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Bask In The Awkward Glow Of This Tim Tebow-John Elway Embrace

You have to feel good for Tim Tebow. Sure, he’s a constantly-smiling church camp kid who was put on the planet to make you look like a worse person, but at least he’s a genuine, constantly-smiling church camp kid (for confirmation, watch this now-famous mic’d up segment — Tebow is nothing if not real). And following a season in which he and his funny-looking throwing motion were constantly questioned, and a week in which there were whispers of his backup replacing him, he delivered. Big time.

Tebow’s too-good-to-be-true stat line in Denver’s 29-23 overtime win over Pittsburgh: 10-21 for 316 yards (yes, as in John 3:16), three total touchdowns, and one giddy locker room embrace with with Broncos VP John Elway (it comes in around the 30-second mark). The “alright!” at the end from Elway really makes it special.

Elway, as you may recall, hasn’t always been sure about his starting quarterback. During Tebow’s string of stirring comebacks in the regular season, TV cameras loved to show a conflicted Elway up in the luxury box, half-smiling because his team won, half-frowning because the guy leading that team may not be the long-term solution at quarterback.

That conflict continued into this week, as there were reports of backup Brady Quinn taking reps with the first team offense, and some wondered if a shaky Tebow (he was really awful in yesterday’s first quarter) would be yanked. He wasn’t, he won, and afterwards, the greatest Bronco quarterback paid homage to the newest Bronco quarterback. Tebow accepted him openly.