Not everyone agrees with the decision by the Titans to bench quarterback Kerry Collins and dust off Vince Young. The best quarterback in the history of the Titans/Oilers franchise, Hall of Famer Warren Moon, definitely agrees.
Moon recently visited with our old pal Dino Costa of Mad Dog Radio on Sirius, and Moon shared his views regarding the switch.
"They need to go ahead and make that change," Moon said. "Their season is pretty much over with at 0-6 and he's a guy they drafted as the third pick overall in the draft four years ago to be their starter. He came in as their starter, got hurt last year, Kerry Collins comes in and does a great job, and Vince Young had some problems off the field that hopefully he's gotten straightened out.
"But, I think they have to look and see what they have with this guy because they'll probably have another high round [draft] pick this year, and they want to figure out do they need to go after a quarterback or is Vince Young going to be the guy that leads them to the future?"
Moon is right. But the resistance by coach Jeff Fisher strongly suggests that Fisher doesn't believe in Young -- and that Fisher possibly fears the Titans won't win a game with Young under center.
Fisher also knows that, if the Titans don't win a game all year, he can count on two things: (1) he will be fired; and (2) there's no way any other NFL team could justify hiring him to be a head coach with the Marinelli taint of 0-16.
Warren Moon agrees with move back to Vince Young
Posted by Mike Florio on October 30, 2009 9:27 PM ET
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Warren Moon= Glug glug vroom vroom.
Maybe it's because Fisher knows that Young lost the locker room with his head case act?????
I wish the league would have given Houston the same deal as they did Cleveland. I miss the old Houston Oilers. Used to hate them when Moon played there, but those were some good teams.
It doesn't matter who they play at QB. Young isn't the answer and neither is Collins. IMO, you can count on 2 of the 3 being gone, maybe even all 3 come seasons end: either Vince & Fisher are gone, Collins & Fisher are gone, or heck even Young,Collins, and Fisher are all gone. Go ahead Bud, do yourself another favor and draft Colt McCoy, another UT QB. Perhaps you'll be more successful the 2nd time around? We know how you like to try and stick it to Houston/the State of Texas. Hope all works out!?
GoBrowns19
Did anyone actually stop Houston from using the "Oiler" name and unis? Tennessee wasn't using them when the Texans entered the league. Do they still have some sort of a trademark on the brand?
Since the year 1994, when Jeff Fisher began coaching the Titans/Oilers, Vince Young has one championship and Jeff Fisher has zero championships.
Now it is 2009 and Vince Young has no confidence, and Jeff Fisher still has his job.
As someone who sympathizes with the Titans franchise, I don't know if the owner or coach is to blame. What I do know is that Jeff Fisher took a player who has elite talent and has absolutely wrecked his confidence, and apparently done little to help him improve.
Please let Vince go to some other team. The Titans don't deserve Vince's elite level of talent anymore.
Now let's say Young, not having been properly trained by an NFL coach, is not able to get any wins this year. The Titans go 0-16. Fisher is out of a head coaching job permanently.
That is good.
Even without the mishandling of Vince Young, Fisher not producing a Super Bowl trophy since 1994 should get him fired.
Maybe the Titans owner should take a long, hard look in the mirror. It starts at the top.
Sure Florio, NOBODY will hire Jeff Fisher. For someone who lives and breathes NFL, you sure make some dumb observations.
As a Redskins fan I would welcome him with open arms only if he fires Venny. Bugg eyes has to go and the midget needs to step back. My team is a disgrace :(.
funny how fisher wasn't desroying young in his first 2 years.the guy quit on his team and that is fishers fault?he is no different now than he when he quit.he is already whining about how if they don't win it's his fault.that says all you need to know about him,ready to take the credit if they win but it won't be his fault if they lose.sorry vince you already are a loser although a very rich one.
Jeff Fisher is in a crap hole of a position, with not a lot of good outs.
If Vince comes in and they lose out he is screwed. (See John Gruden, strange how is name is only mentioned for college jobs, no matter how hard he auditions every monday night.)
If Vince comes in and they win 5 or 6 games, Fisher looks like an idiot because everyone knows he doesn't want Vince Young in there.
