By now I'm sure that all of Fanville USA has heard the news about the Titans star quarterback Vince Young and his apparent emotional issues. The golden child living the life of dreams has in recent times been forced to become acquainted with the other side of success. If you ask me, I think Vince will be just fine. Often time’s individuals of extraordinary talent like Vince Young miss out on the opportunity to deal with life’s failures and rejections until much later in life; unlike us ordinary guys. We can’t blame him for being the most talented kid on the block until he reached the NFL, but we can blame him is he quits. However, I don’t think he will quit, and I don’t think his family, friends, and teammates will let him quit. Although Vince Young obviously has some growing up to do, in my opinion he is also another victim of broken quarterback coaching philosophy. For the life of me I can not figure out why many NFL offensive coaches insist on taking their precious system with them to every team that employs them, irregardless of the teams current personnel make up. The best coaches have always been the ones who combine a great system with well suited personnel. Toney Dungy uses smaller but extremely quick linebackers like the great Pensacola native Derrick Brooks to fit the Tampa 2 defensive scheme, while Bill Belichick uses bigger, stronger, and longer linebackers like Mike Verabel and Adalius Thomas. I don’t think Derrick Brooks would be very happy in New England and Mike Verabel will not likely fit in on Dungys Tampa 2 Defensive. Why shouldn’t the same philosophy hold true for the quarterback position? Everyone loves the west coast offense now days, but let us not forgets; the west coast offence was created by Bill Walsh to fit the personnel on his team. Has anyone ever run the west coast offense as well as Joe Montana and his eventual replacement Steve Young? Maybe the west coast offence is not well suited for every quarterback? A coach’s job is to position their players for success and not to mold every new quarterback into the image of Joe Montana. An offence should be tailored to showcase the strengths of the star quarterback. The best example I’ve seen of this was Mike Vick and Coach Dan Reeves. In 2003, the Falcons were carried on the wings of a 22-year-old wunderkind to become the first visiting team to win a playoff game at Lambeau Field. Mike Vick was a beast operating in a system custom made for his talents. Unfortunately, coach Reeves later lost his job because Vick got injured for the year before the year officially started, and I don’t know of any quarterback capable of running a system custom fit for a unique talent such as Mike Vick. Once a new coach came in and tried to squeeze Vick into the west coast offence, neither he nor the team would ever be the same. The moral of this story is, never draft a quarterback expecting to change who he is. Titans, once Vince Young makes it through his necessary growing pains, allow him to be just who he is, a play making athlete with a strong arm in the position of quarterback. He will never have the timing and accuracy of Payton Manning, but Payton will never be as athletic and improvisational as Vince Young. I believe a good coach can win with a healthy version of either on of them. Redskins please take note….
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