The VY haters here in Nashville are insufferable (although after last week, some are starting to come around, just like Jimmy). Even at 10-0, I still told everyone that would listen that we can’t win a Super Bowl with Kerry Collins at the helm.

Don’t get me wrong, Collins has done everything that has been asked of him. If Vince had been starting all year, I think the Titans would probably be 11-3 or 10-4 instead of 12-2. But, I would feel much better about their potential than I do with Collins. I just can’t see Kerry Collins going out and leading this team to victory against great teams.

Collins makes Tennessee a very good team. With VY they COULD be great.

Anyone that compares VY’s ‘07 with Collin’s ’08 is an idiot. Chris Johnson (and the absence of Norm Chow) COMPLETELY voids that comparison.

Tennessee’s offense has reminded me more of some of GD’s game plans for OU and even more of several during the Freddy Akers era. Strong, strong defense and an offense only a mother could love. Run, run, run, take care of the ball, good kicking game, buy the D some rest time. Nothing more, nothing less.

Haynesworth is inactive for today. Like in Jaws, they’re going to need a bigger boat against the Steelers. And by that I mean an explicitly more aggressive offense to take the heat off the defense. With the standard Caretaker Offense under Collins, I would expect the Steelers to whip them like step children today, very ugly and painful.

I had thought at the time that last year’s draft was primarily to win the Titans two more games, to get from 10 to 12. They’ve got it and I think that’s it, they’re done, unless A) Haynesworth gets healthy and B) VY emerges from exile. Super Bowl – forget that.

When I think of VY’s problems, I intuitively go back to a pre-season game, specifically the one against Oakland. The Raiders blitzed the living hell out of VY on every play. He got off one pass, which was dropped. He was sacked. He really never had a chance; the OL never slowed down the rush, the hot receivers weren’t viable, the rush covered the outside so there was no where to go. I saw this defensive strategy several times: give VY no time, force fast decisions, control the scramble. The gamble was to force the game plan out of its strictures.

Later, Tennessee and Jeff Fisher never seemed to have an answer to those attacks; more, they just endured until the defense had to slack off. Basically, with no aggressive passing game, with poor receiving, Tennessee fell into the Basic Offense box. Even Kerry Collins could handle that.

Imho, it’s not just a failure to solve basic problems with VY and offense, it’s an incredible waste of talent and money. In music city terms, it’s a Billy Sherrill production with mediocre songs that initially sound good to the ear but are less filling, even with a talent like George Jones, just pablum to keep the dollars rolling in, never a move toward toward fulfillment, much less greatness. The Colonel would be proud.

But all this talk about NFL potential and about what “could” happen if you put in VY needs to be put to rest.

Collins is having a better season than VY had in year 1 or 2 of the VY era. There is absolutely no evidence that inserting VY into the lineup at this point in the season is going to help the Titans. The Titans team is 100% behind Collins and to insert VY now would be a slap in the face to the team and perhaps cause an unneccesary rift among the players.

VY will get his chance in the future. Likely, as soon as next year.

Until then, sit back, and enjoy the Kerry Collins show.

But, given KC’s performance thusfar today, there is no way Fisher rolls the dice with Vince.

we can all talk crap about young but his nfl failures are not just his own fault his damn team haves done nothing to make this team Vince Young team. Look at every star qb in the nfl there teams represent them its like his teams want him to be there and pass and not make dumb decision well. I am sorry no one is kicking Ben in the butt this year look at his stats there not the greatest i love vince young he was one of the best qb in ncaa history and was responsible for the best ncaa performance in collage football history

…….the lame excuse of the NFL’s “sorriest group of WRs”. Kerry Collins is having no trouble moving the offense.

When will the NFL learn that QB’s get hurt running backwards and by standing in the pocket, not by running forwards. College coaches figured it out years ago and now you’re seeing the beauty of having offenses that play 11 on 11 instead of down a man. I can’t remember the last time a quarterback got hurt running the ball past the line of scrimmage. Well let me correct myself. I can’t remember the last time a quarterback got hurt running the ball past the line of scrimmage and got hurt by contact. Vince pulled a quad running out of bounds last year. To avoid contact. No doubt at the instructions of his coaches.

