The Titans are 6-2 and off to a great start for the season. So far this season my boy at ESPN, Merrill Hodge, who is known as a Vince Young hater, has been in some ways correct in his assessment of the Titans QB. He predicted that Vince Young would continue to have passing trouble that would stall the Titans offense. Vince Young has had a few good games, but overall, his passing stats are not great, with a passer rating of 61.5. While he has run for a few TDs and has completed 62% of his passes, he hasn't been consistent. Merrill said that Vince Young would have a bad year, and that the Titans would be lucky to win 5 or 6 games. This is entertaining:
While Vince Young has had trouble passing as Merrill predicted, the Titans overall offense and team play have not. Merrill looks a bit dumb right now, as there have been a few surprises for the Titans at the season's midway point. Tennessee's ranks in team for the entire NFL (AFC)categories are as follows:
Rushing Yards (Offense) - 3rd (2nd)
Rushing Yards (Defense) - 1st (1st)
Defensive Yards Total - 2nd (2nd)
Defensive Points Allowed - 2nd (2nd)
You can see the updated rankings through this week by clicking here. Quite simply, the Titans are running the ball and stopping the run, which is the definition of throwback football.
Today's game is very different in that you typically must have a passing attack to go along with this formula to consistently win. Many would argue that our weakness in the passing game will be this team's fatal flaw. While we do rank last in the AFC and second to last in the NFL in passing yards (to the 49ers), I think that our playcalling and gameplanning has really taken the pass out of the arsenal in favor of running the ball with a few short, safe passes for VY.
The Titans "passing game" should be measured not by passing TDs and yards in the air, but rather a combination of VY's passing and rushing yards, as well as passing and rushing TDs. This is the most objective and comparable estimate to a traditional QB, as most of VY's rush yardage are on plays where he is not designed to run. Here is a stat line for VY, that I would say would be a fantastic game:
175 yards passing, 75 yards rushing, 1 pass td, 1 rush td
Adding his rushing and passing yards together is a much better measure of his ability as a QB. The above stat line would give him 250 yards and 2 td, although some of them were with his legs and not his arm. While everyone claims that you cannot have a running QB in the NFL, I question what their definition of a running QB is. VY is a dual threat QB that makes plays in the passing game - both with his arm and his legs. Many NFL analysts will cringe at this, but a yard is a yard. Certainly VY's health could be an issue long term, but for the present, he needs to play his way to be most effective.
Vince Young should have very very few plays designed for him to run as the first option - but short passing plays where he checks one read and then either passes or runs for 5 yards are the bread and butter plays for Vince Young. If the defense doesn't leave a spy, then you run. If the defense does leave a spy, find the open WR. An offense designed around simple passing reads will work best for VY, and that appears to be what Norm Chow is doing.
Kudos to the Titans so far this year. The defense has been spectacular, as has been the running game. IF VY joins their level of production, this team can win a few playoff games.
While Vince Young has had trouble passing as Merrill predicted, the Titans overall offense and team play have not. Merrill looks a bit dumb right now, as there have been a few surprises for the Titans at the season's midway point. Tennessee's ranks in team for the entire NFL (AFC)categories are as follows:
Rushing Yards (Offense) - 3rd (2nd)
Rushing Yards (Defense) - 1st (1st)
Defensive Yards Total - 2nd (2nd)
Defensive Points Allowed - 2nd (2nd)
You can see the updated rankings through this week by clicking here. Quite simply, the Titans are running the ball and stopping the run, which is the definition of throwback football.
Today's game is very different in that you typically must have a passing attack to go along with this formula to consistently win. Many would argue that our weakness in the passing game will be this team's fatal flaw. While we do rank last in the AFC and second to last in the NFL in passing yards (to the 49ers), I think that our playcalling and gameplanning has really taken the pass out of the arsenal in favor of running the ball with a few short, safe passes for VY.
The Titans "passing game" should be measured not by passing TDs and yards in the air, but rather a combination of VY's passing and rushing yards, as well as passing and rushing TDs. This is the most objective and comparable estimate to a traditional QB, as most of VY's rush yardage are on plays where he is not designed to run. Here is a stat line for VY, that I would say would be a fantastic game:
175 yards passing, 75 yards rushing, 1 pass td, 1 rush td
Adding his rushing and passing yards together is a much better measure of his ability as a QB. The above stat line would give him 250 yards and 2 td, although some of them were with his legs and not his arm. While everyone claims that you cannot have a running QB in the NFL, I question what their definition of a running QB is. VY is a dual threat QB that makes plays in the passing game - both with his arm and his legs. Many NFL analysts will cringe at this, but a yard is a yard. Certainly VY's health could be an issue long term, but for the present, he needs to play his way to be most effective.
Vince Young should have very very few plays designed for him to run as the first option - but short passing plays where he checks one read and then either passes or runs for 5 yards are the bread and butter plays for Vince Young. If the defense doesn't leave a spy, then you run. If the defense does leave a spy, find the open WR. An offense designed around simple passing reads will work best for VY, and that appears to be what Norm Chow is doing.
Kudos to the Titans so far this year. The defense has been spectacular, as has been the running game. IF VY joins their level of production, this team can win a few playoff games.
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