Eye of the Trigger

   by Gus Ramsey
 
   If you stand toe-to-toe with this bum, he'll kill you. It doesn't take a man to stand there and get your head beat off...! He's just a man, Rock, so be MORE man than him! Go get him; Eye Of the Tiger! 

You're not going to believe this, but when trying to think of parallels for the Broncos/Steelers game, I thought of Rocky 3.

   Right now, Tim Tebow is Rocky after losing to Clubber Lang. His confidence is shot and he's not sure what matters anymore. He may have spent part of the week walking around downtown Denver asking himself "How did everything that was so good get so bad?" 

  In October, Broncos fans started chanting his name and put up "Play Tebow" billboards around Denver. Then he started winning and they all but put up a statue of him. But now he's lost three straight and maybe doesn't think he is worthy of all the attention. You can almost see the statue unveiling ceremony unfolding like this

Crowd: "Tee-bow! Tee-bow! Tee-bow!" 

Let's immortalize the southpaw!

Tebow: "What do you say to something like this? About three months ago... this city... really took me inside, you know? And I want to thank you very much for that. I really do.  And I've been thinking that, uh, I wasn't going to bring this up, but I might as well now. I would never do anything to hurt this town that has been so really good to me. It's really hard to say this. I feel like, well... I'm thinking maybe it's time that Brady Quinn got a start... " 

Crowd: (gasps in horror) "No!!!! No!!" 

   The Steelers are Clubber Lang. They are big and mean and intimidating. Any pre-game interviews will include predictions of pain and Lamar Woodley saying something like "I'm gonna torture him. I'm gonna crucify him. Real bad."  James Harrison is probably going to walk out for the coin toss, look right at Tebow and snarl "Dead meat." 

He was scary...

he is terrifying!

   Pittsburgh is going to come flying out of their corner and look to hit Tebow with as many haymakers as possible, going for the early knockout.

   I suppose all of this makes John Fox, Mickey. He has been protecting Tebow, trying hard not to let him get hurt, nursing him through victories against tomatoes like Carson Palmer, Caleb Hanie, Christian Ponder and Mark Sanchez. I can see Fox in a meeting with Tebow this week having this exchange 

Fox: "This isn't just another defense. It's a wrecking machine. And they're hungry!" 

Tebow: "Hey, I won six games in a row this season."

Fox: "That was easy." 

"They'll sack ya' inta next week!"

Tebow: Whadda ya' mean 'easy'?" 

Fox: "They was poorly coached."

Tebow: "Set ups?"

Fox: "Nah, they wasn't set-ups, but they all played soft cover 2. They weren't killers like Pittsburgh. They'll knock ya' into tomorrow, Tim." 

   Just like Mickey's confidence in Rocky wavered, I don't think John Fox is going into this game thinking Tebow is going to win it for him. 

   This doesn't mean, however, that John Fox has to die in order for the Broncos to win on Sunday...at least I don't think it does. 

"THERE IS NO TOMORROW!"

   And that leaves John Elway, the retired champ/mentor, playing Apollo Creed. When John said this week "Pull the trigger!" he may have well as been saying "Eye of the tiger!" The message is the same, "get your mojo back or you're going out of here in a body bag." Maybe Elway popped in on the quarterbacks meeting and Brady Quinn said something to Tebow like, "Don't listen to all the critics, Tim," and then Elway chimed in with, "No. Do listen to it, Tim. Because when it's over everyone is going to owe you an engraved apology." If they are down at halftime maybe Elway will go into the locker room and scream "There is no tomorrow! THERE IS NO TOMORROW!" 

   Denver needs to wear the Steelers down, just like Rocky wore down Clubber in the second fight. Pound away with the running game. Spread the field a few times and let Tebow run, forcing Harrison and Woodley (recently back from injuries) to run around in altitude and gasp for some air. Maybe Tebow bowls over Harrison on a run, gets up and says "You ain't so bad!" 

   It's going to be a miracle of sorts for Denver to win this game, but if they can pull it out, maybe, just maybe, Tebow and Elway will have an awkward man-hug on the field after the game. 

Risin' up, back in the pocket
Made my reads, took my chances
Threw some quick slants
Now I'm movin' my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
The zone blitz makes you pull back your passes
Don't lose your grip on the seams of the ball
You must fight just to keep the drive alive

It's time to pull the trigger
It's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge
Of our rival
And the last rated passer
Let's his ball take to flight
And John's watching from high up above
"Pull the trigger!"