Indefatigable commenter JimR points us towards this article over the looming end of Fisher's tenure with the Titans. The real reason to read it, however, is the new revelation of some details regarding Vince Young's ludicrous meltdown and subsequent text message response [emphasis added by me]:
Upset that he hadn’t been asked to return to the game, Young dressed without showering as Fisher delivered his postgame address in a crowded locker room that included numerous team officials, including general manager Mike Reinfeldt, and Fisher’s son, Brandon, a former Montana linebacker who is assisting the team’s coaching staff. According to several witnesses, Fisher stopped his speech and tried to smooth over the situation with Young, saying, "Vince, calm down – we’ll work this out later." When Young ignored him and headed toward the exit, Fisher said, "Vince, don’t walk out on your teammates."
"I’m not walking out on my teammates," Young replied. "I’m walking out on your [expletive] ass." (The expletive was a four-syllable word that is particularly offensive.)
Said one witness: "It was loud … and pretty brutal." Another Titans player familiar with Young’s antics added, "He just loses his mind sometimes. It’s a joke."
"I don’t think I have [seen anything like that] before," Titans tackle Michael Roos(notes) said of the incident after Sunday’s game. "It happened. It’s unfortunate. We’ve just got to move on."
The following day Fisher told Young not to attend a team meeting so that he could address the situation with the rest of the Titans. Young, who was placed on injured reserve and later underwent surgery to repair the thumb, has not been back to the facility since. He eventually sent an apologetic text message to Fisher – "I want a head coach and organization that will support me," it read it part – who didn’t send a response, telling reporters, "I think face-to-face is a man thing."
Note to Vince: take your time off this season to learn the difference between an apology and a passive-agressive insult, because that text message is weak and insulting to all but the most paranoid among us. At least then you can be more honest and direct the next time you bail on your team at the first hint of things being difficult. As much as you'd like a coach and an organization will 'support you' (which I guess means running around cleaning up your messes, making apologies for childish behavior and not holding you responsible for anything, ever, at all), I'm sure the Titans would like a QB who can win without flipping the hell out at the most minute perceived slight.
Make sure you read this, because that's just one of a long series of interesting bits in Mike Silver's piece. So seriously, click the link. Look, here it is again.
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The Titans and Colts will meet on Thursday in the NFL's annual FAIL Bowl, where two teams that are on a combined 8-game losing streak will manage to stagger aimlessly into a win. Fisher and Caldwell both said during their press obligations that they expect Manning to bounce back from his recently abysmal play (11 INTs in his last 3 games, with 4 returned for TDs). I figure the same, but mostly because our defense can't force a turnover to save their lives these days. PLus, the Colts have still averaged 25.7 PPG over their 3-game slide, as opposed to our single-digit offensive atrocity.
There was a shaky rumor running around that Fisher had some sort of opt-out clause in his contract, but coach Fisher directly denied that assertion yesterday.
Yeah, Rusty Smith will remain the no. 3 QB for the rest of the year after the shellacking in Houston. On a related note, since this year is a certified cluster-fiesta, there's only one thing I want out of this season: decimate Houston on 12/19. Win that game by 1,000,312 points... by half-time. I want people to see the score across the bottom of the ESPN crawl and be truly shocked... like as shocked as you were the first time you saw a Mortal Kombat Fatality way back in the day. Please Titans, just do this for me!
In a certified F-You to Andre Johnson, the Texans and all of the commentators who ragged him after the Texans game especially, Cortland Finnegan is the Tennessee Titans' 2010 Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner. Honestly, whether that situation played into it or not is irrelevant, because Cortland does do more charity work in the Nashville community than anyone else on the team, so he outright deserved this award. Congratulations to Cort for all of his good work on and off the field this year.
At some point other people have to realize that if a few players on this team haven't quit, at least a little, then it's the worst roster in the NFL. If this is a full and honest effort from our guys, then we need to start over like an expansion team or something.
The Colts will be down Jerraud Powers, making this one of the worst secondaries we'll make look beastly all year.
I almost hate it for Broncos fans, but damned if I don't love to see unfortunate things happen to Josh McDaniels.
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