Denver Broncos power rankings from around the web. (Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis)

ESPN: 28th (27)
Without all the Tim Tebow talk, there would be zero buzz about this team.

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• It starts at quarterback but trickles down each team’s entire roster: you can hardly call this Broncos–Raiders tilt a “rematch.” [Denver Post]
• Carson Palmer levied the Raiders to sign an old friend: WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh. [NFL.com]
• The Raiders will likely be without RB Darren McFadden. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Willis McGahee and Orlando Franklin were both limited in practice Wednesday. [Max Denver]
• Nine seconds is a long time to sit in the pocket, Tim Tebow. [Denver Post]
• Von Miller was a runner-up in both PFF’s NFL and AFC Rookie of the Month awards. [Pro Football Focus]
• Vic Lombardi wonders what has happened to the passion at Mile High. [CBS4 Denver]
• John Elway was in Palo Alto watching Andrew Luck practice. [First and Orange]
• Grading the 2008 NFL draft — the Broncos’ selection of Ryan Clady earns a rightful A. [Pro Football Focus]
• Philip Rivers beat Tim Tebow… in Least of the Week honors. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

Denver Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton (8) runs off the field after losing the ball on downs to the San Diego Chargers in the second quarter during an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, in Denver. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

The arguments for starting Tim Tebow have always come from the same angle:

“The Denver Broncos aren’t going to do anything in 2011. Why not start Tebow so the Broncos can see what they have?”

Forgive me for preserving an iota of hope for this season, but I’ve seen enough. The Tim Tebow Experiment is over. Let Kyle Orton, a competent, experienced, albeit inconsistent quarterback, take over again. There is still a nine-game season to salvage.

Not worth it, you say? You’d rather tank the season for Andrew Luck, you say?

The Broncos are seven games in, sitting at 2-5. Team-for-team, the rest of the division is all at 4-3. That’s a two-game deficit with nine games to play.

Are Broncos fans really giving up already? Have we really succumbed to that much malaise?

We’ve given up hope without a quarterback, but we’re going to let Matt Cassel win this division again?! Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Quarterback Tim Tebow #15 of the Denver Broncos walks off the field after a game against the Detroit Lions at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 30, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. The Lions defeated the Broncos 45-10. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

There is a growing notion among a subset of Denver Broncos fans that is requiring my attention. It’s a notion being spread by conspiracy theorists and Tim Tebow die-hards. This notion — this ridiculous, preposterous idea — is that John Fox and John Elway are either:

• purposefully sabotaging Tim Tebow’s  success in a spiteful display of pride and desire for Andrew Luck OR
• too uneducated and untalented to figure out a way to use Tim Tebow to his full potential.

Earth to the conspiracy theorists: maybe Tim Tebow just isn’t very good.

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The front page of NFL.com last night. Does it get any worse?

• So the front page of NFL.com last night pretty much sucked. [NFL.com]
• Things may be bad, but let’s not forget that the Lions beat the Chiefs 48-3 earlier this season. [NFL.com]
• The Chiefs beat the Chargers in overtime last night. Three teams in the AFC West sit at 4-3 after the Chiefs’ overtime victory last night. The Broncos dwell in the basement alone, 2-5.
• It’s the first time that’s occurred since the AFC Central in 1989. [ESPN]
• Philip Rivers had the worst day ever. [Larry Brown Sports]
• Tim Tebow was “embarrassing“, “atrocious,” “completely exposed,” said Lions players. [Yahoo! Sports]
• This week’s opponent, the Oakland Raiders, paid a high price to avoid such a quarterback situation. [New York Times]
• Willis McGahee is planning to tough it out and play with a broken hand. [Denver Post]

Tim Tebow #15 of the Denver Broncos looks to pass against the Detroit Lions during the first quarter at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 30, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Last Week, Tim Tebow gave us the Miracle on the 34th Yard Line, where Santa Claus himself basically came down and gave Tim Tebow magical abilities for 5 minutes of football. For some people, this covered up 55 minutes of pretty much rotten play. For some people, this 55 minutes was explained away by bad play calling or any number of other excuses.

Here’s the thing: Even bad NFL quarterbacks can hit open receivers regularly.

