How Well Did Tim Tebow Handle His First Press Conference As A New York Jet?
Well, we’re sure glad that’s over. After waiting for more than three days, Tim Tebow was finally introduced as the New York Jets new backup quarterback yesterday. We’re sure Tebow himself is glad that it’s over, too. The New York media can be absolutely relentless, so it was probably a relief for him to go through his first press conference as a Jet, see the types of questions he should be prepared to answer moving forward, and walk out with his head high and his media training still in tact. All in all, it was a good day for Tebow.
But, how well did he handle his first press conference as a Jet? To help shed some light on it, we pointed out a few pros and cons from the event to highlight how well he did and didn’t handle himself.
PROS: Tebow answered more than 30 questions from the media. That’s right—30 questions. And, in New York, that’s what you have to do. You’ll get nowhere if you’re short with the media or refuse to cater to them. So, why even try? As Tebow’s new head coach Rex Ryan can surely attest to, you need to be willing to stand in front of the media and answer whatever they throw at you. And Tebow certainly did a great job of doing that. Will he be able to continue doing that moving forward? That’s a question he’ll have to answer himself. But he succeeded yesterday. And he also did a great job of keeping his answers as PC as possible. If the NY media wants him to say something scandalous, Tebow proved they’re going to have to be a little bit more savvy about the way they ask things.
CONS: Although the Jets coaching staff has made it abundantly clear that Mark Sanchez, not Tebow, will be the starting quarterback next season, Tebow didn’t do a great job of establishing where he feels he stands in the pecking order. Obviously, he doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers on his first visit to New York. But, it seems like he should have, at the very least, either assumed his role as the backup QB or stated that he had every intention of pushing Sanchez and shooting for the starting role. He was a little bit wishy-washy and reiterated that he just wanted to be a “good teammate” to Sanchez. That’s all well and good, but he needs to have an end goal in mind. If that’s the backup role, fine. Say that. If not, he needs to talk about wanting to be a starter again. Or, at the very least, competing for the starting job. Additionally, Tebow needs to tone down the seemingly sarcastic smile that he shows off every time he gets asked a question. And he can’t make it so clear that he’s answering questions in a PC manner. That’ll get old in New York. Old fast. So he needs to do a better job with being PC without sounding so PC.
Overall, Tebow’s first press conference as a Jet was a success. For him, anyway. But, will he be able to keep it up? That is the question.










