Tebow broke a nine-day Twitter hiatus to say: “Hey Merrill…… ‘ppreciate that”
Later, the oft-criticized LeBron James chimed in and fired back at Hoge.
“Guys get on that TV and act like they was all WORLD when they played,” he said. “How bout encouraging him and wishing him the best instead of hating!!”
Both athletes were responding to Hoge’s words on Twitter and television Wednesday after the ESPN analyst studied game tape from last season. Hoge tweeted and reiterated on SportsCenter that Tebow’s accuracy hasn’t improved, and his throwing motion is still as bad as it was when he was a Heisman Trophy winner at Florida.
In a series of tweets, Hoge wrote:
“It’s embarrassing to think the Broncos could win with Tebow!! …That throwing motion he changed? You can’t change who you are!… College credentials do not transfer to NFL, rah-rah speeches do not work! You must possess a skill set to play! Tebow struggles with accuracy!”
Appearing on SportsCenter, the eight-year NFL veteran added:
“He is awful as far as accuracy goes and what’s kind of even more disturbing, he’s probably worse moving and running around with the football and throwing than he is from the pocket. Can you get better there? A little bit. If everything is perfect, the pocket, your feet are good, all your fundamentals come into place, the coverage is what you want it, you can be successful. But that doesn’t happen at the National Football League. Rarely does that happen.”
All of this comes on the day that ESPN and NFL Network reported that the Broncos QB job was Kyle Orton‘s, despite rumors that the veteran would be dealt to make way for the popular Tebow.
But don’t tell James that Tebow won’t make it.
“Tim Tebow will succeed in the NFL,” James tweeted. “He’s a hard worker, a student of the game, a natural born leader and most of all a WINNER! It takes time and he’ll be nice.”
