Yates Pulls Off Tebow-Like Magic

The story of alumnus T.J. Yates’ rookie NFL season keeps getting better.

The quarterback from East Cobb by way of the University of North Carolina threw a game-winning, division-clinching touchdown pass for the Houston Texans with two seconds left in the game Sunday at Cincinnati.

The 6-yard touchdown gave Yates 300 yards and two scores passing for the game, a 20-19 Texans win over the Bengals.

That touchdown pass completed an 80-yard, 2½-minute drive with no timeouts, as well as a comeback from deficits of 16-3 at halftime and 19-10 with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter. The drive included a 17-yard scramble by Yates on third and 15 at the Bengal 40 with 44 seconds left.

Yates added 36 yards running for the game to his 300 yards passing. He also threw an interception and lost a fumble.

The 24-year-old rookie, , is now 2-0 as a starter— in his first start—and 3-0 overall. Sunday’s win, combined with Tennessee’s loss to New Orleans, clinched the AFC South title for the 10-3 Texans.

In a month, he has moved from third string behind former Atlanta Falcon Matt Schaub to second string behind former first-rounder Matt Leinart to to the starting quarterback on the first playoff team in Houston Texans history.

Look at it this way: Gwinnett County grabbed the glory Saturday night with over , but East Cobb football fans get to cheer on a starting quarterback on a playoff-bound NFL team for at least the next month.

Here’s a sample of the excitement Yates has caused:

• The Associated Press, as carried by The Washington Post and NFL.com, among others, is giddy about what Yates and the Texans did in their comeback win.
• ESPN.com columnist John Clayton celebrates Yates’ poise and “unbelievable composure” in leading two 80-yard drives in the fourth quarter.
• ESPN also notes that Yates outdueled fellow rookie quarterback Andy Dalton on Sunday and will face another rookie QB, Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers, at home next Sunday before getting the prime-time spotlight on the NFL Network’s Thursday game Dec. 22.
• Yahoo! Sports names Yates one of its five MVPs from Sunday.
• Yahoo! Sports columnist Jason Cole calls Yates a better story than the Denver Broncos’ comeback kid, Tim Tebow.
• Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks also says Tebow needs to make room for Yates as a Cinderella story. 
• USA Today reports that Yates is the first rookie quarterback since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970 to lead game-winning fourth-quarter drives in his first two starts.
• The Houston Chronicle calls Sunday’s win the second-biggest victory in Houston’s pro football history, including the old Houston Oilers.
• Even The New York Times is talking about and quoting Yates.
• NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth called Yates the most famous third-string quarterback since Kurt Warner, according to the Houston Chronicle.