This is like the old line about how I can’t hear a word you’re saying because your actions are screaming way too loudly. The Jets can say anything they want about how much they love Mark Sanchez, but you know they don’t work this hard and risk looking this bad for a backup quarterback, to bring in a rock star like Tim Tebow and tell him to go wait in the wings. To sing backup or be one. 
 
 
 
 “Mark Sanchez is, has been, and will be our starting quarterback,” Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum is saying on a conference call at about 10:40 Wednesday night and then he is talking about what Tebow will do for the Jets besides be a backup to Sanchez, “other roles and packages.” 
 
 
 
 Then he said, “(Tebow, Sanchez are) both very clear on what their roles will be.” 
 
 JETS AGREE TO DEAL FOR TEBOW 
 
 
 
 It is Jets fans who are going to be a little confused about those roles the first time Sanchez doesn’t do the job next season. This isn’t about the extra money the Broncos wanted, part of the back end of their deal with Tebow, the money going on top of the two draft choices the Jets were offering. This is about the whole idea of bringing Tebow to Jersey, and treating him like the most desirable backup quarterback to ever play pro football. 
 
 
 
 It’s not as if the Jets give away the store to get Tebow here from Denver. But whatever the Jets say they are doing, or think they are doing, they have created their very own quarterback controversy. That’s unless they think that their fans won’t be chanting Tebow’s name the first time Sanchez throws a couple to the wrong team. 
 
 PHOTOS: A TIMELINE OF TIM TEBOW'S CAREER FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO GANG GREEN 
 
 People already think of the Jets as a circus because of the way their coach talks and acts and the way some of their players talk and act and some of the other players they have brought in and the way their season ended. Now they bring a brand-new circus to town. 
 
 
 
 “It’s exciting to know that we’ve solidified the (quarterback) position,” Tannenbaum said, and sounded as if he actually meant that. 
 
 NAMATH BAFFLED BY JETS TRADE FOR TEBOW 
 
 
 
 Tannenbaum and his owner and his coach thought about Peyton Manning, though it is clear now that they had no chance, none, to bring him to his brother’s stadium in New Jersey. Then they gave Sanchez more money, which reminds you of that diamond ring Kobe Bryant had to buy Mrs. Bryant when he turned out to be a much better basketball player than husband. 
 
 
 
 Now they go hard for Tebow, who owned the pro football season until the Giants took it back after 7-7, who can run like a champ but can’t throw for 50% in a passers’ league, who has a throwing motion that looks as if it were put together with Scotch tape and paper clips, but who made the playoffs last season and won one more playoff game – off the Steelers — than the Jets of Ryan and Sanchez did. 
 
 
 
 MYERS: TEBOW AND SANCHEZ CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK, GM SAYS 
 
 
 
 Tebow also managed to beat the Jets along the way, on a night in Denver when Ryan and everybody else on the planet knew he was going to keep running the ball at the end of the game and could do nothing to stop him until he won the game. 
 
 
 
 They can talk about finding him plays and minutes in Tony Sparano’s offense, maybe using the Wildcat offense — which it turns out that they love the way Tebow loves the Lord — even though it took about 20 minutes for the rest of the league to start to make that offense look almost as obsolete as Hula Hoops. 
 
 
 
 LIKE KNICKS' LIN, TEBOW WILL IMPACT MADISON AVE. 
 
 
 
 Again, the Gang Green guys can talk and talk until they are blue in the face. Still: You don’t have to kneel and ask for heavenly inspiration to crack this case, know exactly what happens at MetLife first time things go wrong for the Jets: 
 
 
 
 The fans who see the Giants keep winning unforgettable Super Bowls will be calling for a quarterback who sometimes seems more likely to get hit by lightning than throw a spiral, asking him to come off the bench and win them a game the way he won those fourth-quarter games for the Broncos, until the Broncos fell apart at the end of the regular season the same as the Jets did, ended up with the same 8-8 record the Jets did. Tebow just won his division with his 8-8. 
 
