Tim Tebow Off To A Shaky Start In His New England Patriot Debut

Tim Tebow made his debut as a New England Patriot last night after second-string quarterback Ryan Mallet went down with an injury in the second quarter of their game against the Philadelphia Eagles Friday night.

Tebow went an erratic 4-for-12 with 55 passing yards along with 31 rushing yards on four carries, as the Patriots defeated the Eagles 31-22.

Tebow threw well short of his intended receiver on his first play, followed up with a second straight incompletion along with a slew of inaccurate passes, and held on to the ball too long when he dropped back in the pocket.

"I think I've got room for improvement," said Tebow after the game. "I did some things well, there are some other things I'd like to do better, and I think that's what these games are for. I definitely want to learn from it and improve and next week do a little bit better."

The Patriots implemented an offense with designed runs and read option plays when Tebow was on the field, a different style of offense than what New England runs with starter Tom Brady under center.

Tebow led the Patriots a scoring drive, with running back LeGarrette Blount rushing for a 1-yard touchdown on the team's first possession of the second half.

"It's fun, and I'm definitely comfortable [with the read option]," said Tebow. "It's something I've done a lot. With that there's a lot of moving parts and you have to get those down, and that's something that we're still working on."

New England head coach Bill Belichick feels that Tebow, like the rest of the team, has work to do, despite defeating the Eagles in their first preseason game.

"Really, I think it's all about the same for everybody," said Belichick in his post-game interview, regarding to the former Heisman Trophy winner performance. "We did some good things out there; it was far from perfect. We can all learn from it. We're going to learn from it, and we'll all improve."

Mallet, second on the Patriots quarterback depth chart, went 9-for-18 for 97 yards, but was taken out the game after getting nailed by Eagles defensive ends Vinny Curry and Damion Square with 1:22 left in the half. Mallet told Boston Globes Ben Volin that he was hit in the chest and not his head.

Mallet was the team's back-up quarterback last year, with the Patriots carrying just two quarterbacks on their active roster in three of the past four seasons.