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Dare to compare: Titans pleased with Young’s progress
By Terry McCormick, tmccormick@nashvillecitypaper.com
October 19, 2006
Matt Leinart’s prime-time performance on Monday Night Football this past week was hard to miss.
The former Southern Cal star quarterback was nothing short of spectacular, converting 24 of 42 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns against what many consider the league’s best defense in Chicago.
The rookie quarterback was impressive enough that his play in the game, including putting Arizona in position to win at the end, nearly eclipsed the Cardinals’ complete fourth-quarter collapse and Coach Denny Green’s post-game meltdown in terms of water-cooler talk the next day.
It was Leinart’s second straight strong performance since ascending to the starting role, and the second week in a row where he put the team in position to win, only to have kicker Neil Rackers miss a field goal try at the end.
Leinart’s poise and polish certainly didn’t go unnoticed, even in Tennessee, which passed on him in favor of Vince Young in the April draft.
But while Leinart shined in the spotlight, the Titans remained plenty pleased with the choice they made in taking Young, and where the former Texas star is in terms of his on-the-job training.
With Young and Leinart being from the same draft class, the comparisons will be inevitable. And also unfair and impossible to judge, says Floyd Reese, who pulled the trigger on Young back on draft day.
“The difficult part of it is everybody wants to try to compare and contrast them, and you just can’t do that, simply because you don’t know what Matt would do with our players and you don’t know what Vince could do throwing to their players,” Reese said. “You go back and forth and back and forth. We all say that with draft choices, you need a year or two to kind of evaluate them, and I think there’s some truth to that, and for sure with a quarterback, you need a couple of years to really see.”
Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who coached Leinart at USC, agreed.
“There’s no way you can compare the two,” he said.
Leinart is ahead in the numbers race, having completed 52 of 86 passes for 539 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions and an 84.4 passer rating. Young has hit on 47 of 99 throws for 512 yards with three TDs and four interceptions and rating of 56.5.
But mere numbers don’t tell the whole story, says Reese.
“I’m not sure where Vince will ever stand on the numbers,” Reese said. “I’m not sure if he’ll be the most efficient, highest-rated quarterback out there or if he won’t. But the thing that I think we’re really excited about and pleased about is that he understands winning games, and that has always been the No. 1 issue for us.”
In that regard, Young is winning the battle, as on Sunday he collected his first victory as a starting quarterback in the 25-22 win at Washington with a 13-of-25, 161-yard day.
Young, who has became friends with Leinart, wants no part of any quarterback debate that might loom in the minds of fans. But, he says, the notion that he is a leader and winner means more to him than any other stats.
“It’s important. I’m not taking anything away from Matt. I know it’s very important for him as well. Just how he played, it showed how much he wanted to win,” Young said. “It’s the same here; I’m getting better and better each week and getting more and more respect from my teammates and things like that. They see how much I want to win, and it’s starting to flow down to everybody.”
That weekly improvement for Young is only a surface scratch as far as the Titans are concerned. And the fact it translated to victory last Sunday, well, that’s even better.
“I think this last week he went out early in the game and threw the ball very well,” Reese said. “He took control right off the bat. You start to see glimpses of everything you want to see. Now, it’s just a matter of putting them all together in a game and consistently in a bunch of games.”
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=7&screen=news&news_id=52796
By Terry McCormick, tmccormick@nashvillecitypaper.com
October 19, 2006
Matt Leinart’s prime-time performance on Monday Night Football this past week was hard to miss.
The former Southern Cal star quarterback was nothing short of spectacular, converting 24 of 42 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns against what many consider the league’s best defense in Chicago.
The rookie quarterback was impressive enough that his play in the game, including putting Arizona in position to win at the end, nearly eclipsed the Cardinals’ complete fourth-quarter collapse and Coach Denny Green’s post-game meltdown in terms of water-cooler talk the next day.
It was Leinart’s second straight strong performance since ascending to the starting role, and the second week in a row where he put the team in position to win, only to have kicker Neil Rackers miss a field goal try at the end.
Leinart’s poise and polish certainly didn’t go unnoticed, even in Tennessee, which passed on him in favor of Vince Young in the April draft.
But while Leinart shined in the spotlight, the Titans remained plenty pleased with the choice they made in taking Young, and where the former Texas star is in terms of his on-the-job training.
With Young and Leinart being from the same draft class, the comparisons will be inevitable. And also unfair and impossible to judge, says Floyd Reese, who pulled the trigger on Young back on draft day.
“The difficult part of it is everybody wants to try to compare and contrast them, and you just can’t do that, simply because you don’t know what Matt would do with our players and you don’t know what Vince could do throwing to their players,” Reese said. “You go back and forth and back and forth. We all say that with draft choices, you need a year or two to kind of evaluate them, and I think there’s some truth to that, and for sure with a quarterback, you need a couple of years to really see.”
Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who coached Leinart at USC, agreed.
“There’s no way you can compare the two,” he said.
Leinart is ahead in the numbers race, having completed 52 of 86 passes for 539 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions and an 84.4 passer rating. Young has hit on 47 of 99 throws for 512 yards with three TDs and four interceptions and rating of 56.5.
But mere numbers don’t tell the whole story, says Reese.
“I’m not sure where Vince will ever stand on the numbers,” Reese said. “I’m not sure if he’ll be the most efficient, highest-rated quarterback out there or if he won’t. But the thing that I think we’re really excited about and pleased about is that he understands winning games, and that has always been the No. 1 issue for us.”
In that regard, Young is winning the battle, as on Sunday he collected his first victory as a starting quarterback in the 25-22 win at Washington with a 13-of-25, 161-yard day.
Young, who has became friends with Leinart, wants no part of any quarterback debate that might loom in the minds of fans. But, he says, the notion that he is a leader and winner means more to him than any other stats.
“It’s important. I’m not taking anything away from Matt. I know it’s very important for him as well. Just how he played, it showed how much he wanted to win,” Young said. “It’s the same here; I’m getting better and better each week and getting more and more respect from my teammates and things like that. They see how much I want to win, and it’s starting to flow down to everybody.”
That weekly improvement for Young is only a surface scratch as far as the Titans are concerned. And the fact it translated to victory last Sunday, well, that’s even better.
“I think this last week he went out early in the game and threw the ball very well,” Reese said. “He took control right off the bat. You start to see glimpses of everything you want to see. Now, it’s just a matter of putting them all together in a game and consistently in a bunch of games.”
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=7&screen=news&news_id=52796
