Titans at Redskins: The Young And The Worthless

Tennessee Titans (0-5) at Washington Redskins (2-3)
1:00 p.m. FedEx Field
You know what makes me nervous? Facing a team that is winless. Facing that team at home. Facing a team with nothing left to lose.

Yes, the Tennessee Titans are one of the worst teams in the NFL. Their offense is devoid of playmakers. Their defense is devoid of talent and depth. Arguably their best defensive player is currently serving a five game suspension for kicking someone in the face. They've got more players with less than three years of NFL experience on their roster than any other team in the league.

In other words...they're dangerous.

Why are they dangerous? Because no team, and that includes the current outfit in Oakland, is going to go 0-16. So the Titans, who check in at 0-5, are due. Sure this sounds like a stupid reason to be afraid of a team currently residing below Houston in the standings, but it's legit. The odds are stacked against Tennesee going winless. No team in the modern era of the NFL has gone truly winless (The 1976 Buccaneers didn't win a game, but they did tie one).

There have been many teams that have gone 1-15. Almost all of these teams have been seriously inept. You don't go 1-15 by catching a couple of bad breaks. But these teams got wins because they still had some NFL-caliber talent on their roster and played their "A" game one weekend. You can be sure that at the same time, whatever opponent they were facing, played something less than their A game. The two factors combined for a victory for the otherwise terrible team.

For example we can look at the 1989 Cowboys. Maybe one of the worst teams in NFL history. Other than drug lord Michael Irvin, the team had nothing. But they still managed to win a game. One Sunday in November, the ragtag bunch of misfits put together their best performance of the season, while their opponent literally handed them the win with three turnovers in the fourth quarter. Take a guess who the opponent was.
I really don't know where I'm going with this. I guess it's my way of saying that the Redskins should win this game and win this game big. There is no way the Titans are going to outplay the Skins. The only way Tennessee walks out of FedEx Field with a win is if the Redskins gift-wrap it for them. But it can happen. The Skins are coming off an ugly loss to the Giants (and I don't have the time or the patience to go over that one) and you can bet they're already looking ahead to a road contest against the big, bad Indianapolis Colts next week. TRAP GAME ALERT, TRAP GAME ALERT. A home game against the winless Titans is sure to bring on some yawns and shrugs at Redskins Park. So this game will be another test of Joe Gibbs' coaching skills. This is a week where a good coach motivates his team to blow out an inferior opponent. The Skins were able to blow out San Francisco last season in a similar situation. They were able to handle Houston this season relatively easily. Can he do it again?

The Titans do possess one thing that San Francisco and Houston did not...an X-factor rookie quarterback (Yes, I know that Alex Smith started for the 49ers last year, but you can't consider him an X-factor of any kind). The Redskins will be facing former Texas leader Vince Young, who will be making his third career start.

I don't talk much about college players on this site. But what little space I've devoted to Young has not exactly been flattering. In my 2006 Rose Bowl preview I slammed him (Whoops!). In my draft preview, I slammed him and said he had no business being drafted about the #7 overall pick (Whoops again!). So, at risk of being wrong three times, I'm going to slam Young again.

Even when I took shots at Young last season, I stated that he was still an outstanding college quarterback. I don't think there's any doubt there. However, his game is not fit for the pro game. Tennessee took him to be their Michael Vick. The problem is that he can't run like Vick. Sure he can beat a bunch of college players at Baylor to the endzone. But his speed does not translate to the NFL. He can't run much faster than his fullback. I watched some of his runs against Dallas, and it looked like he was stuck in neutral. Some of Dallas' defensive linemen were chasing him down. It's this simple, if you can't run like Michael Vick, then you can't model your game like Michael Vick.
Personally, I don't think that Young models his game off of Vick. That's just another myth that the sports media created, mostly because the media is lazy and maybe even a little bit racist. ESPN sees another black quarterback and says "Oh, another black quarterback, let's call him another Michael Vick." You never see a black quarterback called "Another Dan Marino" or "Another Peyton Manning". Young's style is more similar to Tom Brady than it is Mike Vick. So to expect him to play like Michael Vick is probably an unfair standard that the sports media has thrust upon him.

In college, Young had pretty good speed for a quarterback. But he was a smart runner more than he was an electrifying one. He hasn't yet figured out how to be smart runner in the NFL. And that takes time. He'll probably figure it out. He's only made two starts. But the fact remains that he hasn't yet. Which means that he has to beat other teams by being a pocket passer. Even in college, he was an average pocket passer. He's got a strong arm, but a wildly inaccurate one. He is also way to slow in releasing the ball. These are problems I don't know if he'll ever overcome. I don't need to tell you how much quicker the pro game is from the college game. Young got away with being a good runner with a strong arm in college. You need more than that in the pros. I don't think Young has the talent to simply correct the mistakes he's been making his entire career as a quarterback. Young will get better than he is right now, but I don’t see him being a franchise quarterback with his poor throws and the reliance on a running game that isn’t going to scare a defense in the NFL.

Any way you slice it, whether you think he's the next Joe Montana, Michael Vick or Akili Smith, he's still a rookie making his third NFL start. In other words, the Redskins should eat him alive. Shawn Springs may make his long awaited return to the defense this week, but even without him, Young should not be able to carve up this secondary. If he does, then the problem is even more serious then we currently think it is.

It doesn’t make sense to analyze this game. The Redskins have an overwhelming advantage across the board. The only question is whether or not the Redskins will decide to show up. Tennessee isn’t as bad as Oakland or Detroit, so if they play well (like they did against Indy last week), and the Redskins play poorly, the Titans will win. If the Skins bring their A or even their B game, it shouldn’t be close.