For example, let’s take Chris Simms. You remember him, right? He could put the ball in a trash can 60 yards away. We remember what he was like as a quarterback. Tim Tebow, though? He misses open receivers. They sacrifice their minds, bodies and souls trying to get to the ball, and they might get their fingertips on it. But since it’s behind them, they drop it. Over. And. Over. Again.

Of course, this the receiver’s fault. Even I started falling for it, but luckily slow-mo let me see Eddie Royal trying desperately to catch a ball behind him.

For one brief drive at the beginning of the game, I began to think maybe there was something to Tebow magic. But apparently two hands on the ball isn’t control and that touchdown was called back, and that pretty much was the best play from Tebow until late enough in the game that it didn’t matter anymore. Seven sacks. Two turnovers that provided points. No ability to sustain a drive, control the ball. Short, easy passes, the announcers said, to get him into rhythm. But Tebow isn’t a rhythm passer. He’s a “spread offense-make something happen with his sheer natural talent” kind of passer. He is Reggie Bush as a quarterback. Maybe slightly better — he beat Reggie Bush last week.

In the NFL, natural talent isn’t enough. Pure dedication isn’t enough. You have to combine talent with dedication and skill.

Maybe Tebow can learn that skill, but in two games, he hasn’t yet. Maybe by the end of the season he might be able to. I was pretty confident coming into the season that the earliest Tim Tebow would be ready to be a quarterback would be 2013, but the way he played out there Sunday makes that estimate feel conservative.

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh #90 of the Detroit Lions battles against the block of offensive guard Chris Kuper #73 of the Denver Broncos Sports Authority at Invesco Field at Mile High on October 30, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

There would be no Tim Tebow comeback this time. Not down 42 points in the fourth quarter.

The Detroit Lions dominated the Broncos from start to finish. They took a 7-3 lead from their first possession and never relented. Their offensive and defensive lines dominated their Broncos’ opponents, and the Lions scored 45 unanswered points to finish with a 45-10 victory at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

The Denver Broncos hardly got started. Their first drive showed flashes of promise, of the benefits of a week’s worth of practices and a “revamped” college-style offense that played to Tebow’s strengths. The Broncos were an Eric Decker toe tap from a touchdown — Tebow’s touchdown toss was ruled incomplete — before struggling to gain another first down for three quarters. Tim Tebow again displayed inaccuracy and indecisiveness. The Broncos’ running game was stuffed. It was an embarrassment at home.

Adding insult to embarrassment were defensive touchdowns by the Lions. Adding insult to insult were the big plays by Tony Scheffler and Alphonso Smith, who tallied a touchdown and forced fumble respectively — former Broncos who were traded to the Lions in separate trades by ex-coach Josh McDaniels.

Tebow finished 18 for 39 for 172 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Many of his yards and completions came in the fourth quarter, with the game well out of hand.

The Broncos are left with questions, and the sobering realization that no quarterback — Tim Tebow, Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn, or even Andrew Luck — is going to solve the plethora of problems this plague this once-proud franchise. They fall to 2-5 on the season as they prepare for an AFC West rematch against the Oakland Raiders.

ORANGE SUNDAY EDITION

Kickoff: 2:05 p.m. MT
GameBlog: 1:50 p.m. MT

Inactives
Detroit: QB Drew Stanton, RB Jahvid Best, WR Rashied Davis, T Jason Fox, DT Nick Fairley, CB Don Carey, S Chris Harris
Denver: QB Brady Quinn, RB Willis McGahee, FB Quinn Johnson, T Tony Hills, G Manny Ramirez, DE Derrick Harvey, S Rafael Bush

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow "Tebowing" (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Tim Tebow has no problem with “Tebowing” — the latest Internet craze, and the new translation of his last name as a verb.

Quoteth the quarterback —

“It’s not my job to see what people’s reasons are behind it. But I know, like a kid that tweeted me with cancer and said, ‘I’m Tebowing while I’m chemo-ing.’ How cool is that? That’s worth it right there for that kid.

“If that gives him any encouragement or just puts a smile on his face or gives him encouragement to pray, then that’s really awesome and that’s completely worth it for me.”

(Tebowing pic of kid with chemo right here.)

Injury Report for the Week 8 NFL game between the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions on Sunday, October 30, 2011.

Lions report and key after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »