Your New Bucs Backup Quarterback Is…
September 25th, 2014
Mike Kafka gets a promotion.
In as close to a sure sign that the Bucs will turn to quarterback Mike Glennon to lead the Bucs out of the abyss and to the team’s first win of the season, the Bucs have added a quarterback to the 53-man roster.
The new quarterback is an old quarterback. Well, with his shaved head he looks old.
Your new Bucs backup signal-caller is practice squad quarterback Mike Kafka, Twittered Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
The Bucs have promoted QB Mike Kafka to the active roster and have let go of OL Rishaw Johnson.
— Roy Cummings (@RCummingsTBO) September 25, 2014
Joe isn’t sure if this means turnover-prone starting quarterback Josh McCown’s right thumb injury is worse than originally feared, or if simply the Bucs just need a backup quarterback to Glennon on Sunday.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:00 am
Good ole Rishaw Johnson really turned out to be the answer to our prayers!
September 25th, 2014 at 11:01 am
Have to have a backup QB on the field. Glennon goes down, and no other QB on roster, who goes in, the punter? Having said that, if Glennon does get a serious injury and McCown more seriously injured then lead on, 0-16 a distinct possibility
September 25th, 2014 at 11:03 am
0-16 has been a possibility since the opening kickoff of the Panthers game.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:03 am
It means Lovie Smith is using the injury to try out his backup. It’s the smart move, except for one small thing.
The Bucs cannot beat the Steelers. (check the past games against them)
The question is whether they can keep it close.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:06 am
Brian Says
“Good ole Rishaw Johnson really turned out to be the answer to our prayers!”
Well, if Lovie and Licht bring no one in, we can complain that they are to stubborn to change and that things will not get better.
At least this way we see they are trying out guys to try to fill needs.
Don’t be surprised if Rishaw Johnson is resigned next week.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:08 am
CONNOR SHAW IS STILL OUT THERE…ON A PRACTICE SQUAD.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:09 am
Guess it’s time to start the Mike Kafka Gang aka MKG…. no seriously what this tells me is McCown will not be out more then one week and Johnsin wasn’t as good Lovie thought he would be
September 25th, 2014 at 11:14 am
aw man Kafka was really bad.
I want Tebow with Good Mechanics out there. Even Bad Tebow is quite entertaining.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:16 am
No surprise here but let’s hope he doesn’t see the field of play as he looked HORRIBLE in the pre season.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:30 am
So did Glennon
September 25th, 2014 at 11:34 am
Please for the love all Bucs fans stop with this TEBOW crap. The kid can’t play QB. His throwing sucks. I don’t want to see him on the field. If by some .000000000000000001% chance we picked his dumb arse up off the streets I would change football teams. I wouldn’t be able to take the stupidity that is the Glazers if that happened.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:35 am
Oh great! Now Bucs fans have 3 backup QB’s on the roster. That should put a smile on the fans faces. The Reelers aint that good defense wise, a backup Bucs QB will score on them. Glennon get’s at least two pass TD’s.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:36 am
I love the backup QB talk. You guys say it with disgust, however, there are several backup QBs starting right now in the NFL. So I guess about half the league is backup QBs and the rest are starters. Interesting.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:40 am
Leonard Johnson was a high school QB. Maybe he is the “emergency guy”.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:46 am
The trade with the Chiefs for OL Rishaw Johnson didn’t work out? The safety we traded for Johnson, Kelcie McCray has entrenched himself second team behind Husain Abdullah. Secondary coach Emmitt Thomas and DC Bob Sutton have been vocally happy with Kelcie since his arrival. Unlike Rishaw, we haven’t heard a peep about his progress since he got here.
Is it me? or does it always seem most players do well when they leave the Bucs?
September 25th, 2014 at 11:51 am
Get Connor Shaw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 25th, 2014 at 11:52 am
I’d rather see russell Shepard at qb then Kafka.
September 25th, 2014 at 12:39 pm
I’m ready to start the Kafka mob so we can get a Mariota mob next year.
