End of a Young Era

A Titan no more.

The Tennessee Titans  have announced that the team will not be bringing back quarterback Vince Young, which is about damn time.  It all came down to the Titans’ owner, Bud Adams, contemplating on who to keep; Vince Young or head coach, Jeff Fisher.   Personally, I think this was a no-brainer.  I would have my chips with Fisher all the way.  Young brings too many issues and distractions to the Titans.  The Titans, at one point this season, were legitimate playoff contenders, but Young’s inability to handle pressure crumbled this team.

One of the best Rose Bowl performances of all time.

Coming out of college, Vince Young was a top quarterback.  Hell, he is one of the best college quarterbacks I have seen to step the field.   The two Rose Bowl performances he put on were remarkable.  The National Championship game against USC was the best performance from a quarterback I have ever seen.  Young nearly put up 500 total yards on his own, that is just unheard of, especially in the title game.   This kid was simply on top of the world.

So what went wrong?  A lot…….

Regardless of what people think, Vince Young has all the tools and physical attributes to become a franchise quarterback.  He has the athleticism, height, and arm strength that most quarterbacks wish they possessed, but the problem was his ability to mature into the quarterback position.  Many coaches described his work ethic as “lazy” and as a quarterback that isn’t acceptable.  As a quarterback you have to be a leader and being lazy definitely doesn’t help your purpose.  Do you think Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are lazy?  I sure don’t.  The quarterback position all starts in the classroom; one must study film constantly and work on the little things.  Since Vince Young stepped into this league, his footwork hasn’t improved at all nor has his throwing motion.   The dude still can’t even read simple zone coverages.  I can find high school quarterbacks that can recognize coverages better than he can. You figure if you were drafted to become the franchise quarterback for your team that you would work to get better, but Young hasn’t shown half the effort compared to other quarterbacks in the league.  Instead, he would rather start fights at strip clubs.

Party on!

The biggest problem, I see, in Young is his inability to handle adversity and pressure.  In my opinion this all started from college.  Throughout most of his football career, Vince Young was labeled as the “greatest thing ever” since of his accomplishments in college.   Now, he is being told that he isn’t good enough and has gotten benched, he hasn’t taken it professionally.  At the University of Texas, Young was given all the freedom; especially when your head coach is Mack Brown.  During his collegiate days, Young never really faced adversity.  He basically had everything handed to him because of his god-given athleticism.  This isn’t going to cut it in the NFL.  In this league, you must handle adversity both on and off the field.  Young simply can’t handle this league.  Prior to this season, Young was supposedly having mental issues even resulting to suicide rumors.  Is that really what you want out of your quarterback?  Even this season, after getting injured and benched, Young decides to lash out on his coach and even gave up on his team.  He ended up throwing his pads into the stands.  That right there isn’t acceptable from all perspectives.  If it were up to me, I would have cut his a## that day.   Although Vince Young has talent, he simply doesn’t have the mentality NFL quarterbacks must possess.

What’s next for VY?

Injuries have hampered Young as well.

That is a good question.   The only place I can see Young going to is the Arizona Cardinals at this point.  Young is set to be released soon since the Titans aren’t willing to pay his $4.25 mil roster bonus in March, and I highly doubt the Titans will get any trade value out of him.  The Cardinals basically have no quarterback at this point.  John Skelton?  Max Hall? Give me a break.  Neither are franchise quality quarterbacks.   The Cardinals defense and special teams virtually kept them in games.  That would be the best bet for him to land another starting gig in this league.  Some may say the San Francisco 49ers or Miami Dolphins, but I would take Alex Smith or Chad Henne over Vince Young in a heart beat.  I would even take Troy Smith over the guy.  He may even have to settle as a backup if he wants to stay in the NFL.  Honestly, if I was an owner or general manager of a team, I would definitely not want a guy like him on my team.  A quarterback who gives up on his team and lashes out on his head coach is a big NO NO.  I would not be surprised if Young wasn’t part of this league after this season.  The predicament he has put himself into is going to be tough to get out.  Perhaps, Vince and JaMarcus can join the UFL together!

What do you think?  Would you want Vince Young as your franchise quarterback?   Will he even make a NFL roster next season?

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OROY: Sam Bradford’s Case

NFC West Champion?

