But now that you mention it.........I do think that it is a somewhat interesting comparison, because Anderson was also a one-dimensional player who was successful for a brief period of time. But once the rest of the league figured out Anderson's game, the success came to a grinding halt.
Anderson may be the only quarterback that comes to mind if someone were to ask me for an NFL QB who is LESS accurate then Tebow.
Anderson's 52.6% career completion percentage is lowest among active quarterbacks with 16+ career starts. Next up are Grossman (54.7%) and Sanchez (55.0%).Tebow is currently at 47.1%. No quarterback has completed less than 50% of his passes for more than 16 games since Ryan Leaf.
I think the far more interesting thing (and why Tebow is such a divisive figure in both the NFL and FF) is the fact that despite that poor completion %, two things are still true:1) He is a much bigger threat than any of those you listed to run
effectively.
2) Despite his poor passing, his team continues to win with him running the offense.
The thing that is fascinating (or will be over the next few weeks...perhaps years), will be to see if this will actually "work". The league has had it's fair share of QBs that can run (Vick, etc.) - and of course good passers that are mobile (Young, Elway, CPepp, Cunningham, etc.) - but Tebow is unique in that he is probably a better pure runner than most, but a worse passer (of course, some would debate whether or not he is truly worse than the Falcon's version of Vick - who's passer rating with the Falcons was under 80 every year except 1 and whose current career passer rating is still lower than Tebow's). Tebow is more like a very good RB who can throw the ball fairly well (for an RB).
One thing that is also interesting about Tebow is that he is not throwing INTs. He currently is sporting a 7:1 TD to INT ration this season (and 12:4 for his career). For a "bad" passer, that is fairly remarkable. Now, I know someone is going to chime in and say something to the effect that he "so bad not even the defender is close enough to make a play" - but honestly - 7:1? Now, perhaps that a bit of an outlier given the fact that he has faced some pretty poor defenses - but something worth keeping an eye on.
I would suggest that if Tebow can continue to be an "effective" passer (i.e. keep the rating above 80, keep INTs to a minimum) the "experiment" might just work. Here's why:
Traditionally (which is a qualifier in and of itself), the formula for winning in the NFL has been something to the effect of "run the football, don't turn the ball over, control the clock and play good defense" (incidentally the first three help the 4th as a rested defense is a more effective defense). Tebow seemingly can take care of the first three - and his running seems to open up things in the passing game and for his RBs as well. I mean Moreno had 4 carries for 52 yards before leaving the game!
My point is simply that I think the reason Tebow is interesting - and yet divisive - is because he does not fit any of the traditional "molds" of what a QB should be...but is, for now, having some degree of success in the NFL. Is he a "flash in the pan"? Is he simply putting together a string of decent games against poor teams that will come crashing down against "good" defenses? Or is it
possible that he is providing a different option (no pun intended) for QB skillset that can be effective at the NFL level?