Tim Tebow scores his first NFL touchdown

Yahoo! Sports

Sun Oct 17 07:52pm EDT

Tim Tebow scores his first NFL touchdown

It took nearly six weeks into his rookie season, but Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (notes) finally got his first rushing touchdown as a professional. The play looked a lot like the option stuff he ran so well at Florida, and quite a bit like the kinds of plays we drew up in the preseason when we suggested that Tebow might be the Broncos' best red-zone threat. Here's the play, which gave the Broncos a 7-7 tie with the New York Jets with 11:12 left in the second quarter:

Great stuff. Tebow originally followed the down-blocking inside, but headed outside with pulling guard Russ Hochstein (notes), where there was nothing but green grass and open space.

[Photo: Teammates leave Tebow with ridiculous haircut]

The question is, what took so long for this to happen? As great as Denver's passing offense has been, they're among the worst red-zone running teams in the league (through the first five weeks, only the Rams were worse), and Tebow used plays like these to score 57 touchdowns on the ground through his collegiate career -- that's as many as Marshall Faulk put up at San Diego State.

[Rewind: Tebow's inaugural NFL performance]

The Broncos lost to the Jets, 24-20, but if there's one positive thing that should have come out of this game, it's Tebow's emergence as a possible option idea when Denver gets near the end zone. The way Kyle Orton's (notes) playing right now, it's the only way that first-round pick is going to get on the field.

[Photos: Tim Tebow on the field and more]

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