I sat near the Titans sideline during the crazy Titans-Texans game which is kind of nice because you can watch the game within the game. If Titans quarterback Vince Young is going to miss many other games with his quad injury, he might want to pay attention to his demeanor on the sideline. When the Titans offense was on the field, Vince Young stayed to himself, not talking to people, not feigning holding a clipboard or talking to coaches much at all. He might have "It" and be the face of their franchise, but quarterbacks are under a microscope, and standing away from his team during the game is the sort of thing fans look at when a quarterback struggles.
Nationally, people believed that the Texans should have picked USC running back Reggie Bush with the first pick of the 2006 draft. In Texas, people believed that the Texans should have picked Texas quarterback Vince Young. I was one of those people, until the Texans chose to pick up David Carr's option in the February before the draft, making it salary cap prohibitive to take Young.
In Tennessee, Titans owner Bud Adams was happy to stick it to Houston by picking native Houstonian Vince Young. However a number of the Titans fans wished that they picked Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler. With Vince Young going to the Pro Bowl in his rookie year, and winning 11 out of 18 games as a starter, the Titans choice seem vindicated. The Titans with Vince Young were 3rd in the league in 3rd downs this year, and Young helps open lanes for the running game by keeping defenses honest.
But some Titan fans believe that it is the Titans' relentless defense which is holding up the team. In last week's FootballOutsiders efficiency ratings, the Titans' offense was rated 20th and defense was rated #2. The Titans' pass offense is ranked 26th.
Denver quarterback Jay Cutler has twice as many passing yards than Vince Young. In his game against the Texans, Kerry Collins amassed 280 passing yards, this is 31 yards more than the highest passing game Young has had as a Titan. Young has had five passes for over 20 yards, and one pass for over 40 yards. Kerry Collinshas 4 passes over 20 yards, and 2 passes over 40 in limited time with the same receivers. For the year, Young has 3 TDs, and 6 interceptions, and has struggled in the red zone.
Certainly, Young is still learning the professional game, but if the Titans pass offense continues to be an albatross in compared to their defense, Titan fans are going to be looking for reasons, and their criticism of Young may become more pointed. There is a schism of Titan fans between those who are only interested in winning and those who became fans because of Young. This will become more pronounced if Kerry Collins can throw downfield and put up yards, and Young continues to struggle this season.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-22-2007 @ 12:39PM
Stacey Franchise said...
If he's not actually playing, Vince likes to watch the game with an EA Sports/Madden 2008 kind of rear view of the action.
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10-22-2007 @ 1:05PM
yeager said...
I am still of the opinion that Jay Cutler was the best quarterback in the draft that year. I think everybody made a mistake by not drafting him.
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10-22-2007 @ 1:47PM
SHOTT3R said...
If there is any controversy, this writer is the one starting it. What the agenda can possibly be, I don't know. I get that it's a blog, and not "real" journalism, but enough real news happens that you can comment on without needing to speculate and manufacture drama where none yet exists.
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10-22-2007 @ 1:55PM
pedro said...
I'm one of the fans who are only interested in winning. The best QB should play, whomever it may be.
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10-22-2007 @ 2:23PM
Stephanie Stradley said...
SHOTT3R-
I like Vince Young as a player, but sometimes I get concerned that he may not know the unwritten rules of how QBs are supposed to conduct themselves. He certainly isn't accustomed to standing on the sidelines, but his body language was very odd.
I like sideline watching and have done it many times, and I have never seen a QB interact so little with his teammates and coaches as Young did during this game.
You can do your own thing when times are good, but if Young continues to struggle this season, people watch QBs closer than anyone. I think it is valid to mention that the Titans were able to both run and pass the ball with Kerry Collins in the game (though they continued their red zone struggles).
If the backup quarterback puts up more yards than the starter ever has, I think that is something valid and worth mentioning. If you don't think some people in TN are concerned with VY's play this year, you aren't paying attention.
Clearly, VY is a young quarterback, but the passing game is the weak sister of 2007 Titans team and this is something I think that is valid to talk about.
So, instead of talking about me, let's talk about the subject. I just stated facts. Tell me where I am wrong. I really do have an open mind on this stuff.
Thanks all for reading and commenting,
Steph
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10-22-2007 @ 2:41PM
Mark In Cypress said...
I was at the game and noticed the same thing. Strange for a 2nd year QB to be so distant. You would think he would want to continue to learn and even offer his input. I have always liked Vince except when he plays the Texans of course.
I am staring to think he is getting to be a little too full of himself. As a passer he has a long ways to go and needs to mature a bit.
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10-22-2007 @ 3:15PM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Fran-
Young's injury is a significant one, and I predicted last week he would not play. It is the sort of injury where you can do some stuff, but if you do an all out sprint, like what VY does, you can make the injury a chronic one or make it worse, requiring surgery.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Steph
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10-22-2007 @ 4:12PM
Fran said...
Great response, Steph, to SHOT(whatever). I notice that he says YET about a QB controversy. The photo makes me wonder if Young really was injured that badly. Was he just pouting because Jeff started someone else? Do you think there really is a Madden curse?
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10-22-2007 @ 5:25PM
tobrien28 said...
What would be the point of starting Kerry Collins. He is 34 and Young is young. Notice how regardless of Collins' numbers the Titans set a record for field goals? Young is a long term solution and the only way for him to learn is in the game.
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10-22-2007 @ 5:26PM
Sandy said...
Steph, I know A LOT of Titans fans and I don't know ONE that wishes we didn't have Vince Young or is anything close to unhappy with his game.
We all know the spirit and gamesmanship he adds to this team despite any qb weaknesses.
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10-22-2007 @ 5:44PM
Sandy said...
Oh, and another thing.
I wasn't there and wasn't obsessively watching VY, but I do know that EVERY time they showed him after the offense was off the field, he was on the bench right next to Collins and the QB coach, actively conversing with them.
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10-22-2007 @ 6:52PM
Phil G said...
Add on-
Houston is a lousy team and even without Vince in the lineup I thought they should have handled the Texans a lot easier than they did.
Most passing yardage this season by the backup against a defensively challenged team who has been notorious for giving up yards through the air.
What is most glaring is 8 fieldgoals. Which means that the Titans with Collins were able to move up and down the field between the 30 yardlines but couldn't finish the deal.
My own perspective is that the Head Coach is limiting what Vince does to a very conservative game plan trying to minimize errors. At the same time opening the game up a little more for Collins because of his game time experience.
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10-22-2007 @ 9:10PM
Justin said...
A VY quarterback controversy? What ever drug you doing, you need to stop. Vince Young and quarterback controversy don't even belong in the same sentence.
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10-22-2007 @ 9:10PM
fan since 57 said...
The Titans should have taken Cutler..
Like a batter who hits a home run after striking out the first time agains a new pitcher, NFL defenses will soon confuse Young to death and he will soon find out he can't win with only his legs.
By the way Stephanie, Collins is only an emergency backup at this point in his career so there is no reason to inply that he could ever spark a quarterback controvesy.
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10-22-2007 @ 9:11PM
Phil G said...
Stephanie
Perhaps you like so many others are reading too much into this. We should and really have to remember that our perspectives outside of ourselves are not necessarily somebody else's realities.
Vince being a very competitive athlete, who's not used to watching his team play from the sideline, may have took this time to get a different perspective of the flow of the game hoping to see if he could pick up something up that would improve his own execution when its time for him to go back into the game. He also could have been protecting himself from a lot of unnecessary movement by not walking up and down the field. I'm sure he wasn't in that position the whole game.
I do know that my first conclusions would not have been to cast negative aspersions on the man because he wasn't doing what we think he should have been doing. I didn't see the game but the only pictures I saw was of him congratulating the kicker after his successful kicks. I guess he found some time to be a team player. I would never draw conclusions like that from a picture because you never know what's really going on unless you're down on the field in the middle of it.
Another thing, in the games I've seen, I've always seen Vince root his team on from the sidelines. Even when he got hurt last week he was rooting and cheering Collins and the rest of the offensive team from the sidelines, following them down the field. In light of that if you have information that Vince Young is not a team player please put it on the table and let us all digest it.
Where was he standing when the team was on defense?
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10-22-2007 @ 9:11PM
jada said...
I was at the game too sitting behind the visiting team's side (about 20 rows up). In the first half he was very involved and participating in the play discussions and chatting with team mates. He seemed to have changed his demeanor a bit in the 2nd half when he realized this was not a sure win. I saw how tense he was in the 4th quarter and that's when he went to the end away from others. I am not saying he was not upset that he did not get to play he probably was - he came out very late after half time but joined the team for the team "hand-joining" before the 2nd half began. but I would be surprised if a highly competitive guy did not feel upset for not being able to play.
People should not compare his personality to Jay Cutler's (my favorite QB who played awesome yesterday) . They are very different - VY is athletic and instinctive. Cutler's game is more cerebral although Jay is athletic also.
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10-22-2007 @ 9:11PM
jada said...
For everyone guessing what VY thought, here are his own words. let's not cause controversy where there isn't. No one that competitive would enjoy standing on the sidelines. Who of us have analyzed where kerry collins sits when he is not playing?
Young stands out on sideline
Lack of practice limits Titans QB to backup role
By JOHN McCLAIN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Titans quarterback Vince Young never expected to play Sunday because of the quad injury he suffered a week ago.
He suited up and was the backup to Kerry Collins. He would have played if Collins had been hurt.
Collins led Tennessee to a 38-36 victory over the Texans at Reliant Stadium.
"I wasn't going to play because I didn't have any preparation or practice," Young said. "I really feel like I need to practice to play. The coach (Jeff Fisher) made the right decision. Kerry did a great job."
Young isn't used to being a spectator.
"Who wouldn't want to be in a game like that?" he said. "Whoever got the ball in their hands was going to make a big play. I'm really proud of our offense
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10-23-2007 @ 9:38AM
donkeykong said...
Tennessee knows who they are. They know their identity. They're ball hogs. To be a ball hog your defense get 3 and outs, and your offense converts 3rd downs. The opposing offense has limited opportunities to score. It gives your opponents bad field position, and gives you good field position. You wear out your opponent's defense, and your defense is not worn out. etc. - there is nothing new about this strategy. Young just needs to show that he's capable of making big plays those times when they need it: his stats aren't as important. There's always room for improvement however.
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10-23-2007 @ 9:38AM
tdbrought said...
A question about the OTHER quarterback at Reliant on Sunday -- why was Schaub wearing his helmet on the bench?
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10-23-2007 @ 9:47AM
Stephanie Stradley said...
tdbrought-
Don't know. Maybe he was listening to playcalls in the helmet headset. Total guess.
PhilG et al,
The Titans defense is good enough to do some amazing stuff in the playoffs if the offense can do their share. That Fisher has to make his offense conservative for VY is a waste of the talent you have on the other side of the ball. Sure you want to develop your young quarterback, but you also want to have an offense that can move the ball.
If VY struggles later this season, there is going to be a contigent of people who remember that Collins was able to get the ball down field in this game.
To all:
I recognize that Vince Young has a ton of supporters within the Titan fanbase but there are also those in that fanbase that resent the Vince- first fans, or believe that chosing him was a mistake for the team. If he struggles this season more, especially with the sort of injury that can easily become chronic, you will likely hear more complaints from the fanbase.
Thanks all for reading and commenting,
Steph
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