| Christopher Reina. 20th November, 2007 - 3:23 pm
 Vince Young was 30-2 as a starter at Texas, which is the sixth best winning percentage in college football history.
As a starter in the NFL, Young has a 14-9 record, which is impressive and certainly far better than the start of Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer’s careers. But Rex Grossman, even with his 1-4 record this season, has an 18-10 career record as a starter. So is Grossman simply a winner or has he been bolstered by a strong defense?
Like Chicago a season ago, the Tennessee defense is one of the best in the NFL; when they play well, the Titans typically win. In Young's 14 wins, the defense has averaged 16 points allowed and in his nine losses, they have yielded nearly 29 points.
Therefore one can make the argument that Albert Haynesworth ‘just wins.’ As my colleague Jeff Risdon notes, the Titans have the 2nd best defense in the NFL when Haynesworth plays and 24th when he is sidelined.
As a rookie in 2006, for a Titans’ team coming off a 4-12 season, Young had an 8-5 record as a starter, including a six-game winning streak over playoff teams like the Eagles, Giants and Colts. This, coupled with the memory of his BCS Championship performance less than a year before led to the rise of Young’s reputation as a player who simply won games.
Young has stayed in the pocket more often this season, perhaps because of his lingering quad injury and also to prove he is capable of being a classic QB, but by doing so he is less effective. It is the strength of his legs that makes him such a special offensive weapon. The threat of Young running frequently leads to a safety being assigned to ‘spy’ on him, which frees up his receivers (who are low on talent).
"I had a feeling after their struggles that he would get back to what he does,” said Denver safety John Lynch after Monday’s game. “I think sometimes they try to make those guys too much of a pocket passer. I think today I don't know if they told him or not, but he cut it loose and he's a difficult guy to deal with."
What has Young done to directly lead the Titans to victories this season?
Young has a 75.5 passer rating in losses and a 51.7 rating in wins.
In Monday’s 34-20 loss in which the Titans were without Hayneworth, Young threw for a career-high 305 yards on 41 attempts, the second straight game he has thrown so many times and also the Titans’ second straight loss.
As a rusher in losses he has averaged 6.9 yards per carries and in their victories, he has averaged 2.7 yards per carry and two touchdowns. All 10 of his career rushing touchdowns have come when the Titans were tied or trailing.
Last season in wins, he had an 87.3 rating and 50.3 yards per game on the ground and a 44.3 rating and 21.7 yards per game in losses. He did far more to directly win games as the rookie of the year than he has this season.
This season, he has been a better passer in the first half of games (72.2) than in the second half (54.0), suggesting failures in the clutch. He also has rushed 22 times this season in the 4th quarter (most of any quarter), but has only gained 53 yards (fewest total yards of any quarter), which is good for a 2.4 average.
While he does have the metal of a player who does the necessary things to win, it is oversimplistic and not factually accurate to categorically give Vince Young such an illustrious moniker at this stage of his career, which should be reserved for winners of multiple championships like Bill Russell, Derek Jeter and Tom Brady. |
