15 Apr 2008
by Scott Sokol
If there’s one thing you can be certain about with Vince Young, it’s winning. Still just 24 years old, the young star quarterback knows how to do it with the best of them, we should all be so lucky.
In 2004, Young led the University of Texas to an 11-1 season, a Top 5 ranking, and a Rose Bowl win over Michigan. Young’s 2005 was arguably one of the best college football seasons in recent memory, but still couldn’t win him the Heisman Trophy – as he lost out to USC’s Reggie Bush. Young got his revenge in the National Championship Rose Bowl game against Bush, 2004 Heisman winner Matt Leinart, and Tennessee Titans’ teammate Lendale White. USC went in with a 34 game winning streak, and when the Trojans scored to make it 38-26 in the fourth quarter it looked like the game was over.
It wasn’t. And the legend of Vince Young was born. Young ran for two touchdowns, one with just 19 seconds to go, and Texas took the game 41-38 capping off an undefeated season. Young was named the game’s MVP with 267 yards passing, 200 yards rushing, and three touchdowns.
“V.Y.” was picked third overall in the 2006 NFL draft after Mario Williams and Reggie Bush, and his rookie year couldn’t have gone any better. After serving as Kerry Collins’ backup for the first month, Young started 13 games, had an 8-5 record as a starter, and won six games in a row. Four of his eight wins were in fourth quarter comebacks. Young won Rookie of the Year as he ran for a rookie quarterback record 552 yards. He looked every bit the part of a great quarterback that could do it with his arm or his legs. Pick your poison.
In 2007, the Tennessee Titans just got better, but things got tough for Young for the first time in years. His modest 12/13 TD to INT ratio from his rookie year spiraled into a poor 9 and 17 in year two. His yards per completion went down from 12.0 to 10.7. While Young’s completion percentage rose, he rushed for 157 yards less than his rookie year and average just 4.2 yards per carry compared to the hefty 6.7 he had as a rookie.
So which one is the real Vince Young? Is this a great athlete who’s a much better quarterback than people think? Or is it an average quarterback whose athleticism can be contained by any run-of-the-mill NFL defense keyed on stopping him?
Unlike his rookie year, which saw dramatic swings in Young’s QB rating (from 34.4 to 127.7), his second year was more consistent (consistently mediocre). Young’s low QB rating on the season was 34.5 and his high was 109.6. Just like in his first year, his only two games over 100 came in the season’s second half. That in itself is a good sign. It means that through the year he’s getting used to what defenses are doing to him and the Titans are adjusting.
More importantly, it bodes well for the future. Tennessee was in a bit of disarray all year in 2007, even though they were able to sneak into the playoffs. The Titans began the year not so much with a running back by committee, but with an unclear starter between Chris Brown, Chris Henry, and Lendale White. White emerged as the starter by the end of the year, but his style seems to clash with Vince Young’s run and shoot offensive skill set.
Of five 100-yard games that Lendale White had, Vince Young was injured for one, and in the other four he didn’t have a QB rating over 60 while tossing zero touchdowns to five interceptions combined. Conversely, in Young’s three best games of the year, White totaled 60, 93, and 45 yards rushing respectively with only one total touchdown.
This all sounds dismal for Young, but that’s really not how it is. In baseball, you can analyze the numbers to death and usually come up with something meaningful, but football has proven time and time again that it is not so cut and dry.
Jeff Fisher enters his 15th year as head coach of Titans (or Oilers) and he’s proven that he knows how to win. Fisher’s taken the team to the playoffs five times, and came within a yard of going to OT in the 2000 Super Bowl against the Rams.
LenDale White enters 2008 as the Titans’ starting running back, even though Chris Henry will see some time, White also knows how to win, playing for that USC team that won 34 straight.
Finally, the Titans have made two minor moves which could be very helpful to Young’s success bringing in Justin McCareins and Alge Crumpler. Crumpler spent the last handful of years as Michael Vick’s clutch-target and don’t underestimate the safety valve he’ll be for Vince Young.
Young will never be a quarterback that can drop back and throw over 40 touchdowns in a season like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but he will continue to win, and next year look for him to do that with a higher degree of fantasy prowess. This year, Young will prove he’s the real deal, and that 2007 was the fluke.
| 
