The Tebow show begins - sort of

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

John Rooke, GoLocalWorcester Sports Editor

The circus is in town, but Bill Belichick isn't the ringmaster. Or is he?

As the three-day mini-camp gets underway in Foxboro for the New England Patriots Tuesday, the signing of QB Tim Tebow to a two-year contract (with no guaranteed money) overshadows all other team personnel moves, transactions or practice reps.

Overshadows, would be an understatement. And true to Bill Belichick form, the Patriots head coach did his best to not just downplay Tebow's arrival, he all but sucked the life right out of the circus that has arrived at Gillette Stadium.

"We always try, anything we do we feel is in the best interest of the team," Belichick told the assembled throng of media. " He's a smart player, we’ll see how it goes…we always try to do what is best for the team.

"In all honesty, we\ve been in front of greater crowds than this before," Belichick added, "and we'll just try to do what we think is best for our football team. He’s a talented guy, smart, works hard, we've all seen he can do a lot of things."

Okay. Nothing new here, nothing to see. As a few reporters tried extracting more insight from the Tebow signing, Belichick - who is always the ringmaster in Foxboro, make no mistake about that - stood up to the challenge.

"I like him, I have a lot of respect for Tim, I've never coached him before, but he’s a talented player who's smart and works hard. We have a team full of players and I'm sure they will all do their jobs…I think we’ve already talked enough about him, we’ll just see how it goes.

"Anything else?"

Uh, yes. This from New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan today, reacting to a rival signing an ex-Jet. "I'm not worried about anything," Ryan said. "If they want to replace (Tom) Brady with him, that's fine."

Tebow had a brief comment to the reporters waiting for him after his first practice session in a Patriots' red practice jersey had ended. "First and foremost, I just want to thank the Patriots for giving me an opportunity," he said. "I'm very thankful. It's such an honor to be a Patriot and play for coach Belichick and coach (Josh) McDaniels, and learn under Tom and be a part of this great franchise and very successful franchise. I found out first hand; lost to them several times.

"It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to working hard every single day and getting a lot better and learning under some great people. That's all I got. Thank you all so much and God bless. I'm sure we'll be talking more soon."

The Tebow era has begun in New England. But the circus sideshow has been shuttered, for now. We'll soon find out if the show has been permanently closed.