 
 
 We know Rex thinks that he can coach anybody, except usually we’re talking about Rex’s home for wayward football players. Now let’s see what he does with one of the nicest kids to ever come into the league and a starting quarterback who’s never had a real backup looking over his shoulder in the pros. 
 
 
 
 Once again, the Jets try to own the offseason around here. Unfortunately for them, they do this after the Giants owned the postseason the way they did. They tell us a lot lately how Sanchez is their guy. But now behind their guy is this guy: Tebow. 
 
 
 
 Sometimes quarterback controversies happen, sometimes you build them from scratch. Or trade for one. The Jets make a big headline today in a big-headline week in the NFL, you bet they did, a week when Peyton went to Denver and the Saints got hit the way they did by Roger Goodell for their bounty program, the worst set of sanctions in pro sports since the Black Sox. The Jets go out and get themselves a rock-star backup who happens to be one of the most famous athletes on the planet, and tell their fans he’s going to pitch middle relief. We’ll see about that, if both these guys are still Jets by the end of their current contracts. 
 
 
 
 The circus really can be a lot of fun. You just have to make sure you don’t end up looking like clowns in the end. ||||| Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images. 
 
 With the news that Tim Tebow is coming to New York, there’s a message I’d like to deliver to the young quarterback on behalf of an army of long-suffering Jets fans: We don’t want you here. Please, I’m begging you. We’ll even take Vernon Gholston back—whatever you want. Just go away. 
 
 Bill Smee Bill Smee is executive producer of Slate V. 
 
 Admittedly, it’s easy to make a case for this trade from the Jets’ perspective. Tebow could be a born-again Brad Smith, the much-loved and highly effective Wildcat quarterback whom the Jets lost to the Bills in the summer of 2011. New York’s new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano loves the Wildcat and ran it with great frequency in Miami. Send Tebow in as an occasional passing running back / running quarterback and the Jets would gain a new wrinkle to help offset the downfield passing struggles of Mark Sanchez. Plus, this is costing the Jets nothing more than a few late-round draft picks. And consider the intangibles: Tebow is great in the locker room! He’s a winner! This could be the perfect tonic for a team looking to re-calibrate after an underachieving 8-8 season. 
 
 Let me now demolish that straw man. The idea that Tebow will be limited to the Jets’ Wildcat ghetto seems preposterous given what happened during the 2011 season. Thanks to those miracle comebacks in Denver—which led the “overachieving” Broncos to an 8-8 record, the same as the “underachieving” Jets—Tebow now believes he should start in the NFL even if nine-tenths of the professional football world sees it otherwise. The under-appreciated one will exude humility at the start of the season, but imagine what will happen when Sanchez has a bad game or three. The same New York Post columnists who said early this week that the Jets should avoid Tebow like a pick in the red zone will be clamoring for the miracle worker to get his shot. That’s how it goes in New York. 
 
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 But Tebow shouldn’t get his shot. We already know that he’s worse than Mark Sanchez. As a passer, Tebow makes Sanchez look like Drew Brees, or maybe Chad Pennington. When Sanchez struggles, are Rex Ryan and Tony Sparano going to install the Tebow-led, Broncos-style offense that left Denver sputtering aimlessly in 2011? 
 
 Tebow’s arrival also has to be unnerving for Sanchez, who has seen his image transform from golden boy up-and-comer to shaky interception machine. Though Sanchez’s flagging confidence got a boost recently when the Jets signed him to a $40 million extension, trading for Tebow will put the butterflies back in his stomach. There’s a good argument that Sanchez needs to be pushed, having been backed up in recent years by the NFL’s version of petrified wood, “cagey veteran” Mark Brunell. But if you want to push him, sign a real quarterback like Kyle Orton. Bringing in Tebow is the worst of all possible worlds: It will annoy Sanchez and it won’t make the Jets any better under center. . 
 
