You can thank Jim Schwartz, the Titans' defensive coordinator, for a lot of those wins. He's kept them in A LOT of games, and given Young and the Titans' offense a chance to go out and win games. Young wins, but he makes a lot of mistakes, and the Titans' FO isn't doing much to put talent around him... Schwartz will be a head coach in the NFL soon, and he'll be a damn good coach.
And he should with the receiving core he has over Cutler. He's had less to work with offensively and still looks better than Leinart. As of right now I would not have wanted to get Leinart over D Brick, if anything I'd have gone for Cutler. The real scenario I'd have liked? Trade down and have gotten N'Gata
No, sorry, that reasoning does not work when many of the come from behinds have been of the 24-21, 30-29 and 26-20 variety. The Titans were allowing 40+ points with frequency in 2006 when Young was getting the rep for bringing them back. He basically carried the team on his back that year, which is something that rookie QB's just do not do unless they are headed to the hall of fame like Elway and Marino and probably now Young. Last season the defense was better but it was still wildly swingy from week to week. You never knew if they were going to allow 6 points or 36 in a given week. If Young was white everybody would be calling him the next evolution of Elway and headed for the hall of fame. He's black and he's extremely confident, to the point of over-confidence, so people will always try to dismiss what he brings to the team in favor of other possible factors, as you did. Young has already won about a half dozen games for the Titans in the two years since they drafted him. That's a huge number for a single position, even the QB, to account for in such a short period of time. It's like a Lawrence Taylor effect but on offense. Only a very few people in NFL history have had that kind of impact early in their careers and all of them are in the hall of fame.
You do realize you're lauding the praises of a guy who has 21 TDs and 30 INTs through his first two seasons? A guy who had a lower completion percentage than Kyle Boller last year? A guy who had TWICE AS MANY 4th QUARTER INTERCEPTIONS AS TOUCHDOWNS LAST YEAR? Vince Young is an extremely overrated player who I would not want on my team ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, especially sundays.
1. The Titans allowed 40+ points 3 times in '06...once with Young at starter. 2. Rookies with 19 total TDs to 25 total turnovers aren't world beaters. Following it up with a 12 TD / 27 turnovers season is not a sign of a HOF QB. 3. That last sentence might be the most retarded thing I've ever heard you say. And I disagree with about 90% of what I've read from you.
LT's that are given the big bucks and the label of being a " franchise" LT, are granted those things for being elite pass protectors. Run blocking for these guys is an added bonus. Why is that? The logic is, they are the true "Body guards" of your franchise QB, and they allow you to neutralize the truly elite Pass rushers, who few will deny are the hardest of the elite positions to stop. That is a hard thingt to find. Good run blockers are a dime a dozen. I said from the second Brick got drafted, that he'd never be more than an average run blocker. W/ that said, I was ALL FOR drafting him at # 4, b/c w/ the way the NFL landscape is going...you need a guy who can stop the pass rushing forces. In the last 5 years the league has seen Williams, Merriman, Hagans, Ware, Wimbley, and now Gholston enter the league. These guys are just as big as the elite pass rushers of the past...but MUCH quicker and stronger. If you take a look at some of the elite LT's and compare their careers 2 years in to that of Bricks...there isn't much difference. Walter Jones, Tra Thomas, Orlando Pace, and Tarik Glenn, all had similar beginnings, w/ "Glimpses" of stardom, but alot of inconsistency. It takes a lineman 3 years to learn the best way to approach the game technique wise, and to learn consistency. For some, it takes an additional year to reach the physical peak. Brick will continue to grow into his large frame, improve his footwork, and learn how to use his freakishly long arms/hands effectively..and i have NO DOUBT, he will be a top 5 pass protector in this league...especially now that he has an all pro veteran to his right.
Good post, Patience is the hardest thing to practice as a NFL fan.... Brick will do much better this year- its nearly guaranteed.
John Elway had 25 TD's and 29 INT's in his first two seasons with much better personnel around him. Terry Bradshaw had 19 TD's and 46 INT's in his first two seasons with similar personnel. Bart Starr had 13 TD's and 25 INT's in his first 3 seasons. Joe Namath had 37 TD's and 42 INT's in his first two seasons. Troy Aikman had 20 TD's and 36 INT's in his first two seasons. Steve Young had 11 TD's and 21 INT's in his first two seasons. Of that group only John Elway had more wins his first two seasons and he was coming on to a team that had made the playoffs consistently for the previous half decade and was seen as a strong team just missing a QB. If I was looking to build a great team I would take Vince Young right now over any QB but Peyton Manning and possibly Ben Roethlisberger. Tom Brady would be losing 10 games with the Tennessee personnel right now.
