Vince Young Unwilling to Go on Field, Then Gets Knee Injury

He was hurt on a bootleg when Jaguars linebacker Daryl Smith collided with his left leg a couple plays after Fisher had to talk to his quarterback about whether he could go back into the game. Young had thrown his helmet on the sideline after being intercepted for the second time, and he didn't have his helmet with him when the Titans got the ball back.

Backup quarterback Kerry Collins appeared to be going in, and Fisher took his headset off and talked with Young, who then pulled on his helmet and went into the game.

Fisher said the discussion only involved Young's hamstring and whether he felt physically able to return.


-----From ESPN... Tight Hamstring not hurt feelings and your bias against Titans and Vince Young is getting old... He's not a Texan get over it

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Ahmed - You obviously only hear what you want to hear. If not for Brady going down vy and his pouting on the sideline would bed a bigger story. On Mike and Mike this morning Michael Smith talked about how vy had to be talked to going back into the game before the injury.

As far as vy not being a Texan and getting over it, no prob. He is your problem, accept it. All the BOOOs that are being reported regarding his performance tells me the titans will not be getting over him anytime soon.

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Ahmed-

You can make it about me if you like. But it isn't like the Tennessean is always the most critical of the team. If they are saying that Fisher and the team are not being the most honest about this and protecting him, and maybe there is something to that. It's something that I think is news, and something I'd want to know as a fan.

The article talks about how if a player has an injury, how that is supposed to be handled. There should never be a situation where the QB just doesn't show up to the huddle.

Maybe the ESPN account is an accurate version of this. Or not. When a local article says the team is in "damage control," maybe we will never know the real truth.

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WHY IS EVERYONE SO SURPRISED?? THIS IS A TYPICAL SPOILED BRAT ATHELETE WHO LIKE ALL OTHERS BENDS OVER BACKWARDS IN COLLEGE TO GET THE BIG BUCKS AND AFTER THEY ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL OF GETTING RICH, BECOME SNOBS AND WHINERS , WHO WONT TAKE A MINUTE TO SIGN A AUTOGRAPH FOR THE VERY IDIOTS WHO PAY THEIR SALARIES, WHICH BY THE WAY ARE OUTRAGEOUS... HAVENT BEEN TO A GAME IN 15 YEARS... WONDER WHY MR .YOUNG....

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jose-

Actually, it is my experienced that most athletes are pretty gracious with the fans. And what this article says about Young is way beyond typical behavior. It isn't something you typically see quarterbacks do.

Thanks all for reading and commenting,
Steph

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Nice to see Steph is still cashing those anti-VY checks. Thanks for the post though, I'd been wondering if my clock was accurate.

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Benson, Sticky Williams ,VY drafting UT players in the first round isn't always a great bet I guess??

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Congrats, Steph! After spending the summer reading way too much into a shirtless photo at a party, you now have some REAL VY bash material! Early Christmas present much? :)

But seriously - I was just thinking about UT's possible connection to this bizarre pouting episode. I was thinking it was very possible that there was something about matriculating as a star athlete at UT that is too coddling to be adequate mental preparation for the NFL. Or is it just a weird coincidence that Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, and VY all appear to have had adjustment problems in the NFL? (You can also throw in Chris Simms - if Jon Gruden is to be believed. But that might be unfair - as being a QB for Gruden seems eerily similar to being prey for that manical Chucky doll in those movies...)

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August West-

Hey man, I just hear about a lot of the VY stuff from what part of the world I live in. I actually hope the best for him (though not so much for his team or owner). It is sad when any athlete is not living up to his potential.

So, are you happy with how Young is performing? Or his act on the sideline? Kularsky on the ESPN blog laid into him and the way the team manages him:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/0-4-46/Young-accountability-issues-need-resolution.html

"The facts are disputable, but the cover story, if that's what it is, is pretty well built. ....

But in a broader sense, the issue is Young's ability to work his way through situations where he is upset -- with himself, with his coach, with his team, and yes, even with booing fans.

As a rookie, Young held it against Fisher when the coach stuck to the team rules and had a team flight to Philadelphia leave without the quarterback when he was late for the flight.

He misplaced the anger from that situation, declining to admit he was, in fact, at fault.

And today, somehow, the bad interception to rookie defensive lineman Derrick Harvey and the cascading boos that followed it, those seemed like someone else's fault too."

I know what some Titan fans think of this, but I'd be curious on your opinion. No big deal or something to be concerned about?

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Steph, of course this past weekend showed some things to be concerned about. There wasn't a Titan fan alive who wasn't pissed at how VY pouted after the 2nd INT.

No one outside of the coaching staff has any idea if VY 'quit' on the team and didn't want to go back in the game (especially since he was on the injury report Friday for a hamstring injury), so it's kind of annoying to see these allegations repeated so flippantly throughout the NFL jurno community.

Kuharsky's post is the only thing I've read that made me take pause, but I find it a bit odd that he's bringing back an incident (the missed plane flight) he covered at the time and didn't say anything in this vein.

My previous comment was just pointing out the fact that you never write articles noting or being objective about VY's successes, they're always just tearing him down once the vague appearance of something scandalous pops-up.

You aren't covering VY or the Titans, or the AFC South, you're just covering the Texans and ritually crapping on Young. I can't think of another pairing of player and detractor here at the deteriorating Fanhouse, and that strikes me as odd.