 Now, let’s get to the intangibles. The story goes that the Jets had a divided locker room last season and that Ryan lost the team by making me-first Santonio Holmes the team captain. For the Jets to turn things around, they need to dump the bad apples and get a few “good locker room guys.” And who’s nicer than Tim Tebow? 
 
 That’s all BS, of course. The divided locker room story is the hoariest media narrative there is, a tale that crops up at the end of so many failed seasons. Team discord is always more a symptom than a cause of a losing record. A couple of weeks ago, Sanchez and Holmes reportedly had dinner and buried (the mostly media-created) hatchet. Holmes may get frustrated with his young quarterback’s tunnel vision, and he may not be a paragon of leadership, but he’s a gamer who’s been to the mountaintop—someone Jet fans loved when he carried them to multiple fourth-quarter wins in 2010. His airplane celebrations are incredibly irritating when the Jets are losing. When the team is winning, they’re spectacular monuments to the team’s wondrous success. 
 
 Now, what’s something that could really, truly divide this team? I’d nominate the acquisition of the most-polarizing athlete in professional sports. On his best days, Rex Ryan’s bluster is a useful distraction, allowing the players to drift into the shadows as their blabbermouth of a coach gets all the heat. By trading for Tebow, Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum have added fix or six more rings to the media circus that’s already Barnum-and-Bailey-ing outside the Jets’ locker room. All that extra tabloid coverage will be spiffy, but if given the choice, I’d prefer five or six Super Bowl rings. 
 
 The one guy who’s making sense in this mess is Antonio Cromartie, the Jets cornerback who tweeted “We don’t need Tebow” in advance of the trade. As the wise Cromartie says, if all the team wants is a guy to run the Wildcat, then they can just hand the ball to the less famous, speedier Jeremy Kerley or Joe McKnight. ||||| James Keivom/New York Daily News Could Jets 'backup' QB Tim Tebow be heading out of town? If he doesn't get a chance, he will ask for a trade, a source tells the Daily News Tuesday. 
 
 The Jets added a few more bizarre chapters Tuesday to a surreal quarterback storyline that has grabbed the headlines for the better part of nine months. One day after Rex Ryan’s loyalty to Mark Sanchez cost the Jets a chance at the playoffs, the coach pulled the plug on the supposed franchise quarterback by replacing him with the third-string quarterback who hadn’t been active for two weeks. Greg McElroy will make his first career start against the Chargers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, three weeks after he relieved Sanchez in the second half of a 7-6 win over the Cardinals. 
 
 
 
 Ryan’s decision was a stunning indictment not only of Sanchez, once believed to be the future of the franchise, but also backup Tim Tebow, who has become an afterthought. 
 
 BONDY: DYSFUNCTIONAL JETS TURN TEBOW INTO TINY TIM 
 
 MYERS: JETS' QB SITUATION A TOTAL TRAIN REX 
 
 
 
 But Ryan’s decision to bench Sanchez wasn’t the only domino to fall less than 24 hours after the Jets were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. 
 
 
 
 The Daily News has learned that Tebow, who captivated the NFL last season with his miracle playoff run in Denver, will request to be traded or released after the season assuming that McElroy starts the final two games. Tebow’s desire to part ways with a franchise that never gave him a chance came to a head after McElroy, who has seven career passes on his NFL resume, leapfrogged him, according to a source. 
 
 
 
 “I want to put Greg out there,” Ryan said on Tuesday. “I’m going to put Greg out there. In my opinion, that’s what’s best for our team.” 
 
 
 
 Ryan admitted that he told Sanchez after Monday night’s disastrous loss in Tennessee that he would bench him this week. “I told Mark we needed to make a change,” Ryan said. “He respected my decision.” 
 
 Robert Sabo/New York Daily News Greg McElroy. 
 
