Should Vince Young Remain a Tennessee Titan?

I have been a huge fan of Vince Young's for a long time and was happy that the Tennessee Titans drafted him. He can be exciting to watch, plus he does win games. His win-loss ratio is 30-17. Not too shabby. VY was the third overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft, won Rookie of the Year, and has gone to the Pro Bowl twice. The talent is there; although, he is not a passing machine. Still -- as I said before -- he wins games. Is that enough, though? I don't think so.

Vince, as has been well-documented, went off the deep end at the beginning of his third year when he was injured and then booed by the hometown fans. He vanished. There were reports that he was suicidal. Coach Jeff Fisher went looking for him in the middle of the night. Vince sat on the bench last year while the team started out 0-6 with veteran Kerry Collins as the starting quarterback. Enter Bud Adams, the ancient owner of the team. He made his wishes public that VY be made the starter. Well, he eventually was -- after the bye week. To VY's credit, he won 6 of the last 8 games and almost got the Titans into the playoffs. Yeah, he wins; but there are still problems.

After the week 10 game against the Washington Redskins, Vince Young, who has not be loath to talk about how much he has matured, acted like a 2-year-old. He was not playing that badly; although, I would submit that he was not playing that great either. Then in the third quarter, he injured the thumb on his throwing hand, came out of the game, and was treated in the locker room. Kerry Collins was injured, so the rookie Rusty Smith was in the game. He had the rookie jitters; although, he seemed to be the only quarterback on the team willing to at least try to throw the football to future Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss. (If Randy had not be so blatant about pushing off the defender and gotten busted for it, it would have been a great play.) Vince did come back to the sidelines and tried throwing the ball. He never went back into the game, though. VY said he wanted to go back into the game; however, an NFL reporter at the game said he never saw Young approach any of the coaches to ask to go back onto the field. After the game, Young apparently threw his pads and jersey into the stands; although, Young claims he "gave" them to the daughter of the vice-president of the organization. (I actually find that one hard to believe in light of the denials and excuses that Young seems to constantly put forward anytime he is busted for bad behavior.) He then walked out of the locker room as Fisher was getting ready to speak to the team, telling Fisher that he was not running out on the team but on Fisher instead. (I fail to see the fine line.) Safety Michael Griffin and former Texas teammate ran after him to no avail. Upshot -- Vince is going on injured reserve due to the torn flexor in his thumb and is out for the year. Fisher also made it clear in a press conference that Vince would not be the starter even if the injury had not knocked him out for the year. Enter Bud Adams once again, saying that he has not given up on Vince and that Fisher and Vince need to work it out.

What is there to work out? Vince has shown time and time again that he is going to throw some kind of hissy fit if things do not go his way. Also, his work ethic has always been in question. During his rookie year, Norm Chow stated that he had a difficult time keeping Vince's attention. This season, prior to the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Vince was late to meetings and just did not put in the necessary work. It seems to me that anyone with half a brain knows that you need to put in extra work when you are going to play the Steelers. Bud Adams seems to be in love with VY because he is from Houston and played for Texas, but he also needs to realize that this quarterback is becoming a toxic element on the team. His obvious lack of respect for the most tenured coach in the league and a coach that any team -- including Jerry Jones of the Cowboys -- would love to have could potentially tear a strong locker room apart. In addition, Vince acts as if he is some kind of golden child, who does not always have to adhere to the rules. The backing of Bud Adams, no doubt, contributes to this attitude. Bud Adams needs to understand that Young is not the second-coming of Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. In fact, Vince will probably never be ranked with the greats, given his current attitude. Adams, instead, needs to back his head coach in this, realizing that it will be the best in the long run for the team. Other very well respected former head coaches, such as Brian Billick, believe that Fisher has handled the situation perfectly and that Vince put him in a position where he had no choice but to bench him -- no matter what.

Granted, the point is moot for the rest of this season; because Vince is going on IR. However, both Fisher and Vince have contracts through 2011. Hopefully Bud Adams will realize that it is time to cut his losses and cut or trade VY. Vince's immaturity seems to know no bounds and is going to start chipping away at the team's morale. It is also going to undermine the position of the head coach, which cannot be tolerated. Fisher has made it clear that he is focusing on the rest of this season and will deal with the Vince Young situation at the end of the season. Perhaps by then, Bud Adams will also realize that VY is not the answer and needs to go.

Resources:

ESPN Sports: Vince Young out as Titans starter

The Tennessean: Jim Wyatt: Titans owner Bud Adams: Vince Young, Jeff Fisher have to get along