I totally agree, and I would rather have those QBs than Vince Young. Oh yeah, them and Carson Palmer, Drew Brees, Matt Hasselback, Eli Manning, Tony Romo, David Garrard, Jay Cutler, Derek Anderson, Matt Leinart, Kellen Clemens, Marc Bulger, Matt Schaub, JP Losman, Kyle Boller, Trent Edwards, and John Beck. But Tavaris Jackson would definitely be losing, like, the same number as Vince.
I would just like to say that I called Vince Young's first 2 interceptions in the Jets-Titans game thread in 2006. *pats self on the back*
I'll be shocked if Vince Young ever becomes an extremely successful pro quarterback. Frankly, I think I've seen a lot of what Norm Chow was trying to say when he was unceremoniously dumped. Like Mike Vick, he seems to be averse to any attempt to turn him into a traditional(read- winning, functional) pro quarterback. A lot of times these mobile quarterbacks come out of college and they think that what they've always done will continue to work for them. Really, the one guy who didn't approach it that way, and has been able to turn his incredible physical talents into a more than respectable pro career is Donovan McNabb. It took Steve McNair about five years before he was a top flight quarterback. It took Steve Young years to become Steve Young. McNabb took Andy Reid's complex playbook and committed himself to learning the ins and outs of a West Coast Offense. He's a competent pocket passer who will have value to any roster long after his breakaway speed and out of this world athleticism leave him. I don't see that with Vince Young. I think Vince is going to continue to gripe about any system that is of aid to the quarterback but mentally challenging. When he breaks a leg or blows out a knee, you're going to have a Daunte Culpepper type of situation, and he'll have no one to blame but himself. I am sick and tired of reading stories where draft gurus and personnel talking heads continue to attempt explaining away their wildly inaccurate pre-draft predictions about Vince Young. "He just wins." "Stats are overrated"(stats are "what happened", actually). Eventually, he'll be referred to as a gritty "game manager" a la Trent Dilfer. They'll laud the fact that he can make plays with his feet that other quarterbacks can't make(incidentally, you'd probably rather have a quarterback who can accurately throw a route and make checkdowns like Young will likely never be able to do, as those guys tend to win the championships). As it regards Leinart, I just don't think he's a very mature guy.I think he reads a lot of his news clippings. People talk a lot about his abilities, and Jets fans were all about drafting him, but I never saw why. The same people who complain about Pennington's noodle arm were enthralled with a guy who had a similar shoulder surgery and a below top notch arm. Moreover, I think the celebrity status that these USC guys get because it's the closest thing to a professional sport in the area kind of makes it difficult for them to really buckle down, get off their high horse, and exhibit the kind of modesty and work ethic that most rookies have to come in with to be successful. Really, if he doesn't succeed this year with Whisenhunt, an excellent coach, I'd be shocked if he ever succeeded. He could be a competent starter, but I don't know that he'll ever be great.
There are a TON of mobile "legs-first" QB's who have done very well in the NFL, going back as far as Fran Tarkenton in the 60's and 70's, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway (who was EXACTLY this kind of QB, especially early on), Steve Young, Donovan McNabb, and so forth. A characteristic of the archetype is to struggle for a few seasons as they adjust to the faster speed of the NFL game. Unlike a traditional dropback passer they have MANY more decisions to make early in each play and it takes awhile for them to get the game to slow down enough that they can do that. I make Vince Young out as likely to be one of the top 10 QB's this year in terms of overall stats and the odds-on favorite of anybody in the NFL to win an MVP sometime between 2009 and 2011.
Dude...all of those guys IMPROVED as starters in their second season...they didn't regress. Plus, none of those guys would have improved if they didn't focus on the passing game...and Young just doesn't seem to do that. It's only 2 years into his career but theres like 10-15 young QBs I'd take over this guy right now. Your logic is just borderline retarded too...MVP at some point between '09-'11? It's easy to make that kind of lame prediction...but it ain't gonna happen.
