"History is funny sometimes. It's always waiting for a chance to come around and go around again.

Long before the Broncos were trying to decide what to do with Tim Tebow at quarterback, a high school coach in Ohio, Tiger Ellison, scrawled what he called "The Lonesome Polecat" on a chalkboard, and the scrambling quarterback officially became a weapon.

Ellison's idea, to overload the left side of the offensive line to give his passer more room to run or throw, evolved into the run-and-shoot offense as well as parts of the spread option offense that sits on the Broncos' doorstep.

"We're trying to put guys in position where they can succeed," Broncos coach John Fox said. "It's something he's more comfortable with. He has a lot of confidence in it.""