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Titans owner Bud Adams reportedly flexed his fiscal muscles last week and forced Jeff Fisher's hand on the Vince Young front. The Titans, at 0-6, didn't stand to lose anything by going with their 26-year-old QB over Kerry Collins. Collins has a QB rating of 62 on the season and at age 36, it's pretty well established he isn't the future.
The early results of the Vince Young swap proved profitable. The Titans won, and Young was efficient, going 15-for-18 with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also carried 12 times for 30 yards. So yes, the Titans won 30-13 in Vince's return to the lineup. He extended a few drives with his athleticism. It was a nice effort that you'd probably file under "game management" more than "game-changing." Oh, and Chris Johnson rushed for a franchise-record 228 yards.
You know who else was pretty good at quarterback when the Titans ran the ball like that? Kerry Collins for all of last season when the team went 13-3 in the regular season.
I'm by no means suggesting that Vince Young doesn't deserve some modicum of credit for the Week 8 win over the Jags. I'm also not saying Kerry Collins hasn't played poorly this season. Just remember this: the team hasn't been running the ball like last season and certainly hasn't been playing defense like last season, which forced Collins out of a game manager role and into a more uncomfortable role that forced him to make more plays.
Look at the number of times Collins has been asked to throw the ball this season. Through the first five games -- we won't count New England because he was yanked -- Collins threw the ball an average of 37 times per game. (Young, I'll remind you, was asked to throw it just 18 times. The Jags dropped an interception in their end zone, too.) Last season, Collins was asked to throw the ball 29.35 times per game in the 14 games that he participated in full. (Week 1 and Week 17, Collins only had spot appearances.)
Then take a look back at the Titans' defense from this season to last. The team is feeling the effects of losing Albert Haynesworth, dropping from No. 7 in total defense to No. 31 this season. Playing from behind puts a greater burden on the quarterback, which leads to the kind of ugly season Collins has had. In Week 8, the Titans never trailed, so Young was allowed to simply turn around and hand the ball off to Chris Johnson and watch him run away into the distance.
What does it all mean? It means it's premature to start the "Bud Adams is a genius, let's throw a Vince Young parade" movement. And more to the point, I'm not sure there's anything Vince Young can do in the remaining weeks this season that will prove he's worth the $14.2 million he's due next season. On the plus side, Vince Young might be able to reignite his career, but he might be doing it as the most athletic game manager in the NFL -- and at a far cheaper price tag.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
4 comments
Comments
What’s wrong with being a game manager? It won Trent Dilfer a super bowl ring.
by flavor flav on Nov 2, 2009 11:26 AM EST reply actions
you wrote: "I’m not sure there’s anything Vince Young can do" to prove himself. well, then. must be nice being completely insulated from any and all evidence. you’ve made up your mind about vince, and your judgment is just impervious, written in stone.look obviously we shouldn’t just forget everything that has gone wrong with vince. he’s still the guy what got benched before. but he’s also the same guy who started off winning quite a few games in this league. how ‘bout mentioning that his performance yesterday was MUCH better than expected? i mean, did you pick the titans to win in a blowout? or even to win, period? didn’t think so.
by j.nice on Nov 2, 2009 12:40 PM EST reply actions
He can’t get any credit. Weren’t the Titans weak the year before he was drafted. The reason he was drafted 3RD that year!!!!! He goes 18-11 as a starter, wins rookie of the year and goes to the pro bowl. The next year he doesn’ pass as well, but his threat of running helped the running game. Gets hurt and handles it immaturely and is punished for 1 and a half seasons. Amazingly the Titans weren’t able to run until he got there. The threat of the quarteback running is significant.
by jmac2000 on Nov 3, 2009 8:55 AM EST reply actions
Have you ever considered that the reason the running game was so much more effective is because they had a more mobile QB that could actually make plays happen. Jax had to have a spie which opened up gaps in the line as well as freed up receivers. I’m not saying that Vince is the next coming of Manning or Brady, but C’mon. Noone, not even you, can argue that Collins was ebismal through the last three games with instance of NEGATIVE YARDS PASSING. How this is not an improvement I can’t understand. You know, Whitlock still is all over Jeff George’s jock wondering why people don’t give him a chance. Maybe you are just Collins’s Whitlock.
by dadofjth2 on Nov 3, 2009 9:02 AM EST reply actions
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