SB Nation User Blog: SuperHorn

(Nate Washington on playing for the first time with QB Vince Young as a starter) It’s funny b...

SuperHorn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:09:01 -0000

(Nate Washington on playing for the first time with QB Vince Young as a starter)

It’s funny because at the beginning of the game I kind of told him I was honored to be playing with him. You watch a guy like that at Texas, and you watch a guy like that early in his career, coming from where I came from, you never play with guys like that. To be actually able to play with a guy like that, and be able to see the things he can do and create, oh, it was a great honor to be out there tonight. We just have to continue to get better for him. We can’t be complacent from him. We have to know that the sky is the limit from him.

What Vince does for the Running Game

SuperHorn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:23:41 -0000

89 yards play for Chris Johnson (via AmiableJason)

The play above is a microcosm of what Vince does for the running game. It appears to be a zone read, though to be completely honest, it's possible this could just be a designed run for Chris Johnson. Either way, it's not especially important.

Vince takes the snap out of the shotgun. Daryl Smith (#52) recognizes this play, and hesitates in anticipation of Vince keeping the ball. You'll also notice just a slight hesitation out of Scott Starks (#31) and Justin Durant (#56). The pauses by these two isn't nearly as noticeable as Daryl Smith, but it is equally significant.

Daryl Smith is now immediately out of position and now dealt the impossible task of tracking down Chris Johnson from behind. The split second that Durant waits gives Mawae enough time to get up field and engage him, eliminating his chance of pursuit. Similarly, the Starks gets engaged while he's identifying who has the ball, as opposed to immediately beginning going after CJ. This becomes even more important at the end of the play because this fraction of a second kills his chance of stopping Johnson from breaking off the huge run as he runs up field.

Obviously, this run probably doesn't happen with anyone else in the NFL other than CJ. He finds a crease, makes one defender miss, and breaks another tackle. Then his track star speed does the rest. But, it's important to notice that Vince's threat of a run does have an impact. And, with a guy as explosive as CJ, even just a half of a step can mean the difference between an 8 yard gain and a touchdown.

Bud Adams on the Titans

SuperHorn — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:05:27 -0000

Link Here.

"If we end up losing every game or don't look better, I'd have to look at that pretty hard, you know what I mean?'' Adams said during a telephone interview Sunday night. "The way it is going, I don't know if we'll win any games, and that is unheard of in the National Football League."Right now, it's as bad as I've seen it, and that's a long time. I've never had a team start out like this. We had the best record in the NFL last year. I can't understand it.''

"Even if I am unhappy, you don't make changes in the middle of the season. You don't know what you might end up with,'' Adams said of the coaching staff. "We'll just have to see what happens the rest of the way. I'll have to make my decision after the season is up. Who knows, we might come back and win 10 games. Then it wouldn't look so bad compared to how we started out. We have to look at the overall picture.

"But right now we're not doing very well, and that worries me.'' ... "That is one of our problems, the coaching staff,'' Adams said.

"I have been wanting him to play Vince Young more because Collins has been having his problems out there,'' Adams said. "I just think we need to find out how well (Young) can do. If you don't play the guy and lose all your games, it is hard for you to see what he can do if he is not playing.
"Vince has won a lot of games for us. But Jeff is the one making those decisions; they are playing for him.''

New 4th Down Study

SuperHorn — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:20:07 -0000

A new fourth down study was released over at Advanced NFL Stats. It's a must read for any football fan.. There's too much meat in the article for me to really get into the statistics behind it, but the conclusion is simple. NFL coaches need to be going for it on 4th down a lot more. The graph below basically summarizes his findings and should act as a cheat sheet in most situations.

via farm3.static.flickr.com

The article is split into four separate pages. Do yourself a favor and take the time to read it all. It raises some interesting questions.

Titans - Jags Postgame Quotes

SuperHorn — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:49:28 -0000

From Titans Online:

TITANS HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER

(on if there’s a greater sense of urgency for the team) “This team’s practicing hard, it’s preparing hard, it’s just not winning ballgames. Today we got beat.”

(on if he needs more out of QB Kerry Collins) “We need more out of everybody. We need more out of me. We all need to come back to work. And everybody needs to do a little better job.”

(on what it would take for backup QB Vince Young to get in the game) “Kerry’s our starter. Kerry gives us the best chance to win. There was a little bit of life left. We got some points and if we would’ve got the onside kick, it might have quieted down and he might have put his starters back in. That was my decision today, to stay with him and try to find a way to win.”

(on if he’s looking for something to give the team a spark) “I believe this team’s some potential. I believe this team’s not an 0-4 team. Clearly we’ve got a tough stretch ahead of us, but we’re going to give it our best shot.”

TITANS PLAYERS
QB KERRY COLLINS
(on today’s performance) “You’ve got to give Jacksonville credit. They came in with a good gameplan, and we, for whatever reason, weren’t connecting like we need to. We were coming up short on some third downs and didn’t give ourselves a chance to put anything together.”
(on the 0-4 start) “All I know when you’re in a situation like this is that every man has to take it upon himself to figure out what he needs to do. As a team, collectively, we need to come together and not listen to the criticism from the outside and keep believing in what we’re doing. I take it upon myself to not give up and I know the leaders on this team will take it upon themselves also to not give up as well. We had a great week of practice this week, and as long as we keep working, we have a chance.”

(on getting behind early) “You don’t want to completely abandon your game plan. Last week, we came back and were able to even get the lead. There’s no reason to completely abandon what you’re doing. I thought we had a pretty good game plan coming in, but they played well. I absolutely, 100-percent believe we were ready to play when the whistle blew.”

WR KENNY BRITT

(on lack of offense today) “We got off to a slow start so we tried to come back in second half, get motivated and throw the ball around to just do something to get into the red zone. When we did get into the red zone, we wanted to score. We just didn’t play our best game today.”

(on Jaguars’ defense) “I really don’t believe that the Jaguars were doing anything unusual. I knew if there were problems on offense, the offensive line is good enough to take care of it. That’s what we did in the second half and we had more opportunities to move the football.

(on trying to get first win next week) “We go back to work, like we get paid to do, and start from scratch.”

Stat of the day

SuperHorn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:48:28 -0000

Stat of the day

It tells us what we already knew.

Kerry Collins stats in 2009 by quarter:

1st - 63.2% 1 TD 1 INT 82.3 Rating
2nd - 69.0% 2 TD 2 INT 87.0 Rating
3rd - 45.0% 1 TD 0 INT 75.2 Rating
4th - 33.0% 0 TD 1 INT 25.9 Rating

Brett Favre is Back

SuperHorn — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:45:23 -0000

Brett Favre is Back

Pending a physical, Brett will sign a $10-12 MM deal.

Vince Young: Preseason Week 1 Highlights

SuperHorn — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:33:37 -0000

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d811edcc8/Pre-WK-1-Vince-Young-highlights

Vince Young: Preseason Week 1 Highlights

Esquire Magazine: Vince Young Biography

SuperHorn — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:57:29 -0000

Esquire Magazine: Vince Young Biography

A good read. It sounds like Vince has his head in the right place. This quote in particular sends chills:

Oh, the Rose Bowl. It was fourth down and five. Twenty-six seconds left. The national championship on the line. In the huddle, I just wanted everybody to stay loose. So I said, "Look at how ugly they are. Jesus, they're ugly." And then I said, "We're gonna win this game." And I looked at each of my teammates and said, "One more down. Everybody do their job."

ESPN - Vince Young Revealed

SuperHorn — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:25:52 -0000

ESPN - Vince Young Revealed