Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher benched Vince Young for the team's debut exhibition matchup, apparently after Young broke a team rule. But which team rule? Let's say the penalty fits the crime: Young must have been caught hosting professional bumfights, or sponsoring a startup Colombian drug cartel. There just can't be any truth to the rumor that Tennessee handed the Washington Redskins this easy victory because he broke curfew. Vince Young is a monster. He simply cannot be expected to be home by lights-out or to abide by any other law of man. Vince Young eats this baby? Fine, ground him. Never ever ever ever ever eat a baby, Vince Young.*
But if he did miss curfew, or devour a toddler, Fisher ought to cut him some slack. Looking back on last season—and that calls for a long, longing backward glance past the summer, which has dragged on for an agonizing 8 or 9 months now, without even a World Cup or Olympics to fill in the televised sports vacuum—Young exceeded every expectation. Back at Texas, he was the best there was at what he did, even if what he did wasn't very complicated. People always say that Young was only ever expected to give the field one read, and if that option didn't look good, he would tuck n' run. True, Texas's playbook was thin, but critics tend to overlook his phenomenal passing stats, as if the numbers don't count because he didn't arrive at them by less efficient second or third option plays. Turns out, in the NFL Young is playing all his options and the sidearm isn't any career-threatening handicap.
Here's one to watch on Dallas: Isaiah Stanback. Once he's healthy he's going to be the kind of wide receiver that people talked about when they thought about moving Vince Young away from QB. Six-foot-two, speedy, knows how to read the defense—Stanback has a shot at becoming the next Randel El. At the time I thought it was weird that Dallas drafted a QB with a messed-up foot in the fourth round, but now I get it.
* Kim Thayil is also known to eat babies.
Posted by Kriston at August 12, 2007 9:36 PMMr Young was confused because he saw a MetLife blimp and couldn't explain how it fit into the current meta-narrative to the satisfaction of Coach Fisher. Plenty of quarterbacks have been benched for less. Look for Coach Fisher to replace the entire offensive line next week by large plates of gently curved Cor-Ten steel.
Posted by: Henry at August 13, 2007 12:32 PM
