Just eleven games into Vince Young's career, he's silencing all but the most stubborn and hard-headed of his critics. His 462 yards rushing is an NFL rookie record, he's helped lead the Titans to seven wins as a starter, and he's learning all the little things that a quarterback must learn to become a complete player in the NFL.
What's got to be terrifying the rest of the league is how raw he still is. He's still sorting through reading defenses, still making some rookie mistakes, and assimilating himself with the different things that he's seeing as a professional.
That's why (almost) everyone is starting to realize that Vince Young might just wind up being the transcendent player that us crazy homer Texas folks keep clamoring about. His coach and offensive coordinator, both of whom wanted the Titans to draft Matt Leinart, are more excited and energized than they've been in ages. Listening to them talk about Vince Young, Texas fans are reminded of how Mack Brown used to talk about Vince. He's having the same revolutionary affect on his teammates, coaches, and fans in Nashville that he had on his teammates, coaches, and fans in Austin. So much so, that I find myself wanting a peek at Jeff Fisher's iPod.
I think what's been most interesting about all this - at least from my perspective - is watching the story unfold having already gone through it. We've been through the doubting his pocket passing phase. We've been through the doubting his intelligence phase. We've been through the critics that say he'll never summit the mountain.
He's not there yet, but you can count on one hand the number of Texas fans that don't believe Vince Young will win a Super Bowl - if not many Super Bowls.
But while most people think that we're crazy, what's really astounding is our level of confidence in our convictions.
Vince will do that to you.
Just you watch, NFL.
--PB--