 Ryan and Sanchez’s four-year run began with so much promise with back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances in the first two seasons. But it ended with a pair of disappointing seasons. Ryan made the decision to start McElroy instead of Tebow on Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 Ryan said that he “had a lot of conversations” with people in the organization, but it was ultimately his call to bench Sanchez, who had started every game of his career except one late in his rookie year due to a knee injury. 
 
 
 
 “This is my decision and solely my decision,” said Ryan, who didn’t commit to McElroy as the starter beyond this week. 
 
 
 
 Ryan had no choice but to make the switch after Sanchez’s miserable five-turnover performance in Monday night’s 14-10 loss to the Titans on Monday night. Sanchez has a league-high 50 turnovers since the start of last season. 
 
 
 
 Ryan benched Sanchez late in the third quarter three weeks ago after he threw three interceptions. McElroy rallied the Jets to a 7-6 win over the Cardinals on that day, but he was inactive for the next two games. “I liked what I saw from Greg against Arizona,” Ryan said. “I like what I see on the practice field.” 
 
 
 
 Although the prospect of having Sanchez under center in front of a disgruntled home fan base on Sunday would appear to have made the decision easier for Ryan, the prevailing thought in the organization was that the upcoming game’s locale didn’t really matter. 
 
 
 
 “Home or away . . . I don’t care where the game is being played,” one prominent member of the organization told The News said before Ryan made it official. “There’s no way that he starts.” 
 
 Andy Lyons/Getty Images Mark Sanchez. 
 
 Sanchez lost some trust of teammates after his poor performances in the recent months, but many wanted to give him another chance after Ryan benched him in the second half against the Cardinals in Week 13. 
 
 
 
 Although players didn’t explicitly point fingers at Sanchez after his five-turnover performance on Monday night, the vibe was apparent: The quarterback’s blunders were the primary reasons that the Jets dropped too 6-8 and out of playoff contention. 
 
 
 
 “I can’t speak for everybody,” safety LaRon Landry said. “That’s not my job (to speak about the offense). I’m a defender. That’s why they’ve got guys upstairs and coaches. They make that decision.” 
 
 
 
 Sanchez shouldn’t be exonerated for his poor decision-making and execution on Monday night, but the Jets made a couple of curious decisions that proved counterproductive. Ryan inexplicably chose to activate six wide receivers rather than dress McElroy. The Jets also predetermined that Tebow, who hadn’t played in three weeks due to a lingering rib injury, would get a full series for the first time this season on the third drive. 
 
 
 
 Sanchez moved the Jets well on their first two drives, but watched from the sidelines when the Tebow-led drive went nowhere. 
 
 
 
 “I don’t set standards for Mark,” right guard Brandon Moore said. “Mark is doing the best he can. You can’t take away his commitment and his approach to the game.” 
 
 
 
 The bigger question is whether the Jets’ brain trust undercut Sanchez this season by trading for Tebow. “I don’t necessarily believe that,” Ryan said. 
 
 
 
 So, was the Tebow trade a mistake? “People can speculate anything they want,” Ryan said. 
 
 
 
 But the reality is impossible to ignore. Tebow’s presence had an adverse effect on Sanchez, who didn’t help his cause by playing poorly. The quarterback mess ultimately cost the Jets a chance at the postseason. 
 
 
 
 Ryan didn’t get into specifics about his job security, but made it clear that he’s responsible for the final product, which wasn’t good enough for the second consecutive season. “The end result is we’re 6-8 and I know I’m accountable for that,” Ryan said. 
 
 
 
 Twitter.com/MMehtaNYDN ||||| Will New York sports fans forget about Linsanity and start doing the Tebow? 
 
 The trade of Denver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow to the New York Jets is now official, at least according to the National Football League player’s timeline profile. 
 
 The trade was initially reported yesterday, and then the news was updated to say that the deal was on hold due to a contract snag. 
 
 Last night, the trade was back on, and Tebow’s Facebook page featured the following changes in the recent activity box: 
 
 Tim updated his current city to New York, New York; 
 
 Tim added New York Jets to his work, and 
 
 Tim likes New York Jets. 
 