September 25th, 2014 at 12:39 pm
This team sucks. Too bad The GM is just Lovie’s lap dog. The game has passed him by. We have been set back 5 yrs by signing Lovie and McCown.
September 25th, 2014 at 12:46 pm
Just another example of poor evaluation of talent, trade a capable back-up for a bad offensive lineman. Remember L&L traded up for one OLINE and drafted two total and neither can beat out Omameh who was taken from San Francisco practice squad last year. I just struggle to get over their poor decisions…Larsen, Zuttah, Joseph, Penn….all start somewhere else.
September 25th, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Oh, good lord, you pu$$ies. It was a camp bait trade. Get over yourselves.
September 25th, 2014 at 12:56 pm
To think so many scoffed at Schiano…kind of like George W after his replacement took over sometimes all you need is a far more inept leader in charge to make you appreciate the one you had 🙂 Last snarky political blurb…back to football, thus far Schiano > Smith in the Bucs HC department.
September 25th, 2014 at 1:12 pm
Obama is 50 times better than Bush. Absence obviously makes the heart grow fonder.
September 25th, 2014 at 1:14 pm
Who cares what u want skyline, I want take. tebow over what we have including a new coach
September 25th, 2014 at 1:15 pm
What’s josh Johnson up to these days?
September 25th, 2014 at 1:15 pm
@bonzai. You don’t get it. That is and was a position of need. If the Bucs part ways with Dashon next year it would have been nice not to have to replace that as well with McCray. The moves they are making are making us worse this year and next year as well. You may or may not like mike Williams but to trade him away for a crappy offensive lineman who can’t play well enough hurt this team. It’s not like Williams was scheduled to make much this year and we would have had three wr’s. So many levels that I don’t think people realize yet
September 25th, 2014 at 1:24 pm
His name sounds like a backup’s
September 25th, 2014 at 1:30 pm
Please get Connor Shaw!!!!!!!!!
September 25th, 2014 at 1:34 pm
I’m going to keep it real. Lovie will not loose 8 in a roll in his second year.
September 25th, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Tebow is a loser. McCown is better than Tebow. Reason he isn’t in the NFL. Go ahead and get your rocks off thinking about him. Worst QB to play in the NFL.
September 25th, 2014 at 1:47 pm
Here is an article for you TrickPony,
“Tim Tebow won some games when he was inserted in as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos, but not because of his quarterback play. Experts gave more credit to Denver’s staunch defense and clutch kicking game than Tebow’s ability as a signal caller. Oh, and then there was that whole Divine Intervention angle.
But when you strip away all the hype, Tebow was truly a terrible quarterback. Oh sure, he made some plays with his legs and occasionally could beat a team with a sudden passing strike (see the AFC wild-card win over Pittsburgh), but you can’t rely on a starting quarterback who completes less than 50 percent of his passes and averages 123.5 yards a game while displaying no hope of ever developing any touch on his passes. Not to mention his throwing mechanics are so bad he could market a video to youngsters on how not to throw a football.”
September 25th, 2014 at 1:51 pm
I will say this for Tebow. He inspired his teammates and won games. I’d rather have terrible/sloppy QB play at this point if the tradeoff was ugly wins. I’d rather see Tebow on the field than Kafka. I don’t see anything wrong with giving Tebow a chance if your season is already in the gutter and you don’t have to pay him a lot. If anything, we would be able to draft Marcus Mariota when we lose every game.
September 25th, 2014 at 2:03 pm
I don’t see any point in going after a QB that is one of the worst QBs in the NFL just to be a backup? Might as well go with Kafka, more upside. I agree that we should draft a QB next year, just not sure if we will be drafting as early as we think.
September 25th, 2014 at 2:35 pm
@SAMCRO, agreed.
Do you know that Ted Larsen, Ted frickin’ Larsen, is another former o-lineman of ours who is starting and playing well for another team this year!
The Cardinals drafted Jonathan Cooper, but he has only played 3 snaps this season b/c Larsen has been better.