His best case scenario is for VY to win one ugly game then turn an ankle, have Collins come back in win 1 and then VY returns and the lose out. Even that doesn't do much for a coach whose team went 13-3 the year before.
I think he is a good coach and perhaps he and the Titans both need a change of scenery. For both their sakes I hope they get it.
They should just go back to Warren Moon.
He's better than Vince Young, and younger than Kerry Collins.
Vince Young didn't behave abnormally when he played for Mack Brown.
I thought Jeff Fisher was supposed to be a good coach.
The first job of a good coach is: do not drive your star players bonkers.
Thank you.
Jeff Fisher need not worry about being unemployed too long if Tennessee goes another direction. There are three to six teams that would love to have him right now. He will be able to pick and choose the team that has an owner that is the least Bud Adams like and do quite well for himself and the organization he opts for.
gosox2673 said: "Did anyone actually stop Houston from using the "Oiler" name and unis? Tennessee wasn't using them when the Texans entered the league. Do they still have some sort of a trademark on the brand?"
It has little to do with trademark. When the Oilers moved, they were still the same franchise, and still owned all the names and logos they ever had. This is very typical. The Browns deal was a rare exception, in that the NFL said that the Modell-owned team could move, but the "Browns" name and all their records stay in Cleveland, essentially making the Ravens a brand-new franchise. So whoever had the most rushing yards in the Raven's first season had the best-ever rushing season in their history.
Which makes me wonder how Tennessee got permission to call themselves the Titans, since the New York Jets franchise was originally the New York Titans. Maybe because they were an AFL team at the time?
leatherneck stupidly said: "As someone who sympathizes with the Titans franchise, I don't know if the owner or coach is to blame. What I do know is that Jeff Fisher took a player who has elite talent and has absolutely wrecked his confidence, and apparently done little to help him improve.
Please let Vince go to some other team. The Titans don't deserve Vince's elite level of talent anymore. "
Dude, seriously, put down the crack pipe. Blaming Fisher for VY's psychological issues is a HUGE misassignment of blame. And calling VY an "elite talent" is a HUGE misassignment of common sense. Have you watched Young play?
@ leatherneck
What drove (and will continue to) drive Uncle Rico nuts is the complexity of the NFL game versus what he had in college.
His playbook at Texas was as thick and complex as a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.
Oh, and I'm sure that Moon has no bias here wanting Rico to get off the pine and start throwing INT's again.
Perhaps it's a coincidence, but five minutes after being forced to announce that Vince Young was the starting quarterback again for the Titans, Jeff Fisher purchased a Vince Young voodoo doll on ebay. Ah well, that could mean anything........
Jerry and the Cowboys need Fisher
Did it ever occur to you that perhaps Fisher knows he's just being stubborn in regards to Vince Young. IF the titans win, perhaps even this week, he'll look bad for not making the change sooner and that's what he's really afraid of. VY can be a winning if unconventional QB. How about some receivers??
Fisher tries to win with special teams and defense, but whenever they get in the playoffs those are usually the units that lose the game. Like going for long field goals on 4th and manageable in his own stadium when he should know better, or blowing leads late. Fisher made the same mistake not building around McNair and getting more out of him from a commitment standpoint and just relying on his physical talents.
-and i'm a ravens fan
@ leatherneck:
with all due respect you're out of your mind. Vince Young might be one hell of an athlete but he was, is, and always will be a BUM at the QB position.
he wasn't a feared passer at texas. he was basically a wildcat/option qb at texas who could throw if he needed to. if i remember correctly he had one of the worst wonderlic scores ever so clearly disecting coverage, and making proper reads isn't gonna be the guys strong suite.
in college he was just that great of an athlete but in the nfl, he's not faster then LB's and he cant over power people like he did in college either.
wasted pick, bust, whatever. thats what he is.
fisher might not have a ring but he's been a hell of a coach for a long time and i cant remember any players or other coaches having anything to say about him except for how great a person/coach he is.
cant say the same for young.
"Their sheason ish pretty much, belch, over wif at 0-6 and he's a guy, belch, they drafted as the third, hic, pick overall in the draft four yearsh ago to be their schtarter.
