Now that the Tennessee Titans have gone from 0-6 with Kerry Collins at quarterback to 5-0 with Vince Young, Titans owner Bud Adams would like everyone to know that he’s the one who called for the switch.
Adams was widely believed to have pressured coach Jeff Fisher to bench Collins for Young, and on Sunday he confirmed to The Tennessean that he’s the one who made the call.
“I don’t get involved with the coaches. I made this move this time because I see we had lost six in a row and we had 21 of the 22 players that got us the best record in the NFL in 2008,’' Adams said. “I said, ‘It is time to make a change right now.’”
Adams doesn’t want to come across like he’s bashing Collins, but he says he was confident Young would do exactly what he’s done.
“Not that I was against [Collins], but Vince was ready to go in there and play and he’s played like I thought he would play, too,’' Adams said.
Whoever made the decision, it certainly looks like the right one in hindsight -- even though, as Mike Florio pointed out in the Morning Aftermath, these five games won’t really matter unless the Titans keep it up over the next five games. And we’ll never know whether Adams would have taken responsibility if benching Collins for Young hadn’t worked out so well.
Adams did take responsibility for giving the fans the finger and getting a $250,000 fine for it, telling The Tennessean, “I don’t use my fingers any more. . . . I [went] a little bit crazy.’'