Vince Young: Why The Hate?

What exactly has Vince Young done to receive all the hate over the past year? Is it the fact that he’s quite possibly the best 2 minute QB in the NFL? Or is it that he has a winning record, despite the fact that in 2006 and 2007 he played with team that had maybe 3-13 to 4-12 talent, yet led them to 8-8 and 10-6 respectively?
When looking at what I just said, you probably will respond with, ” Well, look at his numbers “. Okay, fine. Fair point. Let’s also look at Steve Young, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Dan Fouts, Otto Graham, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, George Blanda and Warren Moon (These are just the QBs I thought of off of the top of my head, and I’m sure there are plenty more).
Please, tell me what their numbers were in their first 2 seasons? Exactly, barely better than VY, if not worse. I’ve not read up on their records during their first 2 years either, but I’ll bet they didn’t put up more wins than VY did.
Okay, now you want to say, ” His mental state is horrible. ” Mmkay. I’d be willing to say a good 90-95% of people who are at least 18 have had a point in their life where nothing went their way and they just wanted to give up. Hell, most NFL players have the same feelings, but it just doesn’t get out. I don’t know what waterboy on the team let this out, but it was unfortunate for VY.
Something no one ever bothers to look at is the team around him. Please, tell me one person that wasn’t on our defense that you’d take in 2007. Rob Bironas is probably it. And hell, all he had in 2006 was Drew Bennett and Travis Henry, but that was taken away in 07( Don’t ask me who made that wonderful decision ). Do you expect him to put up Peyton Manning numbers with a supporting cast of LenDale White, Justin Gage, Eric Moulds and Ben Troupe? Do you even know who those players are? Seriously? LenDale White only became known this year because he shared carries with Chris Johnson.
Well, those were the players he was surrounded with. You could put Peyton Manning at QB and I wouldn’t expect any better than 11-5. Another thing no one notices is Who he had as a mentor before this year? Kerry Collins started off winless in 2006, so it certainly wasn’t him. He was thrown in to the starting position. Outside of this year, he’s had no one to help him learn the QB position. Norm Chow trying to throw him in to a drop-back passer role certainly didn’t help either, as he clearly isn’t yet. If you’ve ever seen me defend Vince Young, this is something you see me bring up quite often, and rightfully so.
You look at VY’s 2006 game tapes, and you’ll see that he was basically allowed to call the plays he wanted. He was able to run a lot of roll-out type plays, in which he was EXTREMELY successful in doing. With the firing of Norm Chow and bringing in Mike Heimerdinger, it should return to that way when he earns the starting job again. If Collins taught VY anything this year, it’s how to deal with mistakes, and not let criticism get to you. Vince Young has already talked to Fisher about how he could earn his job back. I believe the key part in that is the wording. He didn’t say how he could he get his starting job back, it’s how he could earn it.
He has the right mindset, and with the extremely explosive Chris Johnson in the backfield, along with hoping we get another play-maker in the upcoming draft, VY has a great chance of becoming the starter. My personal prediction is he will be the starting come the season opener against Pittsburgh. It should be fun to watch his progress over off-season.





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