After Mark Sanchez's second-quarter pick six resurfaced his troubling flair for the traumatic, the stage was set for Tim Tebow to create a media feeding frenzy in Saturday night's preseason game against the New York Giants.
Had he marched the New York Jets on a touchdown drive or two against a collection of Giants backups, a quarterback controversy would be born -- a ridiculous one, but a quarterback controversy no less.
Unfortunately for Tebow -- and perhaps fortunately for the Jets in a macro sense -- no one is calling for Tebow on Sunday morning.
He struggled badly, going 5-for-14 passing for 69 yards. His low point came in the third quarter, when he underthrew a wide open Stephen Hill on what should've been an easy 29-yard touchdown. Tebow was on the run and threw across his body, but it was a play a quarterback simply needs to make.
He also took his share of licks. After getting blindsided by an unblocked Will Hill in the fourth quarter, Tebow got after teammates on the offensive line.
"Obviously, we were getting after him a little bit," said Giants journeyman defensive tackle Carlton Powell, via The Star-Ledger. "And I guess they weren't holding up their protection so some mistakes were being made. So I saw him getting mad, so I said a little something to him. He kind of looked at me like he wanted to say something, but he didn't really say nothing though."
While Sanchez hid his frustration as the Giants' four-man rush ran roughshod over Wayne Hunter & Co., Tebow let his lineman have it. They're two very different personalities, but they're facing the same problem.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @danhanzus.
