You gotta love Tim Tebow. He is a pro at deflecting the elephant in the room. That mammal being how he’s handling being back-up to Mark Sanchez, how they get along, and how he see’s the season playing out with two quarterbacks on the same team.
This is almost as good as imagining Madonna and Mariah Carey sharing the stage.
Read on:
On working with Mark Sanchez…
It’s been great. We’ve had a great relationship ever since he hosted me at USC and we had a lot of fun together and a great experience. We got a lot of stuff to talk about, and always going back and forth, we have a very fun quarterback room, we have a good time.
On how he’ll be used in the offense…
You know what, we are all just learning the same offense right now and we’re all just going out there and competing and trying to learn together and help one another and coach one another and just try to get everything down because it’s a new offense for all of us.
On playing special teams…
I’m just doing whatever they want me to do. I’m just going out there and working hard right now and trying to get better in the weight room and on the practice field and just compete a little bit every day.
On how he and Sanchez will get along in the future…
I think it will be great. We have a great relationship. We’re friends and we hang a lot on the practice field, in the locker room, in the weight room and outside of the complex. I think it will be great.
On transition from being a starter to a backup…
Just every day, you’ve just got to work on trying to handle it your best, trying to be your best and trying to improve every single day. It doesn’t change my mindset or attitude or anything. It’s just another opportunity and another challenge. Every day presents itself with enough of those, and you just have to have a great attitude and approach it the right way.
On handling the pressure of playing in New York…
Same as I always have. I really try not to worry about it and try not to let it affect my life too much and just try to be the best teammate and have the best attitude and try to be the best young man I can be in a lot of different ways and try not to let it affect how I live or the way I live.
On playing in front of Jets fans…
I think it will be great. I’m excited about it. You know, I can’t wait to get to the stadium, actually. That will be a lot of fun – looking forward to the season getting here and really putting on the pads and really going out there and playing. This will suffice for now.
On how much he wants to start…
I just go out there every single day and compete as much as I can and try to be a great teammate. That’s the great thing about football. You’re together with these guys every day, training and working out, pushing each other and encouraging each other. That’s fun to really build relationships. Even though it’s only been three or four weeks, I feel like I have got a great relationship with a lot of guys in the locker room.
On Peyton Manning…
He’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time. He is someone that I’ve always watched growing up. He’s done amazing things and I think he will go down as one of the best of all time.
On Manning replacing him in Denver…
I just look at it as I have a new challenge and a new opportunity here as a Jet. I don’t necessarily look at it as losing my job. I’m just at a new place where I’m excited to be and it’s going to be fun.
On what the fan reaction will be if Sanchez struggles…
I just think about it as, you have to take it one day at a time you and can’t worry about what the future holds. You have to just worry about today. That’s all we know and so we have to make the best we can of each day and worry about how we can get better as a football player and as a person.
On being a backup quarterback…
You always have challenges and you are always going to have new opportunities. I think you just have to handle it as best you can, whatever your role is, wherever that is, and that’s just something that I think I really tried to learn early on at Florida. You can’t control everything around you. You can’t control your situations. There are only a few things you can control, and that’s your attitude and effort and how you approach every situation. That’s all I worry about because I know at the end of the day, that’s all I can control.
On if he and Sanchez hang out outside of the complex…
I mean, we had dinner out the other night in the city – just hanging out as teammates, as friends.
On how his relationship with Sanchez is developing…
Great. We always had a fun relationship since USC. We had a good time on that trip and kind of built that relationship the last few years of seeing each other at awards or banquets or certain things like that. He’s definitely a fun-loving person that likes to have a lot of fun and so do I, so we have a good time out there.
On his relationship with Sanchez on the field…
No, it’s been great. Just working together, pushing each other, learning from each other, spending extra time in the film room, talking about college days to just talking about different teams that we faced and just going over things together. We are learning the same offense, something that we have not been in before, and so just really trying to learn it together. It’s been fun.
On whether any ground rules have been set with Sanchez for anything that may test their relationship…
No, we haven’t set any ground rules.
On if he is not contending to be the starter…
I’m just trying to make myself a little bit better every day and push myself.
On if he sees a quarterback competition between Sanchez and himself…
I see it as every day we are both trying to get better, and Greg (McElroy), that goes for all three of us. We are trying to get better and trying to push each other to get better and help each other get better and I think that’s what it’s all about. We are on the same page and we want each other to do well.
On if dealing with the media is exhausting…
Not really. It’s kind of the first time I’ve had to talk to y’all. It’s not really exhausting at all. I think it’s more if you let it become exhausting and worry about it. I really don’t. I just have fun and live my life and thankfully I don’t have to worry about too much. And I don’t have to live the rollercoaster that the media and most of the world makes of my life so that makes it fun as well.