Now that the Tennessee Titans are humming again and threatening to crash the playoff party, it's time to ask: What's the deal with Vince Young?
I mean, a year ago he was benched and all but discarded. Now he's not only back in the starting lineup, he's back to winning football games.
So what happened? Mike Heimerdinger is what happened, and what the Titans offensive coordinator has done with Young is nothing short of remarkable. He has him playing not like the quarterback who made a raft of mistakes two years ago but as the quarterback who made a zillion plays two years before that.
That would be when Young was at the University of Texas, and watching him now is watching the guy who carved up Ohio State, Southern California and countless others en route to a national championship. Young was special then, and he's special again, and credit Heimerdinger for helping put him back on the map -- not because he calls the plays that Young puts into motion but because he understands how to make the best use of his prodigious talent.
I'm talking about refining Young as a passer and cutting him loose as a running back, and while that may seem logical now it wasn't exactly the case two years ago when Young led the Titans to the playoffs. Those were the days before Heimerdinger, and they were the days when Tennessee seemed more intent on making Young a pocket passer than a dual threat.
I'm sorry, but if you have Vince Young you do not confine him to the pocket, and while that seems elementary it was lost on the Titans way back when. I remember watching Young in an overtime loss to San Diego two years ago and wondering what the Titans were doing with the guy. He wasn't an accurate passer, but he was a dangerous runner. So the Titans had him pass, and, predictably, they went nowhere in the playoffs.
Huh?
Now fast forward to five weeks ago when Young took over as quarterback. It was Heimerdinger who went to his new quarterback and told him exactly what he expected, and what he expected was Vince Young to behave like, well, Vince Young.
"What makes you special," Heimerdinger said, "and what makes Vince Young Vince Young, is that you can make plays with your feet. So make them. If it's not there, just go."
Young has, and he's taking the Titans with him. They're on a five-game roll, and if they beat Indianapolis this weekend look out above. I could see them running the table, with the emphasis on running.
In Vince Young, the Titans have the best running quarterback out there; in Chris Johnson they have the most explosive running back out there. Put them together, and you have a dangerous, dangerous team that is seeking to achieve the unimaginable -- making the playoffs after an 0-6 start.
People tell me there's no way, and maybe they're right. One thing: The Titans won 10 straight last year. So why can't they do it again? I watched them dissect Arizona last weekend, with Young leading the club on an improbable 99-yard, game-winning drive, and left thinking that anything, absolutely anything, is possible with these guys. And the reason is Vince Young.
"He gives us another dynamic," said Heimerdinger.
The evidence is the Titans' success on third downs. Before Young stepped in the pocket, they were converting 35.9 percent of them. The past five weeks they're up to 47.9, and last weekend they didn't miss on four fourth-down attempts. Most important, they won.
But then they almost always win with Vince Young. Young is working on a personal nine-game unbeaten streak, and the Titans are 23-11 overall with him under center. Nevertheless, Heimerdinger is careful, as are others, not to give too much of the credit to the young quarterback. He loves Young, admires how he has attacked the job, done the studying, improved his footwork in the passing game and learned to work through his progressions. Most of all, he admires how Young protects the football, throwing only one interception since returning to the starting lineup.
But he also understands Young is not doing it alone.
"Vince has had an impact," he said, "but when C.J. (Chris Johnson) runs for 125 yards in six straight games that makes a big difference. Vince has done a very good job of protecting the ball and doing what a quarterback is supposed to be doing, but C.J. has been a big part of it.
"Vince helps C.J. by getting to the edge and doing things with his feet. People have to account for him, and that gives C.J. creases to run through."
You could see that two weeks ago against Houston. If it wasn't Johnson running through the Texans, it was Young pulling the ball down and running around them. Together, they're the best combination since Levi and Strauss, and I haven't seen a defense yet that can stop them ... either of them.
But Johnson was in the lineup the first six games, and Tennessee lost all of them. Since Young showed up, they've done nothing but win. Draw your own conclusions. I've drawn mine, and I believe that Tennessee not only should thank its lucky stars that Young is back but should be grateful he's in the hands of an offensive coordinator who understands, appreciates and motivates the guy.
"He lets us be a little more imaginative," said Heimerdinger.
Let's return once more to last weekend. The winning touchdown pass was a play the Titans hadn't practiced since OTAs. But Heimerdinger had tried every 10-yard pass play on his sheet, and none of them worked. So he figured, why not dig into the archives? He had the confidence that Young could and would make the right decision, and he was right.
"Vince Young is someone who can win with his arm or his feet," said Heimerdinger. "The thing he's doing now is studying the heck out of the game so that he knows where to go with the football, and when his feet are right he can make every throw in the book. But if nothing's there, he can pull it down and go ... with no hesitation.
"I think the biggest thing that happened [last week] is what happened after the first half where Vince was in position to get us a late field goal, and it didn't happen (he was sacked at the Arizona 19 as time expired). In the past, when people are booing him or upset with him I wasn't sure he would come back [mentally] in the second half. This time, he was great -- listening to everything and everyone and doing what he was supposed to do."
The Tennessee Titans finally are doing what they were supposed to do, and Vince Young can take a curtain call. But you better not forget Mike Heimerdinger. Without him, I'm not sure the Titans get from Vince Young what they are now.
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