The Texans never understood what they were passing up. That's still the most amazing part of this story.

They focused on all the wrong things with Vince Young. They fretted about his throwing motion and footwork. They wondered about his intelligence.

They missed the larger picture. Like his competitive fire and will to win and leadership skills.

They never caught on that Young is one of those rare people others want to follow. Teammates look to him, trust him, count on him. The Texans never understood how badly they needed someone like that.

Yes, Young would have sold tickets and made the franchise interesting and all of that. He also would have won games, because that's what he has always done. He would have given the franchise a presence. He tries hard to be humble, but this is an act. He's good, and he knows he's good, and he doesn't care if you know it, too.

He doesn't believe he's going to lose. He's comfortable with the game on his shoulders, at his best when the stakes are the highest. He's just different, and the Texans apparently never understood this.

During the winning drive Sunday afternoon, one of Tennessee's offensive linemen complained that Young was cracking too many jokes.

Those jokes may have been Young's way of telling his new teammates that he'd been down this road before. He led six come-from-behind victories at the University of Texas and has three already in the NFL.

"He's unbelievable," Titans running back Travis Henry said. "He's got so much poise. He's relaxed, and guys feed off that."

Sure, the Texans blew it by not taking Young. I'm guessing they know that by now. They probably know they were also wrong to stick with David Carr.

Gary Kubiak's first major decision as an NFL head coach is one that could haunt him for years. After this season, he's almost certainly going to be shopping for a new quarterback, and he may not have the opportunity to land one as good as Young.

Second-guessing won't end

As Young progresses, learns and gets better, as the rough edges disappear, Kubiak will be reminded again and again of what he could have had.

Which brings us to Sunday, one of the strangest days any sports franchise has ever had.

The Texans drew the second-largest crowd in franchise history. They didn't all show up to cheer for Young, but they booed the home team early and often.

To save additional embarrassment, the Texans didn't even allow their players to be introduced before the game.

This day was a referendum on a franchise that's 6-24 dating to the final game of the 2004 season. It would be different if fans thought things were getting better, if they had more confidence that Kubiak knows what he's doing.

More of the same

The Texans knew Sunday would be this way. They also viewed it as an opportunity. If they'd just given the fans a reason to cheer, they would have cheered.

If only. Instead, it was another reminder that after 77 games, the Texans don't appear close to being respectable.

Their offense scored two touchdowns against the NFL's worst defense.

Of their 55 offensive plays, one went for more than 20 yards (that for 21).

Kubiak has lost so much confidence in Carr and his offensive line that he rarely attempts to throw it down the field.

And this game played out exactly the way the Texans probably feared it would. At the end, Young made plays, and Carr didn't.

Young led a beauty of an 88-yard fourth-quarter scoring drive to erase a 17-13 deficit. Carr got the Texans in position for a game-tying field goal. And in overtime, Young's 39-yard scoring run ended it.

"He couldn't have scripted it any better," Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said.

It was third-and-14 when Young dropped back to pass, escaped a rush and began a dash for the goal line.

"It felt like it was in slow motion," Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson said.

Blitz backfires

The Texans had contained Young most of the day by keeping him in the pocket and mixing up coverages. On this play, they did what many Big 12 teams knew not to do against Young. They blitzed, which forced him out of the pocket and put him into the open field. Ask USC what happens when Young is in the open field.

He weaved 39 yards for the game-winning touchdown and then released a week's worth of emotion. He refused to enter the debate about being passed over in the draft.

Afterward, he hung around the field at Reliant Stadium, greeted fans and blew kisses and waved at friends. Until that moment, he'd never let anyone know how important this game was.

When reporters pressed Young about it, he reminded them he'd be involved in a few other comebacks.

"I have a lot more years," he said. "This game is just one game right now."

It's just one for the Texans, too. One more reminder of what they don't have.

Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle

YOUNG'S DREAM, TEXANS NIGHTMARE

Vince Young wore a visitor's uniform to Reliant Stadium for Sunday's game between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans, but that was a mere fashion statement.

At game's end, VY was the host with the most, exchanging high fives with fans, throwing equipment to star-struck little boys, pounding his chest and blowing kisses to the assembled throng.

Reliant, you see, may be the Texans' home, but it's Vince Young's house.

Running with the same alacrity he used to show, he said, back in the days when "my mom was chasing me with a belt," Young, Houston's favorite son, ran 39 yards for the game-winning touchdown in overtime of the Titans' 26-20 victory over the Texans before a crowd that, at times, cheered him as one of their own which, to many, he is.

"It was a great ending," said Young, who last played at Reliant when he led the Texas Longhorns to a 70-3 win over Colorado in the Big 12 title game last December. "Being from Houston and being in front of my family and fans out there who respect me as a player and as a person as well, you can't get no better than that."

Well, that depends. For many fans among the crowd of 70,760, the ideal situation would have been to see Young enacting Sunday's heroics in the uniform of the hometown Texans, not the transplanted Houston Oilers.

But that's not happening, and even as fans applauded Young's last-minute heroics, they bemoaned what might have been.

"I was cheering for the Texans," said Mark Bowman, who was sitting behind the south end zone. "But I went to Madison High School (in the 1970s), and how can you not root for Vince Young?"

Referring to Charley Casserly, the former Texans general manager who was instrumental in the decision to take defensive lineman Mario Williams over Young with the first pick of the 2006 NFL draft, Bowman said the ending was "poetic justice. Thanks a lot, Charley Casserly. Thanks a lot."

Cracking jokes

Young built a reputation at Texas as a bold, happy-go-lucky leader who made sure his teammates stayed as loose as he did, and he followed that script.

"I was cracking a lot of jokes on that last drive," he said. "One (teammate) said, 'I'm trying to get focused, and you don't want to tell me the play. You're cracking jokes.' "

And the Texans, alas, were the punch line.

"It (Young's game-winning run) took forever to unfold, like a bad dream," said Texans defensive back Dunta Robinson. "It is a sick feeling. It's a bitter feeling."

Although Texans fans dominated the crowd, there were dozens of fans wearing Titans colors and even more wearing the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns. The crowd cranked up the noise as the Texans' defense geared up to stop the Titans, but they cheered, too, for Young when he scored the game-winner.

"The buzz was weird all day," said Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck. "There were lots of extremes. Sometimes the Texans fans would cheer for Vince, and the Texans fans were definitely behind their team."

However, Bulluck added, "When he scored, it seemed like everyone was rooting for Vince."

While acknowledging the thrill of beating the Texans in front of his friends and fans, Young said the game can't compare to his Rose Bowl performance in the BCS national championship game against Southern California.

"It ranks pretty high," he said. "But at the same time, I've got a long future ahead of me. I've got to keep playing and keep working and keep getting better."

But when it comes time to write his memoirs, you'd have to figure this will rate at least a chapter. It wouldn't have to be a long one. Julius Caesar, after all, needed only a couple of quick lines to summarize one of his greatest victories: "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Or, if you prefer the original Latin, "Veni, vidi, vici."

Signed, Vince.

David Barron, Houston Chronicle