An Interesting perspective on Vince Young

A guy wrote this for a Redskins blog but the same arguments can be made relative to bringing him to Miami:

There seems to be no hotter topic right now, on the minds of Redskins fans, than the possibility of Vince Young being signed. The overwhelming majority of fan sentiment related to this possibility is negative. In the hefty shadow of Albert Haynesworth—and numerous other high profile free agent disasters—many think Vince is another “Problem Child” and therefore a poor investment relative to time and money. This is not a fact-based decision, but an emotional one. It involves wounded pride and bruised egos for many Washington fans. And the consensus couldn’t be more wrong.
The argument against Vince Young has to be emotionally based because the facts are so strongly in favor of signing him. Rookie of the Year, two Pro-Bowls, and a 64% winning percentage that is by far the best career mark of any full time starter (20 or more games) in the history of the Oilers/Titans franchise. His historical QB Rating and completion percentage are so far ahead of traditional NFL “bust’ levels that this argument is laughable. And he did all of this with a receiving corps that is as anonymous to most NFL fans as the lineup for the Indian National Cricket squad. Still, there is the public perception of Vince Young as an ill-tempered, occasionally suicidal, spoiled brat who would be a cancer to any franchise. Any fair and unbiased analysis of the situation and the facts, however, yields an overwhelming case that Vince has arguably behaved admirably in the midst of a bizarre and unique situation, the likes of which the NFL has never before experienced.
I am going to make a statement about Vince Young’s time in Tennessee that will seem hyperbolic to anyone unfamiliar with what actually happened:
In the history of the NFL, no Top 3 selection has ever had a head coach work against him as much as Jeff Fisher worked against Vince Young.
On the surface, this sounds ridiculous, but remember, we are talking about a team run by Bud Adams—just Google the story of his “interaction” with former Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire and you will soon be convinced that Bud is crazier than a sprayed roach. The Oilers/Titans have been waging a war against reason and common sense since the Eisenhower administration, and they have the lack of Lombardi trophies to prove it.
The nightmare for Young started a whopping five seconds into his tenure as the “Quarterback of the Future” for the Tennessee Titans. This clip of Vince from the moment after he was drafted (click here) has some disheartening commentary by Chris Mortensen, who talks about “public differences” between GM Floyd Reese (solidly in Young’s camp) and head coach Jeff Fisher (who wanted to draft Matt Leinart). How often do you hear about “public differences” between the GM and the head coach of a team… within seconds of making a #3 overall selection?!? The fallout and continued animosity generated by the selection of Vince Young would divide these two men to such an extreme that Reese, the GM with the most wins in Oilers/Titans history, decided to leave when his contract expired at the end of 2006. What became of Reese? How adversely did the selection of Young and the feud with Fisher affect his career? He is now the Senior Football Adviser in the Patriots organization.
The September 2008 incident in which Vince Young was rumored to be “suicidal” and perhaps a “threat to himself or others” was a masterstroke in negative spin. Fisher did a superb job of making a mountain out of a molehill so as to alienate and separate himself from Young as his quarterback. The facts are these: Vince Young left an evening meeting at the Titans complex very frustrated by Fisher (can you blame him?), didn’t answer his phones for a few hours, went out to eat with a male friend and then went to a female friend’s apartment. That is it. Of course, Fisher manipulated the situation to the highest degree possible in an attempt to rid himself of Young once and for all. Calls to the police were made. There was talk that Vince had a gun (he did… in accordance with state law; it was known he kept an unloaded pistol in his glove compartment). There was talk that Vince had mentioned “suicide” to a team therapist (of course, all parties would later agree that every element of this incident was blown out of proportion). When Vince was finally reached by phone, he drove back to the Titans complex, where crisis negotiators and SWAT members gave Vince the once-over and quickly released him. Vince was fine. He always had been. This was another attempt to publicly embarrass him, just like his draft day, and it worked like a charm.
The manufactured controversies and overall undermining of Vince Young allowed Fisher to start his new favorite, Kerry Collins, in 2009. Collins lost one game… and another… and another… and another. The pathetic Collins would start 0-6 that year, yet Fisher still didn’t want to bench him for Young. His pride wouldn’t allow it. He was willing to lose games in order to ruin the career of Vince Young and to serve his own ego. Think this is balderdash? It isn’t. The owner of the Titans had to publicly threaten Fisher with his job if Young didn’t get the start after the bye week. Fisher had to be ordered to play Young. And the owner was right. The Titans would win five in a row and seven out of eight—with the same personnel that was winless under Collins—and the only loss during that span was a close one on the road to eventual AFC champ Indianapolis. Vince young would go 8-2 to get the Titans to a .500 record.
Think of how insane this is… an owner having to intervene in this way, and with the subsequent result. It is unprecedented.
I hope you will take the time to read this article (click here) by Lisa Swan, entitled “Vince Young Proves Titans’ Owner Bud Adams Right; Coach Jeff Fisher Wrong,” which was written after Vince had won the first three games in his return.
Here are some highlights:

The Tennessee Titans, who beat the Buffalo Bills Sunday, 41-17, have won three in a row with Vince Young as starting quarterback. So the team is looking, well, in-Vince-ible these days, after starting out 0-6. But head coach Jeff Fisher has some explaining to do. After all, if Fisher had gotten his way, Young would still be holding the clipboard on the sidelines, with Kerry Collins continuing to “lead” the Titans to an 0-9 record.

