In Vince we Trust? Not so fast

Vince Young's performance yesterday was encouraging but not the be all end all to the Titans woes. The Titans backbone showed up yesterday. Chris Johnson's 228 yard thrashing of the Jags defense proved to be one of the difference makers. The defense finally showed up and did their job. The Titans returned to power football while Vince gave them an element that only he can provide.

The consensus has been that "VY" couldn't play at the this level. We all know about Merril Hodge's assessment. Jason Whitlock has chimed in. Local media and Titans fans have taken their shots. His defenders (me included) have always thought that Fisher wasn't necessarily catering to Vince's strengths. The Titans coaching staff has repeatedly failed to develop the receiving corp that they acquired in the draft. They've missed on quite of few draft picks as well. (Chris Henry, Ty Calico and the infamous Pacman to name a few) Overpaid free agents or aging veterans couldn't get the job done either.

Some of the blame was on VY as well considering his spotty play and shoddy work ethic. The 2007 season saw him have some struggles that most young quarterbacks will have. But the fans and peanut gallery wanted more of the 06 VY than the 07 version and rightfully so. His benching was the right decision. Kerry Collins was a bright spot, leading the Titans to ten straight wins.

The fools gold in those ten straight wins was that Collins was significantly better than Young. Statically they graded out pretty close save the interceptions. Ball control offenses can't tolerate turnovers from the quarterback position. An immature quarterback coupled with an impatient fan base Now 14 months to the day of his infamous refusal to go back in the game, he managed to have a quarterback rating of 114.9 throwing for 125 on 18 pass attempts.

Now that he's answered the bell this week, how does the rest of the season play out? San Francisco has a similar style as the Jags. Frank Gore is running back and loves to punish defenses with his power running style. Mike Crabtree and Vernon Davis have become reliable targets for Alex Smith and like Vince Young, is trying to prove that he belongs in this league.

Many Titans fans believe that drafting a more "traditional" quarterback could be the catalyst to playoff glory. However the recent success of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco make many fans of losing teams believe that their early progress rest solely on their shoulders. Nothing could be further from the truth. Baltimore and Cincinnati are shining examples of how difficult it is to find the right guy at quarterback. Ryan and Flacco have great supporting cast that enable them to learn causing them to look like prodigies.

The term "franchise quarterback has been branded in our psyche as fans and media types alike. We forget that Baltimore experimented with the likes of Brooks Bolinger, Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, Steve Mcnair and Trent Dilfer before landing Flacco. Troy Smith was penciled in as the starter before going down with an injury. The Raven's Quarterback odyssey is proof positive that evaluating talent in the NFL is no exact science. I don't care what Mel Kiper or Todd Mcshay tells us. They've been wrong more times than they've been right.

Dilfer's Superbowl run also shows that a team can compete for a Superbowl without having a superstar at the quarterback position. Many forget that Doug Williams and Jay Shroeder battled for the starting job all season before Williams edged him out due to injury. Of course Williams went on to lead the Redskins to a Superbowl. The Giants had a similar quarterback controversy between Phill Simms and Jeff Hoestetler. It didn't hamper their championship run either.

Nothing special considering that the Redskins got to the promise land with Mark Rypien and Joe Theisman. The Ben Rothlisberger, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan and Mark Sanchez are statistical anomalies compared to the bust rate of first round quarterbacks. Look at the 2004 draft. Ben Rothlisberger, Phillip Rivers, JP Lossman and Eli Manning have delivered( well minus JP Lossman but three out of four ain't bad) while Alex Smith and Jason Campbell from the 2005 class have had their challenges.

Aaron Rodgers is one of the few bright spots in that 2005 quarterback class considering he fell all the way down to 24th. I bet San Fran would like to have that draft back. The 2006 class of Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler and Vince Young has produced only one playoff appearance between the three of them.

2007's class is a total bust. Jemarcus Russell is fat and overpaid while Brady Quinn can't seem to crack the lineup in Cleveland. Look at the first round picks from this decade. Trust me there's a high probability for us to strike out. IF VY washes out don't be surprised when the Titans go through the valley of Quarterbacks that can't play. Every franchise will go through it at some point. Look at Cincinnati after Boomer Eaison retired. Our best bet is to bring both Kerry and VY back next year, make them compete for the job(the spirit of competition does wonders for football teams) and draft a slew of defensive talent that can be the cornerstone for how we want to play football.

This team was obviously comfortable with having the best record in football last year. The lack of competition in camp was a mistake. I understand Jeff's commitment to his starters but blind loyalty can get a coach fired. That happens everyday in the coaching profession. VY had a great day Sunday but NFL players earn their checks every week. The greats at every position never rest on the laurels of yesterday. It's back to work for the Titans. VY had a lot of help (which he acknowledged) Sunday and will need even more as the season goes on. As always time will tell.