When Muhammad Ali became a professional boxer there was a lot of talk before his first championship bout against Sonny Liston that went something like this: “He can’t win a championship the way he fights.” “He’s fast but he has no defense he will lose to the top fighters.” “He can’t get away with the stuff he does, holding his hands low, moving backwards away from punches… he’s going to get killed.” In fact, The New York Times’ regular boxing writer Joe Nichols declined to cover the fight, assuming it was just a mismatch and by fight time, Ali, fighting then as Cassius Clay, was a huge underdog.

Uh huh. Rigggggght. Those were the words of professional boxing analysts before Muhammad Ali proved them all wrong. Almost every boxing scribe and expert picked Liston to win but it was Ali who would win the fight and the rest is history.

Sound familiar? How many times have you heard an NFL analyst say Tim Tebow can’t play in the NFL? Remember what Merrill Hoge had to say? That “it’s embarassing to think the Broncos could win with Tebow!!” Looks like Hoge is going to have to eat his words.

Last night the Jets defense did a wonderful job stuffing the Broncos offense and held the Broncos top running back in the game, Lance Ball, to just 18 yards.

The Jets special teams came up big pinning the Broncos at their own 5 yard line late in the game while protecting their 13 – 10 lead over Denver.

Then something happened, the unconvential quarterback, Tim Tebow, the one experts say can’t play in the NFL, passed for first downs, ran for more and then ran right past the Jets all-blitz defense for a 20 yard game wining touchdown.

John Elway clapped and whistled from his executive suite at Sports Authority Field but he looked as shocked as the Jets were.

Tim Tebow did it again. Thanks much in part to the Broncos defense which kept them in the game. In fact it was an Andre Goodman interception for a touchdown that tied the game at 10 apiece.

Tim Tebow, like Muhammad Ali, may not be prototypical, his passes might not look like the other top quarterbacks in the league, but at the end of the day the common goal is to win… and that’s what he does best.