Is Jay Cutler and Vince Young one in the same?

Titans fans have done it again. Jay Cutler demands a trade out of Denver and automatically most in the city of Nashville are begging for the Titans to trade for Cutler. The 2006 draft saw a Quarterback class that had a reasonable amount of hype. Cutler has risen out of the ashes of this hype considering the productive season that he had in Denver last year.

4500 yards, 25 touchdown passes, and 18 interceptions is tops in his draft class. Leinart didn't even get off the bench while Young refused to go back into a game which led to him losing his job. Statistically it would appear that Cutler was the safer bet. Kellen Clemmens looked terrible in the few starts he's gotten. Tavarius Jackson has looked lost in most of his starts.

It appeared that the pendulum of the term bust was swinging in the direction of Nashville until Mike Shanahan got fired. What does Shanahan have to do with Young being a bust? Everything. Systems can make players and players ultimately make systems. Cutler benefited from playing in a system that would feature his strengths.

Young hasn't. I don't believe that the Titans coaching staff is totally responsible for the underachievement of Vince Young but they share a huge piece of the blame. Why draft a guy that is a dual threat but never allow him to return to the form of his rookie year and use his intangibles that made him a star in college? 104.5 the zone co-host Frank Wycheck along with many of Young's critics believe that Vince should play the style that landed him on the cover of Madden. (I believe that Madden curse is true)

The style of play that prematurely allowed Vince to look like the right draft decision over Leinart and Cutler was abandoned in year two. He also had to adjust to another offensive coordinator after Norm Chow became the scapegoat for the titans long time offensive philosophy. ( This was Young's first full season as a starter) He did struggle with where to throw the ball but he didn't totally setback the team in the win column. 18 interceptions isn't becoming of a starter in the NFL but it is a correctable flaw if the player and coaching staff are willing to put in the work. That includes developing and bringing in an above average receiving corp.

Kerry Collins is a steady veteran but his completion percentage was just 58% in 2008. Ironically most of Young's critics have lamented over how inaccurate Young was his first year though he completed 61 percent of his passes. Never mind that some of the balls that he threw to his receivers were dropped. Sure he threw some bad balls but that's to be expected. Even Kurt Warner is susceptible to throw picks or to miss time a route. Bad throws are inevitable at the highest level of football considering the talent of defenses and the speed of the game.

What's more shocking is that if you ask John Q analyst in the media or John Q titans fan who's the most accurate Quarterback they probably will say Collins. Young's second year saw him complete 62 percent of his passes. This is an incremental improvement for a young Quarterback with suspect talent in his receiving corp. Collins for his career has a completion percentage of 55.7 percent. In the words of Arsenio Hall, these are "things that make you go hmm...."

So what makes Cutler and Young the same guy? Certainly not their production on the field. Cutler has shown an affinity for spouting off some dumb comments. So has Vince. Confiding in a reporter about contemplating retirement only made guys like Merrill Hodge and Jason Whitlock look like prophets. Cutler's proclamation of having a stronger arm than Elway made his degree from Vandy look suspect.

The calling card for both of these guys is there maturity. The question that fans should ask themselves is whether or not Cutler would play nice here in Nashville. Would he demand that Heimerdinger and Fisher feature his arm more? How would he react when Fisher didn't honor his request? Would the titans abandon the running game and upgrade their receiving corp?. The answer is no.. So its probably a safe bet that Cutler would whine here in Nashville to.

Fisher is a crafty veteran coach. He hasn't survived the coaching rat race of the NFL by succumbing to the pressure from an irrational fan base. He had the guts to challenge Vince Young to become a student of the game. He also let it be known that Kerry would start until they started to lose or needed a spark. In a statement released by his agent Major Adams, Young expressed a positive "smoke signal" that seemed as though he would welcome the challenge.

Apparently he's taken a page from his classmate. Cutler met with his bosses with his agent present. Why can't both of them handle team business like grown men? Agents should only be involved when money is being discussed. Young should've made that proclamation via an interview by someone from the mother ship(ESPN or national media) or in the Nashville local media. Cutler is basically threatening to sit out of mini camps if he isn't traded. Young is at least communicated through a third party that he's rededicated himself to the game and poised to win his job back but I'll believe it when I see it.

Third party communication is only one of his sins. Neither guy is particularly fond of the media. Young has shown some emotional instability which is common in a sports league as high pressure as the NFL. (Why do you think some players are drug users, Cue up Matt Jones) I don't think we give enough credence to the mental health of athletes given the pressure that the sports public puts on them.

So why would our fan base and color analyst for Titans radio flirt with the idea of bringing Cutler in?. There are certain obvious reasons but this situation does reak of the same junk that Mcnair went through. Neil O"Donnell was believed by some in the media to the better option at starter for the Titans. In fairness to Frank he profusely expressed that the titans should take Cutler originally but the criticism of Mcnair and Young has a more sinister feel to it.

That's not to say neither are above criticism. However Mcnabb told James Brown in his interview with real sports that the "black quarterback" gets a premium of scrutiny in the case of their evaluation in the media. Hindsight is 20/20 but he was right. If Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham and Doug Williams fail then the Mcnabb's, Mcnair's and Jeff Blake's get no shot in the NFL. When a Ryan Leaf fails in the NFL a bad team will still take a Tim Couch. White Quarterbacks are poked a prodded as well. They are compared to their white peers only in regards to whether or not they can play.

"Black Quarterbacks" are poked and prodded as well but I bet you that John Elway was never asked the question " how long have you been a white quarterback". I bet
Phil Simms was never told by a white supremacist to play like a "white quarterback". ( Doug Williams was asked this question before the 1988 Superbowl and a member of the NAACP once called out Mcnabb to play like a black quarterback)

Pat White's success and evaluation will be tied to Mike Vick instead of the universal class of dual threats that have been both black and white. In other words media and fans alike show a huge disparity in comparing players across racial lines because of age old prejudice that exist. This prejudice isn't exclusive to white analyst for the record.

This isn't being discussed. I will contend that "race" isn't why Vince isn't starting. That's not the point of the last few paragraphs. However it is my mission to point out the complex bias of our fan base both nationally and here in Nashville. When Chad Johnson demanded a trade people gave him a lot of stink. Cutler has gotten hammered but not to the way Johnson was. Young does have the same right to demand a trade. So does Leinart but they haven't. At least not yet..

The NFL stands for Not for Long. Anything is possible on a given day. Both Cutler and Young can stand to take a page from the late round picks who aren't heralded. We all know the types. Those who are just happy to get invited to camp but ultimately get cut. Then you have the Ahmad Hall's and Kurt Warner's of the world. These guys relish the opportunity to play in this league. They make their rosters and help teams while they ultimately over achieve.

Both players must learn to adjust to the total challenge of playing in the NFL. No one owes them anything. Teams only value players until they think they can do better. Arizona, Tennessee and Denver did what everyone else is doing in the league. The immediate splash of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco will further shorten the time that young quarterbacks will get to develop in the NFL.

So by that estimation Cutler and Young are the same guy. Sadly the sports world will continue to show bias in a profession that touts its objectivity. We should expect fans to be loony. The word fan is short for fanatical. Fanatics are more prone to make irrational statements which leads to ridiculous conversations. Objectivity in our fan bases would be nice but it doesn't make for good sports radio or our water cooler conversations that are entertaining. So much for that pipe dream.