Is Brady vs. Tebow Really Vader vs. Skywalker ?

This week’s upcoming match between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos is a bigger deal than maybe most people realize.

The popular opinion is that the Broncos run of good luck will come to an end and that will more or less crush the fad that has been “Tebow Time.” In short not unlike the classic movie Star Wars, the Empire has their sights set on crushing the Rebellion and that will be that.

The funny thing is that what is being overlooked is that at the helm of both of these teams are two quarterbacks that could not be more unlike each other.

They both love to win and they both fight to inspire their teammates to play at a higher level than maybe they thought they were capable of. Yet, even in their similarities lie many differences.

Tom Brady plays the game with a certain arrogance that places him in the driver seat of a car fueled by criticism. It’s the main reason why so many both inside and outside of the game get such a kick out of watching him lose.

Last year’s playoff exit at the hands of the New York Jets was priceless not because of LB Bart Scott’s post game rampage but because Brady carried himself as if the Jets had no right  to win that game. How dare they do that to us? We are the Patriots and I am Tom Brady.

The same can be said for the previous year when the Ravens took off their belt to them and beat the half to death on their way out of the post-season as well.

What gets the highest visibility to how Brady apparently feels about football is the fact that he lives and dies by his own set of rules. He has been allotted a certain set of rules that the other 31 signal callers in the league do not have access to.

Take for example the bogus call against Redskins LB London Fletcher this weekend. Brady in a rare showing of mobility leaves the pocket and runs for as much yardage as he can get. In the process of getting as much yardage as he can get, he spies Fletcher about to lay the wood on him and goes into a VERY late slide to give himself up. In the process, Fletcher drills Brady in the shoulder as there was no way he could stop his momentum.

In any other situation the ref’s attitude would have been like ‘have fun icing that shoulder all day tomorrow, slide sooner next time dummy.’ In Brady’s case, he gets the flag thrown in his favor.

Now London Fletcher plays the game hard but he is not a dirty player in any sense of the word, so there is no guess work as to whether or not a flag should have been thrown; just your friendly neighborhood Brady rules at work.

Each weekend we all cheer our favorite teams on and giggle when we get bogus calls in our favor. However, with Brady he berates officials and demands the calls and he gets him. Why? He’s no longer the face of the league like Michael Jordon was for the NBA when he had his own rules.

At least when Jordon had his own thing going, he was winning championships. Brady has been nothing more than a great regular season QB for the better part of four years now. I mean at least pass the special rules gauntlet over to a guy like Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers. You know the guys winning the rings.

Yet still he and the Patriots walk onto the field with a sense of entitlement. They are still the Empire damn it, even if they never got the memo that they are not even the best team in the AFC anymore.

On the other hand, Tim Tebow showcases a demeanor that is anything BUT entitled. Like Brady he is unliked by many, many people.

But unlike Brady he will probably never get involved in a mess surrounding doing a homeless man dirty. Tebow is to busy building hospitals in the Philippines to help the disenfranchised.

When Tebow takes the field he places his fate in the hands of his faith and his teammates who he thanks more so than himself. Tebow might be a game changer but his ‘oh-gosh’ demeanor would never let him get on a post-game podium and stroke himself silly.

Unless success reaches up and changes him for the worse Tebow is a genuine guy that is grounded by doing right by others before he does right by himself. He feels entitled to help those around him before he helps himself.

These are two different people and as such they have two different perspectives and two different ways of doing things.

Truthfully, we know neither of them and at home Brady could be the greatest guy in the world who does the dishes for his wife and rubs her feet after a hard day on the gridiron. Tebow could behind closed doors be a tyrant who throws coffee at his assistant because he asked for Splenda not Sweet N’ Lo. I somehow doubt it but again we only know what we can see.

Come this Sunday, it will be interesting to watch these charismatic opposites do battle. The beacon of light versus the cloak of arrogance and entitlement.  If Tebow wins, how long will it take before people nick-name him Skywalker?

Videos

Tim Tebow Post Game:

Brady Rules At Work: