Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Klis: Tim Tebow still on minds at NFL combine

INDIANAPOLIS??

With a new crop of draftable prospects competing here this weekend at the annual scouting combine, the NFL has moved on to its 2012 season.

Yet, as the league executives, coaches and media loiter in hotel lobbies, convention center hallways and sports bars, there continues to be buzz about the near indescribable phenomenon that was Tim Tebow's 2011 season.

There were comeback wins from 15-0 and 10-0 deficits with less than three minutes remaining. There was the college-like, option offense that led to an NFL quarterback-record 22 carries in one game, and only two pass completions in another.

There were four overtime wins, including one in the playoffs against the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers.

Through it all there were harsh criticisms by the most knowledgeable of football experts who said Tebow couldn't play. There were billboards, debates and "Tebowing."

Crazy, is what it was. The Season of Tebow was so crazy, it can't possibly get any crazier.

"I don't think he can be a full-time quarterback," said an NFL defensive coordinator here Saturday as he was walking toward Lucas Oil Stadium and the combine drills. "But he's such a good player that I think you can do some things with him so that he's out there every play. You would need another quarterback to match with him, but now on defense, you would have to double-call everything. You could move them in and out (from taking the snap under center). It would be creative. And you'd have to find that second guy to go with him. But I'm telling you, I wouldn't want to be the defensive coordinator in that game."

So, it can get crazier. I say John Elway, John Fox and Mike McCoy sit down in the same room and, you know, discuss.

L.A. story. Prognosticating back in September that the New York Giants and New England Patriots would meet in Super Bowl XLVI may have been impressive. (The further prediction of who would win that matchup is beside the point.)

Emboldened, here is my forecast for the 2015 season Super Bowl, or Super Bowl L, or Super Bowl 50: The NFC Los Angeles Rams vs. the AFC Los Angeles Raiders.

Stan Kroenke has all but dropped bread crumbs between St. Louis and L.A. by becoming one of 10 investors to bid on buying the baseball Dodgers. The strong possibility that the Rams will be able to break their St. Louis stadium lease following the 2014 season, coupled with the NFL's unquenchable thirst for revenues, figures to bring the nation's second-largest market back into the league. Sooner rather than later.

L.A.'s new football stadium figures to cost around $2 billion, which is why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said there must be two teams in that market. Just like in the New York market, it takes two teams to share such enormous stadium costs.

Further helping the NFL remain stable in the L.A. market would be giving its fan base two of its former teams. Kroenke could well become the first person to own franchises in all four major sports ? the NHL Avalanche and NBA Nuggets in Denver, and the MLB Dodgers and NFL Rams in Los Angeles.

It all makes sense. Except for maybe the Rams or Raiders making it to the Super Bowl by 2015.

Thunder in the backfield. After the interview sessions Friday, the combine was gushing about how impressive Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III came across.

On Saturday, Griffin may not have been the most absorbing athlete from his own school. Baylor running back Terrance Ganaway is charming, 239 pounds, eloquent and bespectacled. Asked about his 200-yard, five-touchdown rushing performance in Baylor's absurd 67-56 win against Washington in the Alamo Bowl, Ganaway said: "The O-line was amazing. My only job was not to hit my head on the goalpost."

Ganaway said he has met with just about every NFL team but the Broncos at the combine. That is too bad. Teaming Ganaway with Willis McGahee and Tebow would give the Broncos a Thunder and Thunder and Thunder backfield.

Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com

Source: http://feeds.cbssports.com/click.phdo?i=23527f86ac10a3f702bb88b8ae0d2c96

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