Demaryius Thomas Takes It Home
I started The Draw Play right after the 2011 season ended. I sadly never got a chance to make comics about the fabled Tebow season, and a comic about this moment was on my shortlist of topics to make a throwback about when I started making them. With what happened last week, it only felt right to bring it up now, because I think this is the Demaryius Thomas moment that everyone is going to remember forever.
It’s mostly remembered at a Tebow play because Tebow was the topic that year but that game-winning TD was really mostly all Thomas kicking ass and taking names. Still the fastest overtime win in NFL history, and it made a farce out of the new overtime rules that had just been instituted. You could no longer win in overtime with a field goal on the first drive, you could only do it on a touchdown. One play into overtime and DT took a slant 80 yards and told the Steelers to fuck off forever. From a neutral perspective, it was probably the funniest game I saw all year and the ending was one of the hardest laughs I’ve had at the entire sport. I can still clearly see him dashing into the endzone as the bar I was in erupted in chaos.
DT seems like he’s been kind of forgotten in the pantheon of 2010’s WR greats. He wasn’t on the same plane as Julio, Nuk, AJ Green, Andre, or Megatron, but he was right behind them and was instrumental in that Broncos nightmare offense under Peyton’s twilight years. He got a ring in 2015 before spending his final seasons bouncing around a few more teams. By all accounts I’ve seen DT was an outstanding person, a humble, generous, wonderful human being. The world lost a good man. Rest in peace, DT.
This is easily one of the greatest plays in Bronco history and is pretty indicative of the way he played overall; DT was a guy who could take any short pass to the house. I remember reading one year during his heyday that he was the leader in yards after the catch and it was not close. He will always be a great Bronco.
I was just impressed how he made it look so natural. Other players would act like they’re running for their lives. For Thomas, it looked like it was a Week 4 preseason game.
Seriously. Screens tend to be pretty hit or miss for cheap gains at best but with DT it felt like is was pretty much a house call every time. It was nothing for him.
I was going to make a comment about Tebow’s hair being way too light, and how giving him the Monk cut would have made him look more like Tebow, and less like “generic football human with Bible verses under the eyes.”
But then it dawned on me. There is no greater visual symbol for the vanilla, forgettable, entirely unremarkable career that Tebow had, known entirely for HIM LOVIN’ HIM SOME BIBLE… than a vanilla, forgettable, entirely unremarkable depiction. Well done, sir.
So the joke sounded funny in my head, but I’m reading it now and am suddenly concerned this will come off as a dig on your artwork. No such ill intent was intended; I just wanted a funny way to tell you his hair color seems too light. XD
I’ve never seen an athlete where EVERYONE seemed to say he was an even better human than he was as a player. Every team he was on. I never really got to root FOR him, since he played for a rival who I think helped prop up the corpse of Peyton Manning towards the end, but no denying the talent either.
… gotta say, not sure everyone agreeing he was a better human being than a player is actually that much of a compliment. Like, if what people say when they’re asked about a player is “well, he’s a better person than he is a player”, not sure that says much.
Also, although I’m sure he was a great guy, considering how he was as a player, not sure that^ really says much of him as a human being either…
I’m suddenly realizing you were talking about DT (just like the comic), not TBW (unlike other comments here), oops. In that case, agree with all, and forget what I said.
Honestly, I didn’t remember that he was the one who caught this pass.
I’m sure as heck not going to forget now though
That play justifies Tim Tebow’s entire career, IMO. His windmill sized throwing motion and 57 real life pass accuracy rating is excused just for pulling that off.
Ah, yes…the one play that Tebow fans will never shut up about.
In all seriousness, RIP DT.
As a Broncos fan I love this comic for properly giving DT the credit for that plays success. Also it’s just really funny.
RIP DT, you are missed.
As a Steelers fan, I have been livid that we got Tebow’d.
I see now in hindsight that we did not get Tebow’d, we got DT’d. I am very okay getting DT’d.
Rest well, noble sir.
DT was one of the first players I ever bandwagoned; he was truly a legend both off and on the field. I remember playing him on Madden 25, the Thomas-Manning combo was unguardable!
He could have been an all time great, if any post Manning QB would throw it to him.