Sam Bradford was set up for failure this season. He came to the St Louis Rams as the number 1 pick overall after spending the majority of his junior season at Oklahoma injured and unable to play all but 4 games. He also went to a Rams team that allowed the 7th most sacks in 2009, had a veteran QB mentoring him who hadn’t thrown a pass since 2007, and who’s leading receiver from the previous season recorded only 589 receiving yards and was already out for the 2010 season. Despite all the odds being stacked against him, Sam Bradford has found a way to take St Louis from the 29th worst passing offense to 19th this season and also help get the Rams within 1 win of the playoffs. The interesting thing is barely anything has changed on offense; Roger Saffold is the only other new starter on offense who’s been starting all season long. With the exception of Mark Clayton and Danario Alexander (both have played 5 games each), Bradford has had to make do with the same receiving targets as last year. With the exception of Danny Amendola who’s a Wes Welker clone, I have a hard time believing that any the St Louis receivers would be any better than the 4th receivers on any other team in the NFL. When you look at Bradford’s numbers, they aren’t anything special. His yards per attempt is below average at 6.1 YPA and his QB rating is mediocre at 78. However, what I’ve been most impressed with is he’s been able to limit his turnovers despite having thrown the 3rd most passes this season. Most of the time whenever a QB starts throwing over 30 passes a game, they get sloppy and make mistakes. Couple this with the fact that most rookie QBs have high INT numbers their first season and you’d expect Bradford to have more than 14 INTs. It’s actually not bad when you consider how many passes he’s thrown too. Right now he averages an interception every 39.6 attempts. The last rookie QB to post a better number than that was Charlie Batch in1998 and he didn’t start every game. Not even Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, or Peyton Manning had a better interception per attempts ratio. While Mike Williams should definitely be in the discussion for offensive rookie of the year after his solid season, no player has succeeded with less or been put in a worse position than Sam Bradford. Despite all this, he’s found a way to win and get it done with much less than most teams have. Bradford should have no problems winning offensive rookie of the year and rightfully so.

 

OROY: Mike Williams’ Case

OROY: Sam Bradford's Case

NFC West Champion?

Sam Bradford was set up for failure this season. He came to the St Louis Rams as the number 1 pick overall after spending the majority of his junior season at Oklahoma injured and unable to play all but 4 games. He also went to a Rams team that allowed the 7th most sacks in 2009, had a veteran QB mentoring him who hadn’t thrown a pass since 2007, and who’s leading receiver from the previous season recorded only 589 receiving yards and was already out for the 2010 season. Despite all the odds being stacked against him, Sam Bradford has found a way to take St Louis from the 29th worst passing offense to 19th this season and also help get the Rams within 1 win of the playoffs. The interesting thing is barely anything has changed on offense; Roger Saffold is the only other new starter on offense who’s been starting all season long. With the exception of Mark Clayton and Danario Alexander (both have played 5 games each), Bradford has had to make do with the same receiving targets as last year. With the exception of Danny Amendola who’s a Wes Welker clone, I have a hard time believing that any the St Louis receivers would be any better than the 4th receivers on any other team in the NFL. When you look at Bradford’s numbers, they aren’t anything special. His yards per attempt is below average at 6.1 YPA and his QB rating is mediocre at 78. However, what I’ve been most impressed with is he’s been able to limit his turnovers despite having thrown the 3rd most passes this season. Most of the time whenever a QB starts throwing over 30 passes a game, they get sloppy and make mistakes. Couple this with the fact that most rookie QBs have high INT numbers their first season and you’d expect Bradford to have more than 14 INTs. It’s actually not bad when you consider how many passes he’s thrown too. Right now he averages an interception every 39.6 attempts. The last rookie QB to post a better number than that was Charlie Batch in1998 and he didn’t start every game. Not even Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, or Peyton Manning had a better interception per attempts ratio. While Mike Williams should definitely be in the discussion for offensive rookie of the year after his solid season, no player has succeeded with less or been put in a worse position than Sam Bradford. Despite all this, he’s found a way to win and get it done with much less than most teams have. Bradford should have no problems winning offensive rookie of the year and rightfully so.

 

OROY: Mike Williams’ Case

OROY: Mike Williams’ Case

Everywhere you look, most experts and media claim that the OROY has been a lock to Sam Bradford, but quite frankly, I disagree.  Even though the frontrunner, Bradford, has had an outstanding year, Mike Williams deserves some serious recognition.  As a rookie, Williams has become a favorite target (122) for second year quarterback, Josh Freeman.  In his first year, Williams currently leads the Bucs’ in touchdowns (10) and receiving yards (924), and is second on the team in catches (61).  Not many people across the nation, including many Buccaneer fans, expected this sort of production out of Williams.  For starters, he was the second receiver taken off the board (4^th round) by Tampa in the 2010 NFL Draft, behind Arrelious Benn (2^nd round).  In addition to improving Tampa’s pass offense, Williams has helped Tampa become a playoff contender this season, after a disappointing 4-12 season in 2009-10.  In my opinion, a quarterback being more high-profiled has been one of the factors why Williams has been written off in the OROY race.  But, if you look into some key numbers, some can argue that Williams has had just as good a season, if not better, than Bradford.  Bradford is currently ranked 24^th in quarterback rating (78.0), behind the poor Alex Smith.  He has also only thrown 18 touchdown passes thus far (18^th in the league) despite being third in the league in pass attempts, only trailing Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.  Bradford has had many opportunities to let the ball fly, yet he isn’t in the top ten in either touchdown passes or passing yards.  Mike Williams, on the other hand, squeezed the most out of his opportunities.  Williams is currently tied for 5^th in the league for touchdown receptions (10) and is 20^th in yards.  He is getting a lot of production despite Tampa’s run-first offense.  Josh Freeman’s is ranked 15^th in the NFL in pass attempts, resulting in fewer chances for Williams to make big plays.  Even though Bradford has had the 3^rd most pass attempts in the league, the Rams only average about 209 passing yards a game which is nearly equal to the Buccaneers.  Bradford is averaging only about 6.06 yards per attempt which is second lowest in the league behind Jimmy Clausen.   With that many attempts you think he would do a little better, especially when you play in the worst division in football.  Not a single team in the NFC West has a winning record.  Hell, the Rams haven’t even beaten a single playoff team this entire season. I’m not saying Mike Williams is going to win OROY, but I really do believe, he deserves a serious look.  Either way, you can’t go wrong with Williams or Bradford.

 

OROY: Sam Bradford’s Case

OROY: Mike Williams' Case

Everywhere you look, most experts and media claim that the OROY has been a lock to Sam Bradford, but quite frankly, I disagree.  Even though the frontrunner, Bradford, has had an outstanding year, Mike Williams deserves some serious recognition.  As a rookie, Williams has become a favorite target (122) for second year quarterback, Josh Freeman.  In his first year, Williams currently leads the Bucs’ in touchdowns (10) and receiving yards (924), and is second on the team in catches (61).  Not many people across the nation, including many Buccaneer fans, expected this sort of production out of Williams.  For starters, he was the second receiver taken off the board (4^th round) by Tampa in the 2010 NFL Draft, behind Arrelious Benn (2^nd round).  In addition to improving Tampa’s pass offense, Williams has helped Tampa become a playoff contender this season, after a disappointing 4-12 season in 2009-10.  In my opinion, a quarterback being more high-profiled has been one of the factors why Williams has been written off in the OROY race.  But, if you look into some key numbers, some can argue that Williams has had just as good a season, if not better, than Bradford.  Bradford is currently ranked 24^th in quarterback rating (78.0), behind the poor Alex Smith.  He has also only thrown 18 touchdown passes thus far (18^th in the league) despite being third in the league in pass attempts, only trailing Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.  Bradford has had many opportunities to let the ball fly, yet he isn’t in the top ten in either touchdown passes or passing yards.  Mike Williams, on the other hand, squeezed the most out of his opportunities.  Williams is currently tied for 5^th in the league for touchdown receptions (10) and is 20^th in yards.  He is getting a lot of production despite Tampa’s run-first offense.  Josh Freeman’s is ranked 15^th in the NFL in pass attempts, resulting in fewer chances for Williams to make big plays.  Even though Bradford has had the 3^rd most pass attempts in the league, the Rams only average about 209 passing yards a game which is nearly equal to the Buccaneers.  Bradford is averaging only about 6.06 yards per attempt which is second lowest in the league behind Jimmy Clausen.   With that many attempts you think he would do a little better, especially when you play in the worst division in football.  Not a single team in the NFC West has a winning record.  Hell, the Rams haven’t even beaten a single playoff team this entire season. I’m not saying Mike Williams is going to win OROY, but I really do believe, he deserves a serious look.  Either way, you can’t go wrong with Williams or Bradford.

 

OROY: Sam Bradford’s Case

Quarterback tryouts for the Carolina Panthers?

REPORT: The Carolina Panthers are expected to be auditioning quarterbacks next week.

No, not really. But they ought to.

On the right: Brian St. Pierre on the sidelines, a place he has been throughout most of his career.

