I did not have a chance to listen to any local sports talk radio yesterday, but if it is anything like this morning, it was a lot of people going back and forth over whether or not Vince Young will ever be a good quarterback or not. Since this is obviously a lightning rod topic, I figured I would open a one-stop discussion place for that on this site.
Facts:
- VY is entering his 3rd season as an NFL quarterback.
- VY is 17-11 as an NFL starting quarterback.
- VY is in his 1st season with a new offensive coordinator.
- VY's play has been inconsistent thus far in his career.
So the question remains, What Should Our Expectations Be? How long should it take a quarterback to be successful in the NFL? A lot of people compare VY to Steve McNair. McNair had the benefit of sitting and learning for 2 years before being thrown the offense. McNair took over in 1997, after learning for those 2 seasons, and put up a 70.4 QB rating. VY's was 71.1 last season.
We heard all of this same stuff early in McNair's career. People were calling for Crystal Chandelier and Neil O'Donnell everytime McNair had a bad game. Those calls didn't stop until McNair was the co-MVP in 2003 (McNair's 3rd year in the Heimerdinger offense).
I am not trying to say that VY shouldn't be showing more consistency than he is right now. He should. As long as Jeff Fisher is the coach here, VY isn't going to be called on to win that many games by throwing the ball 50 times. What he is going to be called to do is take care of the football and make plays when the opportunity presents itself. That is what our expectations should be of him. Be a leader and a winnner. Nothing less.
Thoughts and comments welcome..