September 25th, 2014 at 3:00 pm
It cracks me up when people always bring up the Denver defense when it comes to Tebow like they magically changed defenses when Tebow took over as QB. Based on this logic Denver should have been winning games when Kyle Orton was the QB. No matter what you think about Tebow he led his team to victories.
September 25th, 2014 at 3:40 pm
This is Tebow: completes less than 50 percent of his passes and averages 123.5 yards a game
This is people’s thought process: Glennon has to throw for 400 yds a game and win by 20 pts or he sucks.
That makes no sense. If Tebow is the worst QB in the league and can win a game with 123 yds passing who cares? Coaches do, but fans don’t, however, when it comes to Glennon that isn’t acceptable. He has to go verticle he has to throw 50 yd passes every game. It is just stupid logic.
September 25th, 2014 at 3:49 pm
Tim Tebow Stats from 2011 in the regular season:
1,729 yds
12 TDs
6 Ints
46.5% COMP%
33 sacks
72.9 rating
Tim Tebow Stats from 2011 in the post season:
452 yds (316 yds came from the 1st game)
2 TDs
0 Ints
40.4% COMP%
5 sacks
90 rating
Not a QB I want controlling my team. 125 isn’t going to win many games and getting in to the playoffs at 8-8 isn’t going to happen for the Bucs. Denver got lucky that they got into the playoffs.
September 25th, 2014 at 4:31 pm
Mike Kafka would be a good quarterback, if he were on another team, playing the Bucs.
September 25th, 2014 at 5:20 pm
If Kafka is in the game, I will turn it off. Even Brad Gradkowski aka the Polish Pistol was night and day better than what Kafka is now. What have we come to? Really??
September 25th, 2014 at 5:21 pm
*Bruce
September 27th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Skyline it’s idiots like you who would rather continue sucking then give a proven winner a chance. Here are some stats for you from 2011
* 100.5 QB rating is best ever for a Broncos QB in his first start.
* Longest TD run by a QB in Broncos history (40 yds).
* Longest TD run by a QB in his first start in NFL history (40 yds.)
* Third most passing yards in a game by a Bronco rookie QB. (308, in his 2nd start)
* First 15+ point comeback in the final 3 minutes of an NFL game since the merger.
* Longest TD run in the final minute of a game in NFL history.
* Most carries in a game by a QB (22) since 1950. (Vs Chargers)
* Most yards per completion (31.6) in NFL playoff history.
* Longest overtime postseason TD pass in NFL history.
* Most 30+ yard completions in one quarter in NFL postseason history.
* Passer rating of 125.6 is highest ever in Broncos postseason history.
* 7 come from behind 4th Q or overtime victories. ..
Tebow’s Quietly Historic Production
There are two underlying reasons why Tebow is so effective, two reasons that explain his impressive Real Quarterback Rating week after week.
1. He gets the ball in the end zone more often than any QB in football today
2. He protects the football better than any QB in football today
The Broncos clearly have not scored a lot of points with Tebow at quarterback. In fact, Denver has averaged just 19.3 points per game in Tebow’s six starts and has scored 18 points or fewer in five of those games. And clearly, the defense has improved dramatically in recent weeks, either purely as coincidence or as a by-product of the fact that Tebow has helped the team improve in all areas by protecting the football.
But Tebow himself has been deadly with the ball in his hands. He produces touchdowns at an amazing clip, better than any quarterback in football in his brief career. Here’s a comparison of Tebow vs. some of the more prolific quarterbacks in recent history.
Career percentage of touches that result in a TD:
Tim Tebow — 6.0 percent
Aaron Rodgers — 5.7 percent
Peyton Manning — 5.5 percent
Tom Brady — 5.1 percent
Drew Brees — 4.7 percent
John Elway — 3.9 percent
Wow. Tebow may not pass the ball effectively. But he’s produced an incredible 22 touchdowns (13 passing, nine rushing) in just 368 touches (225 pass attempts, 121 rush attempts, 22 sacks). Nobody in football gets the ball in the end zone more often.
