“You guys go on, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Well, it’s been an interesting day or two in the land of the Tennessee Titans.
First, there was the controversy from Sunday’s game about whether or not Vince Young tried to bail out of the game when he could still play. That spectacle was followed up by Young getting his leg injured and being replaced by Kerry “the Giants got to the Super Bowl in spite of me” Collins. And then there was the strawberry on the cheesecake.
VY went missing. Now that most of the speculation has been run through, rumors have been exchanged, and alien abduction has indeed been ruled out as a reason for Vince’s absence, let’s look at where everything stands shall we? From the Tennessean:
According to Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron, Fisher had been alerted after a friend of Young’s contacted the coach around 7 p.m. Monday night. Young eventually made contact with Fisher, and the two met around midnight with Metro police officials at Baptist Sports Park. The psychologist informed the team that Young was extremely depressed and there was reason to be concerned about him. “Given the totality of the situation, Coach Fisher was concerned about Young’s emotional well-being. He contacted the police department and expressed to us his concern,’’ Aaron said. “Once he came to Baptist Sports Park and was assessed, it appeared the concerns from earlier in the night were unfounded.’’
Coach Fisher said on his radio show that the whole thing had been a little overblown and that Vince was watching football at a friends. He also said that he was contacted by Vince’s friends/family with concerns about him, he said that he didn’t want to go into details and that’s pretty understandable.
Now the rumors about Vince having a gun in the car?
Apparently, they were true. Also from the Tennessean:
Young had a handgun in the glove compartment of his vehicle, but it was not loaded and Aaron said officers had no concerns about Young trying to harm himself. It is not against the law in Tennessee to transport an unloaded firearm with no ammunation present in a motor vehicle, Aaron said.
“The fact the gun was in the glove compartment and was unloaded did not present an issue for the officers,’’ Aaron said. “There was no ammunition in the car. The gun was unloaded. The slide was back in a safe position, and it was in the glove box.’’
I’m sorry, but I still don’t feel that good about Vince carrying a gun around in his glove compartment, whether it was loaded or not. It’s just not a sign of good judgment. I’m not going to make a big deal out of this whole thing, because maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal. Maybe Jeff Fisher did over-react. Maybe Vince just got nominated for Worst Weekend Ever and in a couple of weeks he’ll be fine. But there’s one thing to consider in all of this mess that is being over-looked.
Pac Man Jones no longer lives in Nashville.
Why is that important? It’s simple. For the past two seasons (coincidentally, the same number of years that Vince Young has been quarterback, there have been very few sports stories to come out of Nashville that did not have the name Adam Jones attached to them. Pac Man punches a stripper. Pac Man makes it rain. Pac Man gets arrested. Pac Man spits on woman. Pac Man involved in shooting. Pac Man suspended. Pac Man wrestling. Pac Man traded.
Gobble, gobble, gobble. It was Adam Jones 24/7. He wasn’t the pink elephant in the corner of the room that no one talked about, he was the big-breasted stripper in the middle of the room that no one could get enough of. Every time that people were talking about the Titans they were talking about Pac. Every time that Jeff Fisher was hit with a question, it was usually by some beat reporter who wanted to know what the Titans planned on doing with Pac if/when he was reinstated.
And all the while, Vince Young’s struggled with his mechanics, his health, and his numbers. But, with Hurricane Adam always in the news, that story was little more than an after-thought.
Then Pac became Adam and was exiled to Dallas.
You could see the switch almost immediately. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, and I’m sure that the Titans don’t want to (and wouldn’t) admit it, Pac Man Jones was the biggest star in Nashville. Was that a negative? For the team yes. For VY? Maybe not. Check that statement. It absolutely was not a bad thing that Pac Man Jones was the biggest story in Nashville. Because when Adam left, Vince Young found himself as the face of the franchise.
Suddenly, Vince Young became the star of this team (like he was supposed to be all along.) And the criticism started immediately.
People began to call him a coach-killer when Norm Chow was fired for not making Vince a better quarterback.
Vince’s statement that he considered retiring after his rookie year, was publicized and analyzed, and there were more than a few people who questioned how this statement would affect Young’s ability to lead a team. Would his teammates be able to follow a man who might quit on them? Young said that his comments were taken out of context, that he loved football, and was in no way considering quitting. Some believed him and some shook their head and questioned his leadership and mental toughness. The NFL is a hard game and the Ryan Leafs and Tim Couches of the world quickly found out, if you’re not mentally tough, you’re career will be short and forgettable.
The pictures of him dancing shirtless, mamba-ed their way across the Internet, and the whispers got a little louder.
He struggled in the pre-season, he looked flustered, unsure of himself, and the whispers turned into to discussions on talk radio about whether or not Young would ever improve enough to justify his draft pick, whether he could learn to be a good quarterback, whether he would ever work out in Nashville.
Then, in game one of the NFL season, against rival Jacksonville, the whispers turned to boos, and Young, who has succeeded at every level he has been at, had to deal with the fact that some of his own team’s fans didn’t think that he was good enough to be their quarterback. There was the altercation on the sideline between him and coach Fisher, with many sources reporting that Young did not want to go back in the game. That he didn’t want to be put in a position to receive more abuse. But, he went back into the game.
And then he was carted off the field after injuring his leg.
And then the police were sent out to find him.
Sunday was a crossroads for Vince Young. He’s going to have a couple of weeks (or more) to heal, but more importantly he’s going to have a couple of weeks to evaluate his career. There are quite a few people who think that Kerry Collins should be the quarterback of this team. That he’s more experienced and has better leadership skills.
To those people I would simply ask, “Are you smoking crack?”
Let me remind you that this is the same Kerry Collins who allegedly told former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi that the reason he quit on the Carolina Panthers was because he didn’t like the uniforms. From Inside the Panthers:
According to the book, Collins told Accorsi, “Ernie, I dreamed about playing in the National Football League all my life. The Eagles, the Giants, the Redskins, the Bears. But I found myself playing for the Carolina Panthers, wearing this funny-looking uniform, and I didn’t even feel like I was in the NFL. That started my problems.”
No thanks.
As a Titans fan, I want Vince to get straightened out and be the quarterback. Although I don’t personally know Vince, and therefore cannot vouch for him honestly, he seems like a pretty good guy, with a pretty good sense of values. I want to see him succeed. God knows he has the physical tools. But, he’s got to have the mental tools as well.
Dealing only in basic scenarios there are two ways that this whole thing can go. Vince can come back, take the ball from center and win games. Whatever other criticisms are levied, I’ve got Vince’s back on that one; the guy has a knack for winning. If he wins, plays decent-well, and the team succeeds all this negativity will slither away and he’ll be able to rest easy. But if he comes back and looks like A-Rod trying to hit with the bases loaded, he’s going to have problems. Because it’s not just Nashville that’s going to be watching and waiting. The whole NFL is going to be watching to see how Vince handles the pressure.
In a couple of weeks, we’re going to find out who the real Vince Young is and where his NFL career is going to take him. The critics are slobbering for his failure, and his supporters are more than a little nervous.
I may be critical, but I’m not a critic. I still think that Vince is my team’s quarterback and that he can be a superstar. But he’s going to have to get out of his own way.