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AW-

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this incident.

As for coverage, all NFL teams have FH writers who have primary responsibility for that team, but we can all write about any NFL stuff, and in my case, I've written about other sports as well.

I'm one of the few writers who live in the Southwest part of the country, so a lot of times I write stories that are of interest to people around these parts, like Cowboy news, other AFC South news, and just random things that interest me. Write about law things in a while. So, I am guessing that you just notice the VY stuff more. I'm a UT alum, so wherever he was going to go, I was going to pay attention to his progress, or lack thereof.

To me, he is an illustration of the difficulty of developing unconventional college quarterbacks for NFL play. Total risk-reward situation. I'm not sure that there is a blueprint for the best way of developing those quarterbacks. How do you develop a quarterback whose best college days came from not playing so strictly in a system, but rather "letting Vince be Vince?"

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Vince Young is probably the worst starting QB in the league. The Titans will be better with Collins at QB. If I were VY I'd be nervous about my future.

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Vince needs to stay on the sidelines! Go Collins! We will have a GREAT chance with you. You be da MAN. Vince pout on pout on...

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You are always negative towards Vince and the Titans and I'm glad I am not the only person who notices that. If you personally don't like the organization, you shouldn't bash them ever time Vince messes up. I don't want to make it about you but you took the Tennessean's opinion without thinking of the other possible reasons.

I do agree that Vince is having some development problems and he pouts far too much but its only his 3rd year and I would compare him to McNair's development not his amazing years at Texas like everybody does.

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Ahmed-

I actually thought I was being pretty fair to VY in talking about stuff. I gave some history and told people that this stuff was being said in the usually softball Tennessean, later giving another link to the ESPN guy saying the same thing. That they should read the entire article. But that we may not know the entire story.

Yeah, I don't like the Titans because I think their owner is a no-class, cheap, possum-headed vulgarian thief. Have nothing against their fans. Have mostly disappointment in Young because I an alum of Texas. Ricky, Ced, etc, is not pretty.

If you want people to write nicer things about Young, well then, hope that he starts playing better and not doing stupid things any more.

-Steph

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Hey Stephanie,
I know this is a little off topic, but I wanted to bring to your attention the three links below, all of which either address RJ's work and/or his appalling treatment of you. Hope it gives you an idea of the level of dissatisfaction many Houstonians feel towards this guy.

http://blog.kir.com/archives/2008/09/richard_justice_7.asp

http://blog.kir.com/archives/2007/06/why_is_richard_1.asp

http://blog.kir.com/archives/2007/11/why_is_richard_justice_analyzing_sports_part_ii.asp


Although I'm a Houston native, I've lived in a few other cities and the quality of RJ's supposed "analysis" (it's more like a combination of unsupported opinions, petty criticism, and frivolous cheerleading) compares extremely unfavourably with the most mediocre beat writers in cities like boston. That would change, however, if the Chronicle were to replace Richard Justice with you, but what are the chances of that happening (trust me,texans fans would rejoice if you were the chronicle's beat writer)?
Even before the Alex Gibbs thing, there was a sense among many people in Houston that this guy has no business being a sports writer for a major metropolitan newspaper like the Chronicle, which is the sole newspaper in the nation's fourth largest city. His awful reporting is not limited to the Texans, and extends to the Rockets too (i.e. making the bizarre claim that TMAC should be MVP; calling Les Alexander clueless for hiring Darly Morey, only to later praise Morey excessively). His reporting on the stros is not much better. Nowdays, I look to you to provide me Texans analysis and sites like bleacherreport and clutchcity.net for Rockets analysis (also, the Chronicle does not cover the Rockets as much as it should).

Best,
Andy

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Andy-

Thanks for the kind words. Judging reporting is a matter of taste. As many people who do not care for RJ's work, there many others who like it. A lot of people just take what he writes as gospel, so if you do that, it is fine.

As much as you like what I write, others might think that I blather too much. Heck, I think I blather too much.

I have no designs on RJ's job or any other. Doing regular columns/reporting is actual work work. Who wants watching football to be work? Press box is 7 stories up, my seats are 7 rows up, I have no real deadlines, I get to yell, drink some pops, and tailgate, and otherwise have fun.

Interesting points you make though.
-Steph

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Many of you just can't see or refuse to accept the truth. He is tired of the coach intentionally trying to make him look incapable of playing his position. Just like teams did with Kordell, Vick, and many other "mobile black" qb's, Fisher is trying to change VY into something he isn't. It looks like Fisher and so many other coaches are trying to destroy black qb's careers by not letting them be themselves on the field. Telling a running qb not to run and sit in the pocket while throwing ten yard passes all day is not going to win games. He's mad at Fisher for not giving him a chance to actually win a game playing his way and he sees what it is doing to his career. For further proof, just watch the play calling that is made for Collins when he is allowed to start next week. Collins is a proven loser yet he is allowed to throw 20-30 times a game and not just screen passes.

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Well said, it'll look like a different playbook when Collins takes the field. They didn't trust Steve McNair to air it out when he was here, and all he did was throw the ball in collage. Same thing with Young; you shouldn't draft a quarterback just to change his style to your offense; it should be the other way around..

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