Tebow play a lot of snaps tomorrow may not be “the smartest thing.” That said, when asked if third-string quarterback Greg McElroy would be active either way as insurance for Mark Sanchez, Ryan said activating three quarterbacks is unlikely.
“If we would lose two quarterbacks, then you’re probably going to get a lot of snaps to a running back. Or the running back’s going to take the snap. That’s probably every team in this league,” Ryan said. “It is a possibility that we could have Greg up as a third quarterback. That is a possibility.”
* With offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo’s comment Thursday that the Jets rotate Vlad Ducasse at left guard with Matt Slauson because of “a directive from high above me,” Ryan reiterated yesterday the idea is his.
Ryan said it’s not coming from general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who used a 2010 second-round pick on the disappointing Ducasse.
Ryan admitted “Slauson’s a better player” but wants to work young players into the rotation to develop them.
“This is something I’ve always believed in my heart, that this is how you go about developing your team,” Ryan said. “Just like you rotate receivers, just like you rotate defensive backs, defensive linemen and everything else, I don’t know why you can’t rotate an offensive lineman or put him in there.”
— Additional reporting by Brian Costello