It's official. The Vince Young experiment is over in Middle Tennessee. I for one am relieved simply to have some of the drama out of the way, but also saddened that such a stellar football player couldn't ever put together consistency and maturity even while he was putting together the kind of improbable come from behind victories that made him such a legend in college.
I will miss Vince but I won't miss the tantrums and the narcissism.
This was one of the bleakest Titans seasons I can ever remember, to be honest even bleaker than the post-roster purge years of 04 and 05. Maybe the defeat is so much sharper of a pain because the season started out with such youthful swagger and grand hopes. This was to be a year where a relatively young team finally asserted itself with an unquestioned franchise quarterback in Vince. The gloves were going to come off the offense, the defense was finally going to reassert itself in Chuck Cecil's second year, bolstered by a number of offseason free agent acquisitions and a stellar rookie draft class. And a proud 5-2 start didn't hurt or tamper Titans fans' expectations. There were plenty of cracks in the Colts' armor, the Texans looked lost after week four, and the Jaguars were completely dismantled by the Titans on Monday Night Football.
So how did THAT team manage to lose 8 of its next nine games?
Here are my top ten red flag moments where we should have all known, even before the meltdown after the loss to the Redskins
1. Vince hooks em horns
What the fuck is the deal with Texas? I mean, I'm sorry. I love Austin as much as the next guy and a lot of my favorite people are from Texas, but dudes like Vince need to remember that they don't spend a lot of Lone Star time anymore. When VY got arrested for a fight in a Dallas strip club ( I know, I died a little just typing that phrase) back in the summer after someone insulted his alma mater, it was (kinda) easy to blow off a little. Hell, it was kinda funny. Or at least Mack Brown thought so. But now seeing it as just another rest stop on the Vince Young Meltdown Memorial Highway, I think a lot of us in Titans country should have seen this for what it really was: a major warning sign in regards to number 10's maturity, or glaring lack of it.
2. The firing of Ernest Byner
Although known to most casual sports fans as the key actor in the drama known as "The Fumble" , Byner had served as the Titans' running back coach the last two years, helping Chris Johnson break 2000 yards last year and also spearheading the good ole times of "Smash and Dash", back when Lendale was actually scoring touchdowns and not just tequila shots. Right before the season, Byner was let go by Fisher in favor of Kennedy Pola, who was then whisked away to USC. Byner came out smelling like cologne in the whole deal. He was hired away by the Jacksonville Jaguars where he got to coach a little guy you might have heard of named Maurice Jones Drew.
3. LeGarrette Blount
A lot of people raised eyebrows when the Titans signed Blount in the spring. But he performed well in the preseason, and there were a lot of folks who thought we had finally found a replacement for Lendale White. A much needed Smash to take some pressure and pounding off of Dash. Well, we had, but unfortunately Blount didn't clear waivers and Tampa Bay claimed him. Bully for them though, as Blount has emerged as one of the bigger success stories of the 2010 rookie class.
4.Vince gets benched against the Steelers
To be honest, this is when I had a gut feeling the Titans season was going to be a paper tiger. He fumbled the ball a few times but you don't bench a guy like Vince Young in the SECOND game of the season. Not when this guy is supposed to be your franchise quarterback. Not when guys like Cutler and Eli Manning throw multiple picks and get tossed around like bags of flour and no one questions their ability to manage the games. And not when you have a guy like Vince who specializes in fourth quarter comebacks. By the look Vince had on the sideline after he got benched in that game, I knew it wasn't going to be the kind of season a lot of us had hoped for. It was clear that Fisher wasn't in Vince's corner, right or wrong.
5. Derrick Morgan gets hurt
The rookie defensive end from Georgia Tech was our first round draft pick for 2010 and was supposed to be a key to our defensive line. He played well in his first few games but tore his ACL in a nauseating loss to Denver. As the season went on, injuries to the defensive line reemphasized just how much the Titans were sorely missing both depth and youth.
6.Chuck Cecil shoots the dirty bird
You have to appreciate the fire that Chuck Cecil brings to the defensive coordinator position, but a very expensive middle finger to officials that ended up being televised cost Chuck a few g's and a lot of grief. At the time it was (kinda) easy to write off to a fit of passion but as the season started unraveling a lot of chinks in the armor became very visible to even the most casual observer. It's pretty obvious that there are some major question marks with the Titans' linebackers and in the secondary, and it shouldn't be a lack of talent. What's more, the Titans became one of the most penalized teams in the league, especially on defense. To be sure, a lot of of penalties come from talent mismatch, but a lot also come from bad coaching. (Wade Phillips anyone?) Jeff Fisher is a defense minded coach and when Gregg Williams and Jim Schwartz were making the calls we had some of the best, toughest defensive squads in the League. No one was really doggin on Chuck too hard back when we were leading the NFL in sacks and were close to being tied for the most interceptions, but it all went south and the penalties were just as frequent. Now no one anywhere seems to think Cecil is the next coming of Dick Le Beau and while Fisher might feel pretty comfortable about the temperature of his office chair, I don't think Chuck can use the same boast.
7. Vince gets hurt against Jacksonville
I for one was hopeful but very skeptical that VY could make it through a 16 game season without getting seriously hurt, and in a primetime Monday Night matchup against the Jaguars, he went down early in the first half. The game was won handily with Kerry Collins coming in for relief but even more writing on the wall should have been apparent here. Whether or not Vince has/had the maturity and "tools" to lead this team, his physical durability has always been in question.
8. Vince misses a meeting before the Pittsburgh game
This little tidbit came out much after the fact thanks to a scoop by Jim Wyatt that seemed fairly minor at the time. Yet once again, in hindsight it is clear that Vince's work ethic should have been in serious doubt all season. When you have a franchise quarterback, you should expect him to not only be the first to arrive at practice but also the last to leave. No one should ever question Vince's talent and his uncanny ability to help a team eek out victories in some pretty tight squeezes. But in a year where all was on the line, it's pretty inexcusable to miss a prep meeting for a game against a storied rival, and one of the best and most inscrutable defenses in the League.
9. Kenny Britt gets hurt at San Diego
This really may have been the beginning of the end for the Titans. Kenny suffered a hamstring injury early in a tough but close loss to San Diego at the end of October. Just a week before, Britt had a career day against the Eagles, scoring three touchdowns and acting like the MVP of the game. With Britt out for the next several games, it was obvious that the Titans were going to be lacking their number one deep threat. What's more, VY suffered another serious injury in this game.
10. VY doesn't start against the Dolphins
In an eventful bye week, the Titans acquired Randy Moss off waivers and a few folks, David Climer amongst them, were already threatening to dance a Super Bowl Shuffle here in Music City. It was thought that with a bye week Vince would be able to heal up and be in prime shape for the matchup against the Dolphins. But even though Vince was listed that day as the number two QB, Kerry got the start against Miami. Let me pose this question. If your "franchise" QB is healthy enough to be active on game day, why is he not healthy enough to start? The answer is now apparent that Fisher didn't feel sold enough on Vince even at that point to put him out on the field in a key game. This was a game that Vince did eventually play in, after Kerry got hurt, and he played well, even in a close loss. I for one think that if Vince had started, the Titans would have won that day. Remember that Fisher would never have pulled McNair off the field unless it was on a stretcher. It's no wonder that VY felt he was always looking over his shoulder in regards to the head coach.
So there are few of my moments of shame/pain, once again not including anything that transpired after the Cassavetes style meltdown scene after the Redskins loss. Uncle Bud has seemingly for now hitched his wagon to Fisher's caravan, and it's bought Jeff a little time to right the ship for next year. For most Titans fans, next season can't come fast enough.
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