By Jelisa Castrodale
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 2:30 p.m. ET Nov. 24, 2010
Jelisa Castrodale
When you type Vince Young’s name into Google, the first suggestion its autocomplete algorithm spits out is “Vince Young meltdown,” offering 188,000 results related to those three words.
Next up are “Vince Young Twitter” and “Vince Young stats.” I guess after his season-ending thumb injury and subsequent postgame freakout, Google’s PageRank powered brain is smart enough not to recommend “Vince Young Starter” or “Vince Young Stable.”
After tearing a tendon on his throwing hand during the third quarter of Tennessee’s 19-16 overtime loss to the Redskins, Young spent the remainder of the game acting like his last name, pouting, fuming and expressing his misery in every way other than wearing black eyeliner and listening to My Chemical Romance. On the way to the locker room, he launched his jersey and shoulder pads into the stands and later walked out of coach Jeff Fisher’s postgame meeting.
According to The Tennessean, “Young was talking under his breath, uttering expletives as Fisher prepared to address the team. When Fisher told him to keep quiet, Young started to leave. Fisher told Young not to ‘run out on your teammates.'"
Young’s response—“I’m not running out on my teammates, I’m running out on you” — sounds like it was borrowed from the script of an after-school special. That’s fitting, since Young has spent an embarrassing amount his five-year career acting like an angst-ridden 10th-grader.
"It was just an awkward situation," Young told ESPN. "I just want to play football. I want to win games. I want to go to the Super Bowl. That's it.”
This year, he’ll have to buy a ticket. Even before his thumb surgery was scheduled and before he was placed on injured reserve, Fisher had already decided that Young’s starting role would be taken by rookie Rusty Smith, a sixth-round draft pick who took his first professional snaps Sunday against the Redskins.
"My focus is no longer on Vince Young,'' Fisher said on Monday. "My focus is moving forward with this team. We can deal with [his future] when the season is over.''
The question is whether Young even has a future with Tennessee … and the same question mark is hanging over Fisher’s head, too. Both the quarterback and the coach are under contract through 2011, but it’s been a long time since the sideline was big enough for both of them, Fisher’s sunglasses serving to reflect Young’s icy stares while they hide his own.
The decision of who stays and who goes will most likely be made by team owner Bud Adams, who at age 87 is only a couple of years older than Titans backup quarterback Kerry Collins. On Monday, Adams told The Tennessean, “They are going to have to work together. I haven’t given up on Vince and I am sure Fisher hasn’t either. Vince was upset and said some things he regretted after doing it, but you have to straighten it out and move on. […] It is all over with and we want to get Vince back and playing again for us.”
This isn’t the first time that Adams has taken Young’s side over Fisher’s. Last year after the team’s unsightly 0-6 start, it was Adams who stepped in and suggested that Fisher swap Collins for Young. “I have been wanting [Fisher] to play Young more because Collins has been having his problems,” Adams said. “I just think we need to find out how well [Young] can do.”
Young led the team to five straight wins and an 8-8 record. He was named the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year.
Those flashes of brilliance are why Adams and the Titans may decide to re-sign Young, despite the occasional appearance of The Crazy. In his five-year career, Young has a 30-17 record as a starter with 42 touchdowns and 42 interceptions. He also has yet to play a full 16-game season; this year, the number under the G in his stat line will be fixed at nine.
Young can’t help the injuries he’s suffered, from Sunday’s torn tendon to the equally wrecked MCL that kept him out of the lineup for most of the 2008 season. What he can control is his reaction to these setbacks, the way he deals with frustrations and his relationships with Fisher and his teammates.
This is a player who contemplated retirement at age 24. He reportedly had to be coaxed back onto the field during the Titans’ AFC wild-card loss to the Chargers. He tried to take himself out of the 2008 season opener, parking himself on the bench four plays before injuring his knee. And then, most disturbingly, there was his brief disappearance the next day, his family’s concern about his “emotional well-being” and his mother’s comments to the press that her son might not want to play football any more.
His apologies — and there have been plenty — have ranged from an insistence that he is "more mature" to using 47 of Twitter’s 140 character limit to post “Just want to say I’m fine sorry to my teammates.” The problem is that you can only say “I’m sorry” so many times before it becomes a cliché and, despite what the Sporting News says, you can’t make a comeback when you’ve never been anywhere.
Sunday just provided another example why Young might not be the long-term answer for the Titans. Unfortunately, they don’t have any other viable options. Current starter Smith went 3-for-9 for 62 yards and looked so out of his element I half expected Walter Sobchak to storm on the field just to yell at him. At 37, Kerry Collins is a solid backup, but the word “backup” is often more applicable than the word “solid.” And third option Chris Simms — re-signed on Tuesday after being released in September — is presumably on the depth chart just in case Smith and Collins both eat a plate of bad shellfish.
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Even though Adams seems to side with Young, the case for keeping Fisher around could be based on his longevity. He is currently the longest-tenured coach in the NFL; his first season was three presidents, four Winter Olympics and approximately 1,843 James Patterson novels ago. But is longevity more valuable than mediocrity? The Titans (and the Oilers!) under Fisher are 141-112, with a 5-6 playoff record. The team has one Super Bowl appearance—a 2000 loss to the St. Louis Rams—and hasn’t won a postseason game since the 2003 Divisional Playoffs. That’s not Young’s fault.
“I am very disappointed,” Fisher said after the game on Sunday. “There is going to be frustration in losses and there are times you have to dig deep and fight and turn to one another. I don’t think you run. […] There are some things that need to change.”
For the Titans, that change may be their quarterback. Or it may be their coach. Until it’s sorted, if you type “Messy Breakups” into Google, it just might say “Did you mean: Tennessee Titans?”
. I am not sure our Constitution allows for the impeachment of Vince Young. That said, if by chance it does, I have felt compelled to reflect on what my favorite Vince Young memory will always be . He has enriched me with many great lasting memories but I am only allowed to chose one as my all time favorite! So sad!!