 Tebow is no stranger to social media, with more than 1.7 million subscribers to his Facebook timeline profile, and the distinction of holding the record at one time for the most tweets per second related to a sporting event. 
 
 He first set that record in January, after 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime in a playoff game to eliminate the Pittsburgh Steelers. 
 
 Tebow’s tweets-per-second mark was topped the following month, during Super Bowl XLVI. 
 
 His cover photo (below) still features an action shot of him in a Broncos uniform, and in a funny side note, if you look closely at the fans at the top of the image, slightly to the left of the center, you can spot a fan wearing a Jets jersey (Number 24) and a disgusted look on his face. 
 
 The photo was likely taken during a game in Denver last November 17, when Tebow rallied the Broncos to a 17-13 victory over the Jets. Who knew? 
 
 Readers: Will Timsanity top Linsanity in New York? And which athletes‘ Facebook profiles do you subscribe to? 
 
 Special thanks to Kevin Evanetski, founder of Social Yeah, for the tip. ||||| New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) and head coach Rex Ryan bow their heads during a moment of silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., before an... (Associated Press) 
 
 In the end, the Tim Tebow era in New York will be remembered for his shirtless jog in the rain. 
 
 Really, that's about it. 
 
 He barely played at all for the Jets, who clearly didn't do any sort of clear-headed reasoning before they traded for Tebow, then quickly began asking themselves, "Uhh, what were we thinking?" 
 
 And now, with a hugely disappointing season all but done and Mark Sanchez finally banished to the bench, coach Rex Ryan officially signaled the end of Tebow Time in the Big Apple. He turned to Greg McElroy, a seventh-round pick in 2011, to start Sunday's now-meaningless game against San Diego. 
 
 No one thinks McElroy's the answer to what ails the Jets. But, apparently, he's more of an answer than Tebow, who will watch the game from the same spot he's spent nearly the entire season _ the bench. 
 
 Tebow's career with the Jets will surely go down as a one-and-done flop. At this point, it would be easier to find Waldo on the depth chart than Tebow. 
 
 Shortly after this mess of a year comes to its merciful end, he will surely ask for a trade (politely, of course) or simply be released. 
 
 "I think it's where we are right now and I just think it's best for our team and for this game," Ryan said on a conference call Tuesday, explaining his decision to start McElroy instead of Tebow less than 24 hours after a hideous loss to Tennessee officially eliminated the Jets from playoff contention. 
 
 "That's how I feel." 
 
 He wouldn't get any more specific than that, repeatedly referring to it being a "gut" decision _ nothing more, nothing less. 
 
 Not that there was much Ryan could say. The Jets backed themselves into a corner way back in March when they acquired Tebow from the Denver Broncos, and they never came up with a way out. 
 
 Supposedly, the plan was to let Sanchez remain the starter, with Tebow working two or three series a game as a change-of-pace option, running out the Wildcat or spread to give defenses another look. But there were a couple of big problems with that scenario. 
 
 For one, the Jets really didn't have the personnel on offense to change things up that drastically, even for just a few plays a game. Heck, as it turned out, they really didn't have enough talent around Sanchez to run a conventional offense, and they never thought for a moment that Tebow had the skill set to oversee anything resembling the norm. 
 
 Then, there's the dilemma that everyone could see coming before Tebow's jet even landed in New York. Everyone except the Jets, that is. If the team played a second quarterback, even while insisting he was just the backup, Sanchez's standing would've been undermined beyond repair (which might have been the case regardless, as it turns out). 
 
 It's called a quarterback controversy. If Tebow had been given the chance to do something _ anything _ all the fans and pundits and talking heads would have been screaming for a change at the slightest hint of success. 
 
 So, while Tebow raised a ruckus merely by stripping off his shirt to jog off the field on a rainy day at training camp, Sanchez remained the undisputed starter. He held on as captain of the Titanic right to the bitter end, the Jets resisting any urge to save themselves by jumping in a lifeboat piloted by Tebow. 
 
