Denver Broncos coach John Fox on Wednesday eased off his comment to NFL.com's Jeff Darlington that if quarterback Tim Tebow were running a conventional offense "he'd be screwed."
"I think at the time we were watching the second half of the Detroit game and the point was that him or any other quarterback in that situation, down 24-3, is not enviable and is not a good spot to be in. There's a lot of different ways to put it," Fox said.
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"Or any game that you're one-dimensional and you have to throw the ball 30 times in a half and the other team knows it, it's not good."
Fox made his earlier comment Monday as he sat in his office with Darlington and watched game film of the Broncos' last two games, wins over the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs that have vaulted the Broncos into contention in the AFC West at 4-5, one game out of first place. The turnaround came when Fox designed a run-heavy, read-option offense based on Tebow's particular skill set.
"After the loss to Detroit (a 45-10 blowout), we decided if Tim is going to be our guy, we can't do that other crap," Fox told Darlington. "We had to tweak it."
Many took Fox's remarks as a shot at his own quarterback.
"I'm his biggest fan. The kid's a competitor," Fox told the Denver Post on Tuesday. "No knock against anybody else, but the quarterback we have now likes this stuff. He has a bigger body. Running is one of this guy's strengths. Put in this offense and some quarterbacks in the league would look at you like you had three heads. Tebow feeds off it. He likes the physical part of football, and it's a little bit unique. He can pass. But this is an ability (Tebow) has that most quarterbacks don't have in this league."
So while passing 30 times a game might not be good, but running the ball 30 times in a half would suit Fox just fine.
Since Tebow supplanted Kyle Orton as the starting quarterback in Week 7, the Broncos have rushed for an NFL-high 915 yards and moved up from 23rd in the league in rushing to second. Tebow has gained 283 of those yards.
"It's not like we were setting the world on fire. I mean, we were sitting there with a 1-4 record," Fox said. "We had to find out if something else could work."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