In a victory for meddling NFL owners everywhere, team owner Bud Adams proved to be absolutely right in his demand last month that Fisher start Young. The Titans had lost six games in a row under Collins, with their worst loss of the season - and maybe of the franchise’s history - coming in Game 6, when the New England Patriots slaughtered them in Foxboro, 59-0. Collins had an all-time bad game, going 2-for-12, with minus-seven yards. The Nashville Tennessean said the Titans “set the game of football back 50 years” with the game, and suggested the loss might be the worst not just in Titans’ history, but in NFL history.

After such a horrible defeat, most coaches would be chastened. Not Fisher. First, the coach made light of the team’s bad state, wearing a Peyton Manning jersey at a charity event. Fisher’s excuse for donning the arch-rival Indianapolis Colts’ #18? He said he “just wanted to feel like a winner today.” Titans fans weren’t exactly pleased by his sense of humor.
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Of course, after Vince’s run of success—using the same personnel with which Collins had been utterly humiliated—even Fisher was sure to see the error of his ways… right? WRONG.
From the same article:

I’m still in Kerry Collins’s corner because I don’t believe that our record is a reflection of the quarterback play. It’s a reflection of the team play. I’m still in his corner, but we’ve decided to go ahead and make this change.

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THIS is Jeff Fisher. THIS is what Vince young was dealing with, season after season, game after game, hour after hour. Swan also commented, “If Fisher still believes that, then he ought to be the next Titan to lose his job.” She is dead-on, but this isn’t an organization with a blueprint for winning like the Steelers or Patriots. Fisher was allowed to continue his reindeer games.
And it took a toll on Vince. There was a crazy fight in a strip club just because a guy had made an insulting comment about the University of Texas. Vince had been hearing those taunts for the better part of a decade and had never responded. Not even a little bit. Not once. But the professional hell he was living in was taking a toll. Sure, he was still doing good things. Working with schoolkids, spending time with Steve McNair’s tragically fatherless children… but those types of stories aren’t as sexy as a late night strip club dust-up, so this will be the first time many of you hear about these things. Vince has been far from flawless, yet one can’t help but wonder what an even more emotionally reckless quarterback, like Ben Roethlisberger for instance, would have done if his world had been turned upside down and the Steelers had worked against him at every turn. It would be a miracle, based on his history, if the worst blemish on Big Ben’s record had been a strip club fight, if their roles were reversed.
The final chapter came at the end of last season. Finally, Vince would be pushed far enough that he would demonstratively lash out. After years of swallowing his pride, after years of Fisher’s ego trumping common sense and the best interest of the team, Vince had had enough. He wanted to play hurt; remember the public humiliation Cutler received for the perception that he didn’t want to play hurt? Well after he tore the flexor tendon in his right thumb, and with his team’s playoff chances hanging in the balance, Vince was pleading to go back in the game. His pleas fell on deaf ears. I realize not too many of us are familiar with the 6th Round rookie from Florida Atlantic, Rusty Smith, but I think it is a safe bet that Vince trying to bounce the ball off of his forehead would be a better option than Smith trying to save the season. Vince was enraged, his shoulder pads went into the stands, harsh words were said to Fisher and Young prematurely left the facilities. Of course he shouldn’t have done these things. Still, any judgment of Vince Young’s actions must be tempered with the knowledge of his experiences in Tennessee. How much could any player be expected to take? How many years do you have to be a good solider for a coach who has proven, beyond any reasonable argument, that he does not have the best interest of the team at heart?
No signing comes without risk. Seeing how the Shanahan’s treated McNabb last season makes me nervous for how Young could be treated here too. But I don’t need to tell you guys about the ties Kyle has with Vince, going back to the University of Texas. These bonds mean something. Kyle knows what Vince can do under pressure. For all of the “Vince Can’t Handle The Pressure In DC” talk, people need to understand the pressure that exists for the starting quarterback of the Texas Longhorns. There are just as many, if not more Longhorn fans than Redskin fans around the country and the world. UT football transcends the massive state and consumes both of its Top 10 media markets. There are Spanish Language broadcasts of Texas games throughout Mexico. Royal Texas Memorial stadium seats well over 100,000 rabid fans. This August, a new ESPN network will kick off – The Longhorn Network. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week—nothing but University of Texas sports, and the cornerstone of the programming is football.
Vince knows pressure. Vince thrives under extreme pressure and even bigger expectations. He just needs a team that isn’t at war with itself, and which puts winning over ego. If that exists in Washington, and I hope it does, every Redskins fan should look forward with great anticipation and enthusiasm to the day Vince Young signs on the dotted line.

http://burgundyblog.com/post/5367586151/vince