I don't like Jeff Fisher but the Titans would be foolish to dump him. Collins definitely isn't the answer so let's see what Vince can do. If he does well, can't Fisher say he was right to keep him on the bench until he was really ready?
Wow, stupidity runs rampent about Young. I see many believe that Brown had everything easy with Young at Texas. Well, let this be a reminder that in Young's second year, Brown had to scale the playbook back to help his struggling qb. BUt I guess the ubertalented Young did no wrong. Get a clue, he is a talented athlete that Brown found a way to win with. If intelligence was the primary attribute in college that Rick Mirer and Ryan Leaf would have never gotten anywhere.
And as for Leatherneck, you are such a wise man. Under your line of thinking, the Steelers should have fired Cowher in 2003 because he obviously could do nothing right after a decade with no title to his name. Sadly, you are a fool, Cowher stayed and 2 years later won a Super Bowl. Who is to say that Fisher doesn't convince the owner to draft Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford and win a title in a few years. This is the nfl and anything is possible. Accept the reality that Young will fail, he already has, and move on.
The basic truth about VY is that he never did what he needed to do to become an NFL quarterback. That's it. That's all anyone needs to know. If he had demonstrated a desire to improve on those things he needed to improve on, and any capacity for change, they would never have made a change at qb. But he didn't and that's that.
It's not Fisher's fault VY flamed out. Fisher didn't bust VY's confidence. The critics were always there and they just became louder once the flaws in his game became apparent. It isn't the organization's fault for not grooming VY appropriately. He's had lots of time over the last couple years to learn without pressure and he hasn't improved at all. I don't think there is anybody in the organization that didn't want to see VY become a starter. The fact is he just couldn't cut it in Fisher's system. Now maybe there are other systems he could go to where his skills could be more appropriately used. I just have a hard time thinking something as basic as being able to throw the ball properly won't be a criteria for those jobs either. Let's face it Vince. You're probably just not made to be an NFL qb.
What I really find annoying is this utter inability by VY's camp and supporters to own up to his responsibility for his own development. It's always blame somebody else. Listen, if you can't honestly face criticism then you're not going to have a long pro career. It is that simple.
Re: this winless talk. Fisher's probably going elsewhere. He's been at the helm in Tennessee for a looooong time. It's time for a change. We can all sit back and analyze his time there and come up with a lot of explanations. The fact is he hasn't won a championship. Time to move on. My personal belief is that Bud Adams just never gave him the control he needed to get the personnel he wanted. If they pick up Cutler over VY in that draft, and swap two emotionally immature qbs, chances are Fisher still stays. But it didn't work out that way and Fisher is still accountable for his record. Will he have trouble finding another job? Hell no. There are only so many "good" coaches in the league. Being able to consistently put a good product out year after year, in one of the smallest markets, with an owner who doesn't want to spend foolishly is more than enough of a sell for other owners. Of course the knock on Fisher is that he hasn't won one and the teams he's had that were close (ie. last year) choked when it mattered most. So wherever he goes, while they may give him more latitude in terms of roster, if he can't make it happen there it's safe to say that his head coaching career is over.
I'm glad Warren and Vince have moved back together. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
VonClausewitz, it's such a pleasure reading your well written, well articulated posts. Even if I don't agree with some of them (this one I wholeheartedly agree with) they are thought provoking.
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The idea of Fisher not being able to find a job next year if the Titans go 0-16 is preposterous, perhaps except for that minor detail about his compensation package being the highest (equal to Lovie's & higher than Belicheck) of active Coaches in the league. He'll still get hired.
He is one of the top 5 Coaches in the league and he demonstrates it yearly. He will have no problem finding another job next year or thereafter if Tenessee decides to go in another direction.
There are 4.5 million reasons to start Young.
He's due that bonus in March! I wouldn't pay it, but that's just me.
I think Adam's is trying to figure out weather or not to keep him long term? I wouldn't! At least that's the excuse!
He has lost the locker room last year and reinforced it this year!
Young and Russell are in the same catagory. Have the physical tools but, not the respect of thier team mates and coaches...Marginal thinkers, inability to read defenses... Iffy decision making....