DENVER BRONCOS @ MIAMI DOLPHINS 
Vegas Line: Broncos + 1.5
Rob’s Line: Dolphins + 1.5
There’s a couple of big quarterback stories this week and has Carson Palmers’s upcoming debut for the Raiders usurped the Tim Tebow media circus? Not if you drown in either Bronco or Dolphin orange…yes, that’s right, even Dolphin orange. This is the ultimate homecoming for Tebow, returning as he is to the state where he played his college ball and being named Denver’s starter, but who writes these scripts? I mean, he becomes the Broncos’ immediate, undoubted main man and his very first game is in Florida??? Puh-lease!!!
However, and just like that, the all-seeing, all-knowing John Elway trades away Brandon Lloyd, Tebow’s instant best buddy and most reliable receiver, to the Rams. As soon as I read this, my thoughts went one way and that is west, to Stanford, California.
Stanford is where Elway played his own college ball and who just happens to be the incumbent QB there? Step forward, one Andrew Luck. I won’t apologise for this, but the Lloyd trade makes absolutely no sense and is more than a little suspect. He led the entire NFL in receiving yards last year so just why the Broncos saw fit to discard him, and this week of all weeks, leaves me baffled.
Denver sits 1-4 so is Elway and his front office secretly hoping to be in position to draft Luck next April? I can only come to one conclusion and it doesn’t place Elway in the most positive of lights. This pains me more than a little as I rooted for him and the Broncos in the first four Super Bowls he played in (I cheered on the underdog Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII) and now I sit here seriously questioning his motives.
To the game then and probably about time. I like the Broncos here and am struggling to see why Vegas sees it so differently fro me. Make no mistake, this is a close game to call and the Dolphins last week should have scored more than seven points against the Jets, but they didn’t and the reasons why can probably be placed squarely on the shoulders of QB Matt Moore. With Chad Henne done for the season and the trade deadline now passed, Moore looks to be the Dolphins’ QB for what could be the remainder of a very long season and I’m actually quite glad as it should mean that Elway has his work cut out trying to gerrymander the rights to Luck come April 2012.
Tebow is a fighter and doesn’t hear the (many) negatives about his play, instead focusing on what he’s good at and if it isn’t text book then he doesn’t care. He actually seems to play with a college mentality and while it won’t ultimately sit well with his coaches, he’s generated a following all of his own and he can, and does, make things happen, as witnessed by his performance when coming off the bench against the Chargers two weeks ago.
This preview has been all about Tebow, but I make no apologies for that as he’s arguably the biggest story in the NFL this weekend and I really like Denver on Sunday so any points on offer on the handicap are gratefully received.
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