Dave George on Tebow. Again.

George can write. Better still, he's got some wisdom and knowledge, something substantive to write about:

Do you believe this guy? Doesn't really matter one way or the other, of course. Just asking.

Tebow is like a muscle car with a couple of bad valves. He spits and sputters and even stalls on occasion but it remains extremely dangerous to stand idly in his path.

The New England Patriots certainly won't. Bill Belichick will throw everything he's got at Denver in the next playoff round, and everybody, too.

That includes Josh McDaniels, the former Denver head coach who took the big risk of drafting Tebow in the first round two years ago and suddenly, in a reverse burst of Tebow magic, finds himself on the Patriots staff just in time to provide insider information on the flaws and frailties of the Broncos' bracket-busting quarterback.

McDaniels was with the St. Louis Rams until last week, calling plays for Sam Bradford. That was the first job he could find after being fired by Denver in 2010, and it wasn't going all that well. The Rams finished the season Jan. 2 with a record of 2-14, costing head coach Steve Spagnuolo and general manager Billy Devaney their jobs.

McDaniels, though, is a special case. He still has value to the Patriots as their former offensive coordinator and Tom Brady's good buddy.

And if he just happens to be Tebow's buddy, too, and the coach who shaped Tim's rookie season in the NFL, isn't that a happy accident? Sort of like the coincidence of New England officially announcing McDaniels' hiring on Sunday night, the same night that Denver bounced Pittsburgh out of the playoffs.

Belichick certainly isn't waiting around until next season, when offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien leaves the New England staff to coach Penn State and needs replacing. He's adding McDaniels right now because he can, and because a league that punishes players for nastiness has no remedy in the rulebook for this particular strain of coaching craftiness.

Belichick is a master of espionage (spying on the Jets' defensive signals in 2007), camouflage (check out that hoodie) and, for all we know, decoupage, so comprehensive are his skills.

*giggle snort*

Belichick even took Tebow to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Boston's North End prior to the 2009 draft, gauging up close a player whose power can't be measured by statistics alone. The two broke bread that night, friendly as you please, but on Saturday Belichick will try to break the kid's spirit.

Thing is, it can't be done.

Tebow just keeps churning and he just keeps learning, regardless of circumstances or criticism. That's true whether he's on a six-game winning streak like the one that made the bumbling Broncos into a playoff contender or a three-game slide like the season-ending disaster that threatened to point John Elway and Denver in an entirely different direction at quarterback.

If nothing else, Sunday's entertaining upset of the Steelers in the opening playoff round locks down his spot in the Broncos' starting lineup next season, and that is a significant step for a player who everybody has been wanting to turn into a fullback or a tight end since his grade-school days.

Tebow is far from perfected as an NFL-caliber passer. He may always be more of a throw-back quarterback than a dropback clone. As for next weekend's short-term satisfaction rating, Brady and the Patriots have outscored Denver once already this season (41-23 on Dec. 18) and they'll probably do it again.

For all those, however, who said that Tebow would never be a starting quarterback in this league, or he'd never take a team to the playoffs, or he'd never win a postseason game, or he'd never make the Pro Bowl or win a Super Bowl, that list of imaginary limitations is dwindling.

The Broncos, who hadn't won a playoff game in six years before Sunday's overtime thriller, will take him as he is today, and McDaniels, the boy genius who initially tied his star to Tebow's in 2009, will wonder why he and the franchise didn't start the guy sooner, and use him for more than just souvenir jersey sales.