According to ESPN.com, the Titans will start Vince Young at quarterback this Sunday against the Jaguars. Young will replace Kerry Collins, who is 0-6 this season as a starter.

This move is long overdue. I’ve been writing for weeks how Young isn’t the answer, but Jeff Fisher had to do something because Collins just flat out couldn’t move the offense. Nobody should expect Tennessee to magically turn around its season now that Young is under center, but maybe he’ll give the team a spark.

The next thing Fisher should do is scale back the playbook and exploit Young’s athletic abilities. For Fisher and the Titans, now is about winning games and not trying to develop Young as a passer. So if that means he only attempts 15 passes and runs the ball 10 times, so be it.

It’s time for Young to prove everyone wrong. Obviously Fisher doesn’t have a ton of confidence in his abilities or else he would have been starting over Collins two weeks ago, so now it’s up to Young to produce. He showed in his rookie year that he could win in the NFL, so now he needs to rekindle some of that magic and win a couple ballgames to prove that he can be a starting quarterback in this league.

These next couple weeks are crucial for Fisher and Young. Winning is the only thing that will help them retain their current jobs, or at the very least ensure that they will find employment elsewhere.

According to a report by the Nashville Tennessean, Titans’ owner Bud Adams wants to see a little more Vince Young and a little less Kerry Collins.

“I have been wanting him to play Vince Young more because Collins has been having his problems out there,” Adams said. “I just think we need to find out how well (Young) can do. If you don’t play the guy and lose all your games, it is hard for you to see what he can do if he is not playing.

“Vince has won a lot of games for us. But Jeff is the one making those decisions; they are playing for him.”

If you read the entire article, Adams does a nice job of venting his frustrations but not making overly dramatic statements. He doesn’t like the way the Titans have started the season, but he’s relying on the coaching staff to make the football decisions, which he should.

I’ve been writing for weeks how the Titans should give Young a shot under center. He’s not going to magically turn things around for Tennessee, but he might give his team a shot in the arm and get them to at least be competitive. Watching Collins and the rest of the Titans play in New England yesterday was pathetic.

Fisher needs to do something, even if it doesn’t wind up panning out in the end. He can’t possibly think that the team that took the field yesterday gives him the best chance to win and if he does, then more losing is ahead for the Titans.

Titans head coach Jeff Fisher stated on Sunday night following Tennessee’s loss to the Colts that Kerry Collins will remain his starting quarterback for the time being.

From Rotoworld.com:

Collins was pulled for Vince Young late in the game, prompting cheers from the home crowd. “We were three and a half, four scores down,” Fisher said. “The game was a little out of hand, and when games get out of hand, either way, you play your backup.” Fisher may reconsider during the Week 7 bye. Downgrade Titans receivers for the rest of the season.

There’s nothing about this decision that I like. The Titans are 0-5 with little hope of turning around their season and yet Fisher refuses to make a change in efforts to light a fire under his lifeless team.

Young isn’t the answer, but Collins can’t move the chains right now and that was once again evident last night. He continues to struggle to with the intermediate to deep throws and while his decision-making hasn’t been good, his accuracy has been his because issue.

I understand if Fisher didn’t want to give up on the season, but Kerry Collins doesn’t seem like the horse you want to throw your life savings on when you need one big score. Young isn’t that player either, but if I’m the Titans I’d rather see what I have with him because I already know what I have in Collins.

A year after starting 10-0 and earning the AFC’s top playoff seed last year, the Tennessee Titans have crumbled to a 0-5 start in 2009. And outside of keeping things close against the Steelers in Week 1, it’s been an ugly 0-5 for Jeff Fisher’s team.

In the Colts’ 31-9 win over the Titans on Sunday night, it was again evident that Kerry Collins can’t lead Tennessee’s offense. When his offensive line didn’t give him time to throw this year, he stumbled into sacks by moving backwards in the pocket. When they did give him time, he was off the mark and inaccurate.

The Titans can no longer line up with an opponent and go toe to toe with them. They simply don’t have enough offensive firepower to keep up with how many points their defense is giving up, so Fisher needs to start getting creative. If Collins can’t move the offense, then Vince Young needs to start.

