Mr. Young being Tennessee Titans back-up quarterback Vince Young, and "old"? Well, let's explore.
It's "old" news that Vince Young is a mega-talent as far as athletic ability--all you have to do is look at his history. He's been the best of the best at every level of football he's played minus the NFL. He's been a winner at every level, and nobody's going to forget anytime soon how he took his Texas Longhorns on his shoulder to upend USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl--I was there, so I know first hand.
But that was college, and the NFL is a bigger, faster level--one that Vince Young is just another mega-talented athlete among many others, and some of them are even better, and some of them are on the other side of the ball. Somewhere along the way, I think Mr. Young developed a sense of entitlement because he's been **that guy** who's been head and shoulders better than everybody else around him. But at the NFL level, he isn't **that guy**, and in the last year, he's been benched, and in the last 24-hours, he pretty much demanded a trade, and today, his agent said Young now wants to compete for the Titans starting job. So, what's getting old? Well, Vince (good name, by the way), the sense of entitlement is, my friend--because you're not **that guy** anymore!
Look, NFL history is littered with QBs who where outstanding college specimens who were either busts in the NFL or just serviceable guys. Do the names Danny Wuerffel, Chris Wienke, virtually every recent Miami QB minus Vinny Testaverde (who's more of a longevitiy guy than a star quality guy), Heath Shuler, and Ryan "Cryin'" Leaf ring a bell? And, there are a couple of dozen more. And, don't play the race card either--you don't see one African-American name among the above--so don't go there!!
No, this is a simple case of a guy who's not making good choices on and off the field. And, evidently, his coaches are trying to tell him it's getting old, and he has a year to get it corrected--this is his "walk"year. On the field, one of his first instincts is to run, and that's okay up to a point. But the NFL is a pocket-pass league--the guys who can stay in the pocket, stay cool under pressure and when the 4th or 5th-read doesn't come open, THEN you can run--if you have time. Vince Young wants to run after the 1st or 2nd-read, and that was one of the knocks on him when he came out of UT. You don't see a lot of those kind of guys flourishing in the NFL, and Vince Young won't be the first. Off the field, come on Vince--"making it rain" with Nelly on-stage? You're not enduring yourself to your fan base or your coaches. Both entities don't exactly have fond memories of former Titan (and Dallas Cowboy) Adam "Pac Man" Jones "making it rain" in the venue he did it in, either. And, like it or not, you have to mentally consider those type of things.
Which, begs my final point: it's getting old that Mr. Young either can't or won't make the mental adjustments he needs to make to become an NFL star, and I'm not even talking about the famed Wunderlich Test. Consider his coach, Jeff Fischer, the longest-tenured NFL head coach today. He was NOT one of those mega-talented guys, but did have enough talent to play both at USC and in the NFL. But, he had to work a little harder, work a little smarter, and sharpen his mental approach to play with guys who could run him around in a circle. So, don't think he can't spot the guy who either can't or won't do the same. He can. He has. And that's why Kerry Collins has continued to be his starter. Collins is older, slower, more beaten up. But Collins was humble enough to change his errant mental ways off the field (principly his battle with alcohol), and earn his spurs afterward with the Giants, Raiders and the Titans. Yes, I think Vince Young is a better athlete, but I think Collins is a better NFL quarterback, and until Vince Young chucks his sense of entitlement, he's not going to change a lot of minds--including Jeff Fischer's. Know your coach, Vince. He already knows you.
Now, this is not "pick on Vince Young" hour. Again, athletically? He's off the charts. That's old news. But unless he adjusts his mental approach both on and off the field, Vince Young's going to be old news in the NFL archives sooner than later.
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Vince, the folks in Norman were calling him "Radio" even BEFORE his Wunderlich score came out. To paraphrase Crash Davis - Young has a million dollar body and a 25 cent head.
ReplyDeleteYeah I know, OU's QB's in the same era haven't done much either. Huepel's time will come when he moves up to OC and later head coach, if not at OU then somewhere else big. He's GOT the brains, but his throwing elbow was mush after the K-State game in October - you could see the evidence of it in his decreased offensive effeciency all through the rest of the season - all due to the bursitis. Nate Hybl was a nice college QB, but not much else. Jason White had two glass knees. We all knew he was not NFL bound when the second one exploded on the field. Paul Thompson was a good athlete and a great soldier who played where he was told, and over-performed doing it. Sam? Well, for his sake I pray he doesn't get hurt this year, but I can't blame him for not wanting to play for Detroit. I think he's probably got the package to make it work in the NFL.
The thing is, VY could make a decent QB, but it's his either inability or unwillingness to accept that he's just another great athlete among great athletes--and making the proper mental adjustments. You see more of this going from stars at the high school level not making it at the college level than you do from college to NFL. To me, it doesn't matter that he's a UT guy--I could care less. I don't care that the OU guys Marc referenced didn't have whatever it took to make it in the NFL. I think VY has the physical tools, and I bet Jeff Fischer does, too. But I know Fischer has serious reservations that he has the mental chops to make the adjustments between the ears.
ReplyDeleteMy OU reference was pre-emptive... An OU fan usually can't smack a Texas QB without hearing something back about OU's QB "failures" at the next level.
ReplyDeleteBack to the entitlement thoughts, go back and watch the Heisman announcement. He jumped halfway out of his seat - I'll be he thought he was entitled to it.
I'm not going to write off Young. I watched him in high school draw 40k fans in the Astrodome which was more than the Oilers during their last 4 years in Houston...
ReplyDeleteThat said, he definitely needs a change of scenery and needs to be accountable. He's used to being the man and not dealing with competition. At UT, he had that loser Chance Mock in front of him.
Kerry Collins is an average QB who is a better fit for the conservative style of Jeff Fisher.
Young needs to go to an offense that is willing to use a system that is unconventional. Young obviously used his running ability to setup his ability to pass. In the NFL, he's not going to break tackles from DE's and LB's like he did in college. Defenses are much more disciplined and they gameplan to leave Young in the pocket.
Young is probably confused as to why his style has to change. Being a scrambler worked great for him in high school and college. Why change now?
In hindsight, Young would have been better off going to a college program that would have gone through the ups and downs of him playing in a pro-style offense. UT was one of the few true West Coast Offenses in the NCAA. They did a 180 in the playbook once Young got there and have stuck with it with McCoy.
Young is going through QB growing pains that he should have gone through in college.
Agreed, Stephen. And, I don't want to write him off, either. But he needs to lose the 'tude. Also, the NFL is not the place for the "unconventional" offense to flourish. Do the terms, "Run & Shoot" and "Wildcat" come to mind? Now to be fair, the "West Coast Offense" was unconventional to a degree when Bill Walsh perfected it in the '80s--but it really was a variation of some of the other conventional offenses the league already had. The problem VY has is that he thinks he doesn't have to make the adjustment because he's been so much better than everybody else at every level he's played at--EXCEPT the NFL.. and it's that 'tude that has him stuck behind Kerry Collins as much as anything.
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