We interrupt this Tebow homage for an important note

The huzzah over Tim Tebow reminds me how specious it's always been for fans and media to proclaim individual victories in team sports. As if Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander - or Cy Young, for that matter - won 24 baseball games by himself.

As if the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki won "his" NBA championship by going one-on-five against the Miami Heat for six games.

I guess I'm too literal, but designating the golden W, or the scarlet L, when team play is at work is an easy, even lazy, way to quantify happenings on a field of play.

Lauding the Denver Broncos quarterback as "7-1 as a starter" is a grain of truth that ignores the reality of two dozen other starters, including a great kicker, a small army of coaches - and the unbelievable brain cramp of Chicago Bears running back Marion Barber.

In other words, even without gazing toward the heavens, Tebow has had a ton of help as the Broncos have turned a 1-4 start into an 8-5 record and a one-game lead over Oakland in the AFC West.

But don't take that as anti-Tebowism, because it isn't.

I'm fascinated by how the second-year lefty, clunky by every quarterback measure, can channel his boss John Elway, often after three blah quarters, and wind up in the middle of Denver rallies.

Watching the Broncos beat Chicago on Sunday when they appeared well-defeated with only minutes left was probably the most fun I've had this NFL season.

Sure, then, I'm riding the Tebow Train for its inherent drama; the ugly-duckling QB steering the flock to new heights, yada yada.

I know right where I got on board, too: Week 11, a Thursday night in Denver, when the Broncos trailed the New York Jets 13-10 and took the ball at their 5-yard line with 5:54 left.

I told myself there was no way big bad Rex Ryan's defense would let a training-wheels QB like Tebow, who'd completed 6 of 15 passes to that point, tie or beat the Jets in the clutch.

He beat them in 12 plays, the last a 20-yard TD run by Tebow.

So I believe.

I believe Tebow is an outstanding leader who, like the best of them, motivates his troops to see the prize, ignore the obstacles, and to take ownership of their roles under pressure.

But I know the Broncos defense has yielded 15 points or fewer in five of Tebow's eight starts, and that kicker Matt Prater is 6 for 6 on late game-tying or game-winning field goals during this run.

I also know the Jets and Bears at the end played super-soft "prevent" defenses, which we know just prevents teams from protecting leads.

That Miami blew a 15-point lead and fumbled in overtime to set up Prater. That Minnesota threw a gift interception near the end of regulation to bring on Prater again.

That Denver got the ball near midfield after San Diego missed a field goal in overtime, and three runs later Prater won another one.

And I know Chicago's Barber inexplicably ran out of bounds to stop a clock the Bears could have killed in regulation, and then fumbled in overtime in field-goal range thanks to a great lunging effort by linebacker Wesley Woodyard.

We all know what time came next. Prater Time, of course.

There's no question Tebow, a scorned third-stringer two months ago, is the devout face, athletically and religiously, of the Broncos' compelling and populist reversal. It makes for ceaseless media, to which I've now contributed.

But to forget a team's worth of arms and legs is hoisting Tebow into the spotlight is to unfairly simplify the sensation at hand. 

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com