I think the lack of a post Manning QB is what keeps him from being in the top tier with the Johnsons, Julio, etc
That and he developed a bad habit of dropping some easy passes. Like he would make some incredible, OBJ level catches, then he’d drop a ten yard pass down the middle. But, I’m not here to shit on the man, he was easily the second best receiver the Broncos ever had, and brought a lot of energy to the team that was noticeably missing once he got traded (in typical Elway fashion, lied to and then told at the last second he was a Texan), and was responsible for a good chunk of our success. The fact that he died so young, and right after he retired was a huge blow and that he was taken but not Big Ben or Incognito or AB or Ruggs any one of the shitty ass horrible people that litter this sport is proof that we live in hellworld. RIP DT, you were a fucking legend.
Couldn’t agree more
Pathetic to take shots at Tebow in order to memorialize a deceased person….on cartoon format….for grown men. None of that is surprising in today’s society though. Just like the people making negative comments about Tebow. They don’t realize it is their own insecurities that Tebow brings out in them.
See, I think taking a lighthearted jab at Tebow in 2021 is actually less pathetic than still getting overly defensive of a bad QB who had basically one good game 10 years ago.
Honestly, at this point, making fun of Tebow is still a fun pastime because it inevitably annoys folks like you who just can’t let the guy go a full decade later. There are so many openly faithful people in the league, many of whom actually accomplished something and were/are good players outside a small stretch of games in late 2010. Why don’t you rally around them? Why are you still so hung up on this one guy that a little jab about a player relevant 10 years ago still, without fail, makes you and folks like you come out of the woodwork and post angry self-righteous nonsense?
BTW, one of those openly faithful people that accomplished something was DT himself, who was very outspoken about his faith, but for whatever reason (coughwasn’twhitecough) didn’t get nearly the amount of attention that Tebow got despite being one of the best receivers in the league during his time.
Something tells me this guy probably didn’t even know DT was incredibly religious and openly faithful. Everything has to be about Tebow, because Tebow is their special boy
One has to wonder how big the Tebow cult could have been had the guy been a good QB.
Yes, I can’t believe this pinnacle of maturity that is The Draw Play moved away from it’s classy “Poop Week” and comics about Robert Tepper wearing a pair of bronzed testicles as a toupee to make a light jab at the NFL’s most overrated player ever to highlight the loss of one of it’s most talented. Shame, shame.
Beautiful comment here lmao
You do realize that this is Dave’s tribute to DT? DT made his most famous play that also happens to be Tebow’s. I could go on a whole rant on Tebow but all that ended a decade ago. DT created that play; Any QB in the league can throw it 10 yard slant; but not every WR could take it 80-yards to the house.
You’re 100% correct. Watching Tebow be an absolutely AWFUL football player reminds me that, I, too, am an awful football player. Obviously, this realization makes me very uncomfortable.
But while you’re here, maybe you can answer a question for me. If Tebow’s “success” was attributed to prayer… does that mean he’s an awful Christian? Or does God just hate him? Because for all the performative piety the dude was known for… he was PUUUUUUUUUTRID on the field. I bet Methuselah could take him in throwing contest.
This Comic is a tribute to DT not Tebow. Can we please not bring up anymore controversy about Tebow?
While I empathize with what you’re saying, Tebow is in more panels than DT is. Regardless of Dave’s intentions, this comic is about Timmy as much as it’s about DT. Suddenly-Sandy-Blonde Tebow is fair game. I pay homage to DT by dunking on the dufus who took credit for his skillz.
You want to know an absolutely crazy stat about DT?
In his Junior Season (and final collegiate season) at Georgia Tech he caught 46 receptions for 1,154 yards and
8 Touchdowns. He averaged 25 yards per reception! Even crazier is that Georgia Tech ran the Triple Option that year.
I know some people don’t want to hear this but his family saying he started having seizures a year ago I can help but think they were football related.
According to Shannon Sharpe, they started from a car accident he was involved in a year or two prior, in which he was heavily banged up. But I’m sure the additional trauma from football didn’t do him any services on that front, either.
That was honestly my first thought after I saw the news. It sucks to think about but it’s certainly a possibility. Just tragic all around.
Interesting factoid with that game. The Steelers and the Broncos played in the first game of each set of new overtime rules but the new rules didn’t make a difference.
In 1974, they played in the first regular season sudden death overtime game, and it ended in a tie.
In 2012, they played in the first modified rules OT where a field goal on the first possession would continue the game. DT caught the TD pass.
For a while it seemed the guy can play well long enough to put up a HOF worthy resume but then his prime ends pretty quickly and his career ends before he even made it to 10k yards. Then all of a sudden he’s dead…it’s pretty hard to swallow even if he doesn’t play for your team.
R.I.P.