Instant Gratification

Brady Quinn looks 10 times better than Vince after 30 starts compared to zero.

 

How many games has Brady Quinn won as a pro? If the Titans tank it this year and Young plays horribly, then gloat all you want - even though I can't figure out why any fan would want to do that. I'm man enough to admit when I am wrong, but if the Titans continue to win and Young improves, perhaps you could graciously stay quiet. Let's see what happens on the field when the games matter.

 

If the defense is great and Nick Harper sucks, will you be OK with him being the starter for the next 5 years. Why is VY untouchable? Nobody can say nothing about him, too many people getting their feelings hurt. I will pick on the weakest link no matter who it is, if they are holding back the success of this team. That is the only way to improve.

 

If Harper sucks, the defense won't be great. Young has won games for this team. He had quite a few games last year in which he played very well. I never said he was untouchable. I don't get my feelings hurt when people "say nothing about him", but I do get annoyed that people don't give the guy any credit at all. He had a below average year in 2007 and that was entirely due to his TD/INT ratio. If he flipped that this year, would you think it was a good season? That is what the Titans need him to do this year. He doesn't have to put up Fantasy Football/Video Game numbers like Manning or Brady for his team to win - he just needs to play smart and occasionally take over games like he did his rookie season.

 

If Young Sucks, the offense won't be great. The defense won every game last year, with Young almost losing more. His rookie year, he won games on INDIVIDUAL plays, not getting his teammates involved like a QB is supposed to. If his TD/INT ratio is the opposite of what it was, that would be a drastic improvement and I would be very happy. However, if it isn't, than through 3 years, he hasn't progressed enough.

 

An awful lot of people are completely convinced that a QB should be a pocket passer....period. Even if he sucks for a year or two (which they almost always do), it's okay.....that's to be expected. After all, he's learning the ropes.

But if that QB has some mobility and the ability to make plays outside the pocket, then there's a problem.

They love to point as Mike Vick as proof that a running QB can't become a proficient passer. Of course, guys like Roger Staubach, Steve Young, Randall Cunningham, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb and a number of very successful QB's started out as "running" QB's who developed into very good passers. But according to the critics, Vick's failure to develop is proof that it can't happen.

I'm not saying that VY doesn't need to improve, or that he doesn't need to become a proficient passer. Every QB does.....no exceptions. But the fact is, virtually every QB struggles for 2-3 years before finally hitting their stride. Vince's performance has been no worse than the overwhelming majority of 2nd year QB's; in fact, he's been as good or better than a number of HOF quarterbacks were in their second years.

But they don't want to hear this; they just want you to know how bad he is, and how he'll never get any better.

I supposed it's just human nature. As I mentioned, many people have very strong convictions about what a QB should or should not do. And thanks to mankind's innate need to always be right about everything, anything that runs contrary to their core beliefs is subject to attack and ridicule.

As far as the whole injury argument goes, I find that to be something of a cop-out. QB's get injured all the time, inside and outside the pocket. Daunte Culpepper and Mike Vick sustained major injuries while scrambling; Carson Palmer and Jake Delhomme sustained major injuries while standing in the pocket. Remember Steve McNair's calf injury? That happened while he was standing in the pocket, completely untouched.

I'll agree that a running QB is probably exposed to a few more hits than a pocket passer.....but it could also be argued that his mobility allows him to avoid many hits that a less athletic QB would be unable to escape.

 

The passing offense doesn't need to be great for this team to be very good.

 

I'm not sure about three. But, I'm pretty sure they'll have one.

 

Vick isn't the reason a running qb can't be a good passer. Vick is just the guy Vince is more similar to. THAT's why his name always comes up.
Those other guys you mentioned, not one of them were "running" qb's. They were good passers that could run if need-be. Vince is the opposite. He's 10x's better at running than throwing.

 

Au contraire.

These guys developed into good passers. Early on, their passing was as bad or worse than anything Vince has done.

Early in his career, Roger Staubach and Tom Landry were constantly butting heads over the whole "running QB" issue. Stauback was a scrambler of the highest order, and did so very effectively. But as a passer, Staubach didn't put up decent numbers until his 3rd year in the league.

If you think Vince's numbers are bad, go look at the first two years of Steve Young's career.

Randall Cunningham didn't blossom until year 3....and even then, his completion% and YPA were far below Vince's.

The fact is, "dual threat" QB's always start out as "running QB's" as their skills develop. Once they become proficient passers, people no longer feel the need to label them as "running" QB's, and tend to forget that they all started out exactly the same way.