More importantly, Tebow takes incredibly good care of the football. We track something at Cold, Hard Football Facts called the “interception ladder.” It shows us that every interception decreases your chances of winning by about 20 percentage points. In other words, interceptions are destructive plays that severely limit a team’s ability to win games.
But the Broncos are winning not just because Tebow protects the football, but because he protects it better than any QB in the game today. Here’s how he stacks up against some of the more prolific QBs in the game today.
Career interception percentage:
Tim Tebow — 1.78 percent
Aaron Rodgers — 1.83 percent
Tom Brady — 2.2 percent
Drew Brees — 2.71 percent
Peyton Manning — 2.75 percent
John Elway — 3.1 percent
Add in that Tebow has lost just one fumble in his career (with four INT) and his turnover rate is an incredibly miniscule 1.4 percent.
Tebow has suffered just two turnovers all year, one interception and one fumble. Both of those turnovers came in the Detroit game, his lone loss this year. He has a clean slate, zero turnovers, in Denver’s five victories this year.
Superior All-Around Production At QB
There’s no doubt that Tebow’s passing accuracy has been spotty at times. At the end of the day, though, he has consistently outplayed the other team’s quarterbacks. The problem is that most analysts are limited in their ability to analyze and compare quarterbacks with anything more concrete than the old eye test. Or they look at stats that simply do not matter at the end of the day, such as passing yards, and can’t figure out how Tebow is winning games.
Smarter analysts might know to look at critical measures of passing success, such as yards per attempt or passer rating — indicators that traditionally have a very high correlation to victory. But even those indicators fail to tell the whole story of Tim Tebow.
Enter Cold, Hard Football Facts.com’s Real Quarterback Rating, which we introduced over the summer and which has quickly proven itself the most important indicator in football outside of final score.
CHFF Real Quarterback Rating measures all aspects of quarterback play, passing, rushing, sacks, fumbles, etc., and spits it out in a number substantially similar to passer rating and that uses the same formula as passer rating. (Passer rating, while extraordinarily useful in its own right, measures only passing and nothing else — even if many fans and analysts erroneously refer to it as “quarterback rating.”)
Our introduction of Real QB Rating this year has proven fortuitous. After all, it provides a perfect way to compare Tebow to opposing passers. (Get a full explanation of Real Quarterback Rating in the footnotes below.)
Here’s how Tebow stacks up against each opposing quarterback this year in traditional passer rating and in Real Quarterback Rating.
Week 7 — Denver 18, Miami 15
Matt Moore: 92.6 passer rating; 69.6 Real QB Rating
Tim Tebow: 91.7 passer rating; 80.5 Real QB Rating
Real QB Rating advantage: Tebow (+10.9)
Week 8 — Detroit 45, Denver 10
Matt Stafford-Shaun Hill: 126.0 passer rating; 118.2 Real QB Rating
Tim Tebow: 56.8 passer rating; 48.2 Real QB Rating
Real QB Rating advantage: Stafford (+70.0)
Week 9 — Denver 38, Oakland 24
Carson Palmer: 79.7 passer rating; 69.4 Real QB Rating
Tim Tebow: 98.1 passer rating; 108.2 Real QB Rating
Real QB Rating advantage: Tebow (+38.8)
Week 10 — Denver 17, Kansas City 10
Matt Cassel-Tyler Palko: 73.2 passer rating; 67.9 Real QB Rating
Tim Tebow: 102.6 passer rating; 122.7 Real QB Rating
Real QB Rating advantage: Tebow (+54.8)
Week 11 — Denver 17, N.Y. Jets 13
Mark Sanchez: 67.9 passer rating; 62.2 Real QB Rating
Tim Tebow: 61.3 passer rating; 87.1 Real QB Rating
Real QB Rating advantage: Tebow (+24.9)
Week 12 — Denver 16, San Diego 13
Philip Rivers: 77.1 passer rating, 68.8 Real QB Rating
Tim Tebow: 95.4 pass rating, 94.4 Real QB Rating
Real QB Rating advantage: Tebow (+25.6)
In other words, Tebow is no statistical circus freak winning in spite of himself. Tebow’s Broncos are winning because he consistently outperforms the opposing quarterback when you take into account all aspects of production: passing, running, sacks, total touchdowns, interceptions and fumbles. In fact, he consistently outperforms them by a wide margin.
