Soul ponders adding Tim Tebow

RON JAWORSKI treats opportunity like a Doberman treats prime rib. So when Tim Tebow was released by the New York Jets on April 29, Jaworski took a shot by reaching out to the unemployed quarterback and offered him a roster spot with the Soul.

He's still waiting for a reply.

"I haven't heard back from him and I'm not going to push it," said Jaworski, one of the Soul's owners. "If he decides he wants to play Arena Football, we'll make a spot for him."

Jaworski and Soul coach Clint Dolezel sent Tebow a list of plays they had in mind for him, most were around the goal line. Jaworski said that Dan Raudabaugh, despite Saturday's ugly loss to Pittsburgh, is the Soul's starting quarterback.

"One [criticism] of Tebow is that he is slow and methodical," Jaworski said. "He would be forced to quicken it up in this league and it would be good training for him. You can learn a lot in this league. It's about processing information and getting the ball out . . . or you get whacked."

Attempts by the Daily News to reach Tebow for comment were unsuccessful.

Tebow has a unique mix of skills that was good enough to win a Heisman Trophy and two national championships at the University of Florida. But he was unable to get on the field much for the Jets last season; and it's not like New York had Peyton Manning under center. Mark Sanchez went just 6-9 and Greg McElroy started (and lost) the other game for the Jets.

"If Tim Tebow decides he wants to play in the Arena Football League," Jaworski said, "I'd love to have him on the Philadelphia Soul."

There was plenty of blame to go around after Saturday's disappointing 53-48 loss to Pittsburgh. The Soul is now 0-3 at home, 3-4 overall. Last year, the team was 15-3 in the regular season, 7-2 at home.

"Scoring seven offensive points in the second half in Arena Football will get you beat 99 percent of the time," Soul coach Clint Dolezel said. "We're playing good one week and not playing good the next. We gotta get consistent."

Dan Raudabaugh threw four touchdowns, but just one after halftime. He was stopped at the goal line on a fourth down with less than 3 minutes left and threw an interception with 12 seconds left that sealed it.

"I take this loss personally. Something big's gotta change," said Raudabaugh, who declined to elaborate. "Losing is unacceptable, especially around here. It's not going to be a fun week [of practice]. We have to take it more seriously, not just on game day, but in practice as well."

The Soul will play Orlando on Saturday in what will be a homecoming of sorts for former coach Doug Plank, who is now in charge of the Predators. Plank took the Soul to the ArenaBowl championship game in his only season in Philadelphia. He will be facing an angry team.

"Everybody needs to take accountability," said star running back Derrick Ross, who had just one rushing attempt in the second half. "To play this poor in front of our crowd yet again has me really [hissed] off."