After sifting through people’s opinions on the internet of Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans, I’m obliged to forge my thoughts on that at hand, with a cue in of quotes that I’ve seen people make (disclosed in italics) that I will reply to here on my blog.
he doesn’t just win. his team just wins. Titans had one of the “worst” defenses the first half of the 2006 season… then, they turned things around and won a bunch of games. The result? It was clear in 2007 that the Titans D was one of the best in the league.
Either things started clicking halfway through the 2006 season (which would explain their winning streak), or the Titans suddenly went from one of the worst to one of the best defenses in a single offseason. Which sounds logical? Yet people give Vince the credit because of 1-2 plays in 1-2 games.
Yes, the Titans did have a terrible defense in the first half of the 2006 season (and the whole season, there was very little pressure from the d-line) as well as a terrible quarterback — known as Kerry Collins — starting. Things started clicking once Vince Young came into the starting lineup. He brought the whole morale of the team up and actually played pretty freakin well for a rookie QB. He was accurate and used his legs to his advantage. He threw his share of INTs, yes, but his passing in his rookie year was actually better than the 2007 season, in my opinion.
Vince deserves the credit because of this. When the defense gave up 21 points in the first three quarters of the Giants game, Vince led the 21-point comeback (while, yes, the defense tightened) and was involved on all three of the Titans’ touchdowns. He also played well in the second Texans game and won the game in overtime for them. Where was their D that game? Their defense also lost them some games where Vince was playing well. The D gave up a 19 point 2nd half lead to the Ravens and totally cracked against the Colts in Week 5.
In reality, the Titans are one of the lowest drop-ball teams in the league. And on a pass-per-drop ratio, middle of the pack. New receivers are not the problem for Vince. Vince is the problem with Vince. He needs to get better. He did that last year with his accuracy, but he needs to go a long way in his reads and decision making.
When the game is on the line, Vince will always trust his legs over his arm, even when it’s not the logical decision at the time. Until he gets over that response, he’s going to struggle.
While the wide outs’ hands get more hate than deserved, they are all extremely inconsistent and disappear from games. In addition to that, none get really good seperation or really play with a mean streak/passion (besides Justin Gage). Injuries are also an issue, as Brandon Jones (who I still think is the team’s best receiver) was hurt. Norm Chow’s gameplans also did not allow Vince to ever really make a strong connection with any of the wideouts, as it seemed that every week a new guy would be the main target. While I agree that Vince does have a ways to go in the passing department, he was not getting much help from his teammates.
The second part of this quote is just wrong. If you saw Vince play on any non-primetime game this year, you would have seen him sitting in the pocket waiting for a man to get open. Fifty percent (50%) of this blame goes on him for trying to prove all the doubters of his arm wrong, but the other half goes to the USC-alum HC in Fisher, and our ex-OC from USC, Norm Chow. They arent playing with Matt here, now, y’know?
In 2007, the team was pretty different from the 2006 one. The defense was the only reason that they were in the playoffs this year, along with the running of LenDale White. On D, they finally got to the quarterback and made some plays with turnovers. They will never win a playoff game with this team though, because Jim Schwartz is the defensive coordinator. If you saw the Chargers game, you would have seen a soft zone the entire second half. This is the defense Jim goes into when they have a lead. Their linebackers aren’t that great in coverage, so that is Strike 1, and they only had one player in the secondary who can play zone decently in Harper. Having a rookie in Michael Griffin and first year starters in Calvin Lowry and Cortland Finnegan playing zone was just a mistake. Schwartz is the reason that this team will never be considered a great D, because of his passive playcalling.
On offense, they were a mess. This is how I figure how the blame should be distributed — 60% Vince, 30% Norm Chow, and 10% on the receivers. Vince was just awful this year. He kept trying to throw the deep fade route, he stood in the pocket, and he threw too many picks. He would stare down receivers, not evade pressure, and throw the ball into double or triple coverage. I blame this on his desire to shut up haters, though. Hopefully with the recent hiring of Mike Heimerdinger as OC, he will get in Vince’s face and tell him to focus on football and not ESPN. Chow was awful, too, this year. His playcalling was ridiculously predictable, especially in the redzone. Over and over the Titans would run, run, pass, and punt their way to a 10 point total. He encouraged Vince to stay in the pocket, and created bizarre gameplans with elementary plays. Vince might not be an A+ student, but he isnt football dumb. Chow’s plays put all the receiving options on one side of the field quite often, thus making it harder for Vince to make a throw. The receivers, as stated before, just could not get open and none have real chemistry with Vince. This needs to change this offseason.
I hope this helped people’s confusion about the 2007 Tennessee Titans.