Denver is 5-0 when Tebow produces a higher Real QB Rating than the opposing quarterback and 0-1 when the other team has the advantage. And those results are no coincidence.
After all, it turns out that no stat in football outside final score — indeed, maybe no stat in North American sports, period — is more important than Real QB Rating this season when it comes time to separate winners and losers.
LessDebunking the myths of Tim Tebow
This article is what NAMED Broncos and NFL coaches and GMs said about Tim:
“…Tebow has dazzled the Broncos coaches with HIS DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLEX OFFENSES…”
“I guarantee you that offense they are running there in Denver now, he put a lot of it in,” (Ken) Herock (former NFL GM) said. “I bet he has a lot of input on what they are running up there.”
“…John Fox retained most of the offensive coaches (and) THE BRONCOS KEPT THE SAME OFFENSE (and) inserted in the Tebow Package… adding new wrinkles every week…”
“Last year they left a six-hour, pre-draft visit with the quarterback in Gainesville, Fla., amazed at how HE HAD BLOWN AWAY ALL OTHER QUARTERBACKS’ SCORES ON A LIST OF QUALITIES THEY DEEMED ESSENTIAL. These included: loving the game, competitiveness, leadership, arm strength, UNDERSTANDING OFFENSES, an ability to avoid pass rushes, resilience and composure.”
“(Coach) Gase said, ‘…AS WE GET HIM MORE BALANCED, HIS THROWS BECOME SMOOTHER AND MORE ACCURATE… There’s a calmness and a composure when the game is tight. HE’S SMART WITH THE FOOTBALL.’”
“’He’s becoming a much better NFL quarterback,’ (Coach) Fox said.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=lc-carpenter…
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Debunking the myths of Tim Tebow
This article is what NAMED Broncos and NFL coaches and GMs said about Tim:
“…Tebow has dazzled the Broncos coaches with HIS DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLEX OFFENSES…”
“I guarantee you that offense they are running there in Denver now, he put a lot of it in,” (Ken) Herock (former NFL GM) said. “I bet he has a lot of input on what they are running up there.”
“…John Fox retained most of the offensive coaches (and) THE BRONCOS KEPT THE SAME OFFENSE (and) inserted in the Tebow Package… adding new wrinkles every week…”
“Last year they left a six-hour, pre-draft visit with the quarterback in Gainesville, Fla., amazed at how HE HAD BLOWN AWAY ALL OTHER QUARTERBACKS’ SCORES ON A LIST OF QUALITIES THEY DEEMED ESSENTIAL. These included: loving the game, competitiveness, leadership, arm strength, UNDERSTANDING OFFENSES, an ability to avoid pass rushes, resilience and composure.”
“(Coach) Gase said, ‘…AS WE GET HIM MORE BALANCED, HIS THROWS BECOME SMOOTHER AND MORE ACCURATE… There’s a calmness and a composure when the game is tight. HE’S SMART WITH THE FOOTBALL.’”
“’He’s becoming a much better NFL quarterback,’ (Coach) Fox said.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=lc-carpenter…
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Throughout the regular season, the Steelers had only give up six completions of 30+ yards. Tim Tebow threw five of them in his first play-off game. More astounding is that Pittsburgh had only given up a total of seven plays, of any kind, of 30 yards or more ALL year.
Tebow is the first player to have four completions of 30 yards or more in one quarter of a playoff game in the modern era (since 1960) and the first in any game since Warren Moon in 1990.
In the last 10 years, the perennially defensive-minded Steelers had never given up more than two passes of fifty yards in any one game. Tebow threw three of them. This gets, somehow, even more impressive when you learn that Pittsburgh had only given up one pass of more than 45 yards all year (and in that case, most of the yards came after the catch)
Further, in the playoffs, no QB since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970 had ever completed three 50+ yard passes in a game. “And Tebow can’t throw?”less