Today, the Panthers announced recently signed Brian St. Pierre as their starting quarterback for this Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens due to Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen being sidelined by injuries.  Who? For those of you who don’t know (and I can’t blame you), St. Pierre was a fifth round pick in 2003 by the Steelers out of Boston College.  In his 7 year NFL stint, St. Pierre is 2 of 5 for 12 yards (1 TD; 1 INT) with three different teams.  OUCH!  What’s even worse is Brian hasn’t been in the league since the end of the 2009 season.  He wasn’t even at a training camp this summer.  Until signing with the Panthers early this week, he has been a stay-home dad.   Talk about a quarterback mess; this situation is even worse than Miami’s. Why isn’t Tony Pike starting is what I want to know?  He may be a rookie lacking NFL experience, but when your season is already over, what do you have to lose?  We all know Matt Moore isn’t coming back next season and Brian St. Pierre isn’t the future, so why not throw in Pike?  Get him some NFL experience; it’s not like St. Pierre has that much real game-time experience over Pike.  Either way, I think this is a bad decision by head coach, John Fox.  There are better free agents available and you go with St. Pierre.  Are you joking me?  What’s even sadder is Darin Gantt of the Rock Hill Herald stated “This is not a joke,” when he first reported the news.

All I know is that, if my coaching job was on the line this season, I would definitely not want Brian St. Pierre as my starting quarterback.

Under Appreciated

Let me introduce you to the best quarterback in college football, Kellen Moore of Boise State.  Yeah, I said it.  Kellen Moore.  As a redshirt freshman (2008-2009), this kid racked up 29 touchdowns to 10 picks, which isn’t too shabby, and led the Broncos to the Western Athletic Conference title.  The Broncos finished 12-1 with their only loss to TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl.   He ended up setting a new NCAA season record of having the highest passing percentage by a freshman with 69.4 percent. Moore showed that he was going to be something special.

In the 2009-2010 season, Kellen Moore improved drastically.  Boise State went undefeated (14-0), getting revenge on TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.  Moore put up some mind boggling numbers that season, finishing with 39 touchdowns to only 3 picks.  That has got to be one of the best touchdown-interception ratios I have ever seen.  (Hell, I can’t even do that in a season in NCAA ’10.)    Moore was second in touchdown passes to Houston’s Case Keenum (44) that season.  A key stat to look at is pass attempts to touchdowns.  Moore had 39 touchdowns in 431 pass attempts.  Compare that to Keenum’s 44 touchdown passes in 700 pass attempts.  Even Heisman finalist Colt McCoy (Texas) wasn’t as efficient.  McCoy only had 27 touchdowns in 470 pass attempts.  What is even more amazing is that Moore was only sacked five times all season.  I don’t care even if you have the best O-line in the nation, that’s something most quarterbacks still can’t do.  McCoy was sacked 30 times!  It is complete bullshit how he got snubbed as a Heisman Finalist.  I think I know what you’re wondering…let me guess.

It’s because he plays for the WAC!  Yes, the major BCS conferences have better talented teams, but the small conferences aren’t pushovers anymore.  Just ask LeGarrette Blount.  It doesn’t matter who you are playing, as a quarterback it’s not easy being successful in every game.  Hell, there aren’t a lot of quarterbacks in general that can go 26-1 in their first two-years as a starter.  Moore has proven his ability to win big games.

We all know Kellen Moore isn’t our prototypical NFL franchise quarterback.  He isn’t 6’7 ft with a rocket arm like Ryan Mallet.   Moore lacks the physical attributes like size (6’ ft), arm strength and athleticism.  He isn’t that kind of guy that’s going to take off for a 50 yard scramble.  What Moore has that other quarterbacks don’t is football IQ.  One of the reasons for his ridiculously good touchdown-interception ratio and low sacks is because of his ability to read defenses.  His football knowledge gives him the ability to make quick decisions and get rid of the ball quick.  He has what I like to call “swagger.”  This is why he was 39:3 with only 5 sacks.  Moore uses his mental attributes to overtake the lack of his physical attributes.

The reason why Moore can read coverages and exploit them are because of what he does off the field.  Moore’s preparation for the game is excellent.  “Kellen’s life is football,” said former Broncos WR, Austin Pettis.  Kellen watches games all the time or is always in the film room. Even when Moore redshirted, he was in the film room focused as if he was already the starter.  His knowledge and passion for football has elevated his game to a whole new level.

Kellen Moore is the best quarterback in college football.  He will have another huge season this year. Mark your calendars down for Sept. 6.  It will be another huge test for Moore in Week One of the 2010 season as Boise State will face ACC power Virginia Tech.  And he will lead Boise State onto FedEx Field and they WILL come out victorious.