Backlash Aplenty, But Boomer Won't Back Down From 'Cut Tebow' Stance
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- The reaction on Monday to Boomer Esiason was swift and mostly one-sided.
And yeah, he heard it all.
Almost 24 hours to the minute after saying he'd "cut Tim Tebow" from the Jets, Esiason stood his ground.
"I said what I said, I'm not gonna back down from it," he said early Tuesday on WFAN's "Boomer & Carton" morning show. "I have nothing personally against Tim Tebow. As a matter of fact, I like him very much, he's a great guy, does great work off the field. But it really comes down to playing quarterback for the New York Jets and is he the right guy for this team at this time?"
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For every person who agreed with Boomer's assertion that the Jets would be better off without the backup quarterback, there seemed to be a throng of Tebow supporters. Esiason got into it a bit with fans and even a few members of the media on Twitter.
"I'm not a Jet fan," said Esiason. "People have to understand that. I'm an NFL analyst."
Though the debate raged all day long, it hit its low before Esiason could even sign off from his radio show Monday. He read an angry correspondence on air yesterday from a CEO of a California company.
"I'm Tebowing you and your family," the person wrote. "I hope you fall on hard times. I'm sticking a needle in the back of your voodoo doll, can you feel it?"
After Jets practice Monday, 24-year-old quarterback's response was vintage Tebow: "I've heard nothing but great things about Mr. Esiason. I know he was a great player here and I wish him nothing but the best in his announcing. God bless him."
"That's the way that you should react to people who are criticizing you," said Esiason. "You know, maybe I should have taken a page out of those playbooks when I was a young player in the NFL and people were criticizing me."
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On Tuesday, Boomer reiterated that he doesn't think Tebow is the right fit for New York. A low-completion-percentage quarterback, sharing time on a team searching for its identity and learning a new offensive system? That's a bad combination, according to Esiason.
"You don't have to be a genius to recognize ... that doesn't work in this league," he said.
Tebow was brought in to push starter Mark Sanchez, run the Wildcat and is expected to contribute on special teams. He's impressed so far in goal-line drills at the team's SUNY Cortland training camp, but sputtered leading the offense in Saturday's Green and White scrimmage.
Morning show co-host Craig Carton backed up Esiason and pointed toward Tebow's struggles to top the 10-completion mark as a starter. Esiason said fans should just look at John Elway's decision to trade away the then-Broncos quarterback and bring in Peyton Manning.
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"(Elway) knows that Tim Tebow has all the heart and desire to be a great football player," said Esiason. "He just doesn't have -- I think -- the God-given ability to play the position of NFL quarterback the way it needs to be played in order to win a Super Bowl. And Elway recognized that."
LISTEN: Tuesday's Boomer & Carton show open
(You can download the entire clip HERE.)
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