Look I get that these QB’s make tons of money and that teams supposedly don’t want to risk their investments by having their quarterback take off down the field. Instead they’d rather have their QB’s stand in the pocket, with set feet, and look downfield. Yeah that worked out real well for Tom Brady this year. As for the money thing – LT makes a ton of money too and he carries the ball what 400 times a year? Plus he catches the ball out of the backfield and picks up the occassional blitz. No one pays extra special care that he doesn’t get hurt. And Tomlinson is all of 6-2, 215, maybe 220. Vince is 6-5 235. Actually he looks more like 250ish lately. There are quite few linebackers playing in the League now who don’t hit those numbers. But we’re worried this guy’s going to get hurt by contact?

I know the argument will come that the NFL’s speed is too great for a running quarterback to overcome. I say b.s.. Anyone think Brad Smith was vastly superior in speed to Vince? Smith is playing WR, the speediest position in football, in the NFL. Steve Young, a white Mormon boy got by okay with his feet. And yes I know Steve had some trouble with concussions, but those knocks to the head were far more likely to come from guys he couldn’t see while standing in the pocket, than from the guys he could see while running for first downs.

One last point to this rant. Why are NFL teams so damned freaked out about losing their starting QB anyway? Would the Titans really be that much worse off if Vince had gotten hurt on a 15 yard zone read? I think they’d be in the exact same place. Is Cassell doing such an awful job? And he replaced the best QB in the game. So why not run the spread offense with a running QB and just have your backup be ready to run the power I. If the coaches and GM’s are so worried about their backup QB’s, shouldn’t they have done a better job? The problem with losing Romo wasn’t losing Romo, it was having Johnson as a backup to begin with.

I get that quarterbacks aren’t cheap. No one in the NFL is cheap. Big name running backs have big contracts too but teams don’t fret too much over contact for their half backs.

The Patriot example you bring is up is exactly why teams shouldn’t be afraid of using their QB as a runner. Tom Brady blew out his knee and might not be back until 2010. He wasn’t hurt on a QB draw or a zone read, but rather after throwing a pass after a standard 5 step drop. The Pats wouldn’t be any worse off if they’d lost Brady on a designed QB run (though given Brady’s mobility you might have to question their strategy). But having lost their starting QB, they had to turn to a guy who hadn’t started a game since high school. He might not be Tom Brady but he’s done alright for himself this year. Maybe that’s him and maybe that’s the system. My guess is we’ll find out soon enough because as you say his contract is up and I’d venture to say that some team out there will take a chance on him, pay him some big bucks and make him their starter. But who’s to say that New England won’t go out and find another unheralded, relatively inexpensive back up to learn their system and trust that their GM and coaching staff can find a compotent replacement?

Again I’m not suggesting that every NFL team go out and find a guy to run the spread option. Although I think that offense would be successful in the NFL if you actually let your QB run the full package. What I am suggesting is that if you have a guy at QB who’s a capable (or in some cases more than capable) runner, why not use those talents? Instead the NFL seems content to have their mobile QBs limit their running to simply avoiding sacks. In fact they seem determined to force those quarterbacks who excel with their feet to abandon their trade and make them into something they aren’t – pocket passers. See Vick, Michael and Youg, Vince.

that NFL teams are missing a bet here… they fear losing their QBs, particularly the running QBs so they don’t utilize that aspect of their talents. Part of their fear, I believe, is the notion of building an offense around a running QB, then losing him, and having to revamp their entire offense.

Meanwhile they keep themselves busy turning successful college quarterbacks into wide receivers or kick returners… I think if a smart NFL team came along, and committed to the spread, complete with running QB, they could stock plenty of reserve QBs who are currently vastly undervalued. They’d probably save a ton of money on just their backups at the position… at least until they proved the concept successful and the rest of the league jumped aboard.