 "I know Tim is a tremendous competitor, and I don't doubt that at all," Ryan said, again explaining in the vaguest possible terms why it will never be Tebow Time on his team. "For right now, I think this move, it's a move that I made, is best for our team in this game. I believe that and that's why I'm making the move that I'm making." 
 
 Tebow has played in 11 games for the Jets, but if you blinked, you missed him. Outside of a 23-yard completion against Indianapolis back in mid-October, he's passed for a grand total of 16 yards. He's had just three runs longer than 10 yards. He's yet to reach the end zone with either his legs or his left arm. 
 
 Now, the Jets can't afford for him to play well _ not even in their final two meaningless games. 
 
 As with all sinking ships, everyone is now trying to figure out a way to save himself. Ryan is hanging on by a thread. So is Tony Sparano, the offensive coordinator who was supposed to make this experiment work. Not to mention general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who has overseen the gutting of a franchise that seemed on the rise not so long ago. 
 
 If Tebow plays now _ and plays well _ those Jets fans still paying attention would undoubtedly wonder, "Hey, why haven't they been playing him all along?" Which would lead to all the above-mentioned figures finding themselves looking for work next season. They may be anyway, but they no longer have any chance of surviving on Tebow's back. 
 
 In hindsight, Tebow and the Jets were like love-struck teenagers back in March, all giddy over each other and not paying a lick of attention to what really mattered. 
 
 For Tebow it was a chance to spread his clean-cut, deeply religious brand in the greatest media market of them all. For the Jets, it was a chance to steal away some of the thunder from the team they share a city and a stadium with, the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. 
 
 In the end, the only winner was the Broncos, playing the role of the all-knowing parent. Even after Tebow guided the team to the playoffs in 2011 and a stirring overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round, GM John Elway knew he needed more skill at the most important position on the field. He jumped at the chance to land one of the best ever, Peyton Manning, and quickly dumped Tebow on the Jets, even picking up a couple of draft picks in the deal. 
 
 And look where they teams are now: Denver, the AFC West champion and headed to the playoffs with an 11-3 record; the Jets, already looking ahead to the offseason at 6-8. 
 
 So, it's time for Tebow to put the shirt back on and find another team. Maybe he'll wind up close to home with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Or maybe another team in desperate QB straits, such as the Arizona Cardinals. If those options don't pan out, he could even give the Canadian Football League a try. The game north of the border might be better suited to his unorthodox style. 
 
 No matter what, the clock has run out on Tebow Time in New York. 
 
 We all saw the end coming, what surprised us was the Jets didn't wind the darn thing up. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Paul Newberry in a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
– Various reactions to the trade that will send Denver quarterback Tim Tebow to the New York Jets: Joe Namath: "I thinks it stinks," the Jets legend tells USA Today. Mark Sanchez should be "pissed." Woody Paige, Denver Post: His column recaps all things Tebow, from a generous heart off the field, to Tebowing, to the mechanical flaws that might prevent him from becoming an elite passer. "And never again will a young man or quarterback quite like Tim Tebow run or pass this way again." Bill Smee, Slate: "We don’t want you here," the Jets fan writes of Tebow. Best case, he doesn't play and the trade means nothing. Worst case, he becomes the starter and sets "the franchise back five years," writes Smee. "Hey, as a Jet fan, at least I'm used to that sort of thing." Mike Lupica, Daily News: "The Jets go out and get themselves a rock-star backup who happens to be one of the most famous athletes on the planet, and tell their fans he’s going to pitch middle relief." Nope, no quarterback controversy here—not until Sanchez throws an incompletion. Tebow himself: AllFacebook notes some status changes: "Tim updated his current city to New York, New York; Tim added New York Jets to his work; and Tim likes New York Jets." Bleacher Report rounds up the winners and losers in the deal here.