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Mike Keith: VY's Joy Of Playing
November 1, 2009
When it was announced formally that Vince Young would start for the Titans against the Jaguars, I headed to the film library. I had to check out the DVD of "Tennessee vs. Jacksonville 9/7/08".
I remember the plot: Young is not playing great, throws a fluke interception, gets very upset on the sideline, eventually goes back into the game, gets hurt and ends up replaced by Kerry Collins. The film had a happy ending for the Titans, as they won the game, but it certainly wasn't that happy for Young.
With all of the drama of that day --- and the drama that followed in the 48 hours after the game --- I had forgotten what that game itself looked like, what had led to the hubbub.
So I sat down on Friday night and watched the film.
Vince Young did not play well from the outset. He fumbled early in the game, but was lucky that Kevin Mawae recovered. In the second quarter, Young threw a bad interception to Gerald Sensabaugh, setting up Jacksonville's only touchdown.
Young was hesitant to run, didn't appear to be on the same page with his receivers and missed throws that a third-year starter is supposed to make.
More than all of that, Vince Young appeared joyless.
This wasn't the VY of 2006. This wasn't the guy who made stats irrelevant because of his play-making ability. This wasn't the sparkplug that made teammates want to play for him.
The Vince Young of 2008 looked nothing like VY. Instead, this was just a guy.
When Young threw his interception to defensive end Derrick Harvey with 8:13 to go in the game, well, you know the rest of the story. From his apparent mindset throughout the rest of the game, Young's reaction shouldn't have been such a shocker. He wasn't happy. He was having no fun.
As he stood through the rest of 2008, he watched the Titans move on without him. As we watched Vince Young in practice, he simply went about his business. Young never caused problems or had anything bad to say about Kerry Collins, but still did not have that VY spark.
We saw the spark at times during 2009 training camp, during some '09 preseason games and at some moments off of the field. But for the most part, Vince Young merely played the role of backup quarterback.
In the last ten days, we saw something different.
When it was apparent that he would play against Jacksonville, a familiar sight reemerged. The excited guy in the huddle, on the practice field and in the locker room. The hand-clapping. The back-slapping. The dancing.
Vince Young seemed to have disappeared and VY had returned.
But would it carry over to LP Field? Or would we see the same guy who looked disinterested 14 months earlier?
The first results are encouraging.
Young led Tennessee to a 30-13 win with some solid passing (15-18 for 125 yards a touchdown), some good decision-making (no sacks, interceptions or fumbles) and some timely running. Young led the Titans, which is job #1 for any quarterback. Best of all, VY looked like he was having a great time.
Vince Young has a strong (if sometimes inaccurate) arm. He has great feet. His ability to make tacklers miss has rarely been matched. The guy is a superb athlete. But his strength as a quarterback is none of those features. It is his joy.
When Young is rolling, his love for playing and for competing are contagious. That joy defined Young as a player. When that joy left Vince Young, he became like everyone else.
But when the joy came back, so did VY. We saw the joy this past Sunday at LP Field.
There are more hurdles to climb for Vince Young. There will be fumbles and there will be interceptions. There will be too much credit and too much blame. It happens to every quarterback at every level of football.
If VY can keep the joy of playing even when things go awry, then we'll know for sure that he has put the past in its place. We'll need to see more to know all of the answers.
In Sunday's win over Jacksonville, however, he took care of some things. VY was back and it was fun to see. I'll enjoy watching that Jacksonville DVD more than the last one.
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