Fisher and his coaching staff obviously doesn’t think Young gives the Titans the best chance to win or else he’d already be starting. But what do they have to lose at this point? If Young gets his confidence back, he might light a fire under the rest of Tennessee’s offense and inspire his team not to quit on the rest of he season. If he flubs, then he flubs and the Titans will continue to drudge through what is turning out to be a lost season.

At one point, the Titans thought Young was going to be their quarterback for a long time. His mental collapse last year was unfortunate, but at some point Tennessee needs to move past that and see if Young will ever be the quarterback they thought he would once be.

It’s good that Fisher went to Young in the fourth quarter tonight, but Vince deserves a chance to take first-team reps in practice and prepare for a defense as a starter. As Young showed by picking up a first down on a third and long, he can make things happen with his legs and at the very least keep the chains moving. He’s still going to make mistakes, but Collins has made his fair share to start the year so you might as well roll the dice with the more athletic Young.

Fisher needs to realize that his 2008 team isn’t coming back. The wily veteran quarterback that led his team to a 13-3 record has aged about 10 years and is playing with a lack of confidence. It’s time to go back to Vince Young.

If the Tennessee Titans were to make a list of the problems they’ve had this year, Kerry Collins wouldn’t be in the top 5. A horrid pass defense, the inability to convert third downs, and turnovers would be near the top. (All three were on full display on Sunday as the Jaguars crushed the Titans 37-17.)

But the Titans need a spark and at 0-4, it might be time for Jeff Fisher to go back to Vince Young, who played himself out of the starting lineup following a mental breakdown in the opening week of 2008.

Young won’t solve all of the Titans’ issues, if any of them. Even if he did play well, the secondary still has massive issues and Tennessee would have to cut down on the turnovers. But he might be able to keep the chains moving with his legs and give the Titans an opportunity to sustain drives.

Collins has proven in the early going that he can’t keep the offense on the field, particularly in the first half. That has allowed opponents to get their offenses on the field and take advantage of Tennessee’s problems in the secondary. In the last two weeks, the Titans have found themselves down by 10 or more points in the first quarter because of turnovers or the offense’s inability to pick up first downs.

Again, Young won’t be a cure-all, but Fisher has to do something because the players look like they’re quitting on the season. And for a team that started ’08 10-0, there’s just no excuse for that.

Remember when the Titans started last season 10-0 and amassed the league’s best record? Well that’s nothing but a distant memory because the 2009 version of the Titans is done.

That statement might be overblown given that it’s only Week 3 of the season, but after their 24-17 loss to the Jets on Sunday, it’s clear that this isn’t the same Tennessee team that was among the NFL’s best last season.

Look, I realize that the Titans started 0-6 in 2006 and still made the playoffs. And I also realize that had rookie corner Ryan Mouton not fumbled twice on kick returns today (both resulting in scores by the Jets), Tennessee might be 1-2 and fighting its way back into contention.

But there’s just something missing on this Titans team and it’s not only Albert Haynesworth. Kerry Collins has lost a lot of that veteran magic that he had last year, the secondary is an absolute mess and while Chris Johnson is a superb player, this team is still lacking offensive playmakers in the passing game.

Things just aren’t clicking right now for the Titans and while it might be premature to write them off at this point in the season, I just don’t see this team mounting a comeback given their issues.

The Jets, meanwhile, are the team to beat in the AFC East – period. Mark Sanchez (17 of 30, 171 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) isn’t tearing up the stat sheet by any means, but he’s playing like a 10-year veteran and is giving his team a chance to win every week (not unlike Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did as rookie starters last year).

What was impressive today about Sanchez is that Tennessee did a nice job taking away the Jets’ running game and the rookie QB still found ways to make enough plays to win. The play-action fake that Sanchez made on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Ben Hartsock in the first quarter was a thing of beauty. And despite not having the skill set as a No. 1 receiver, Jerricho Cotchery managed to haul in eight passes for 108 yards and a touchdown while giving Sanchez an open target to throw to all game.

It’s hard to gush about the Jets without talking about the job Rex Ryan has done with New York’s defense. Ryan continues to use different defensive looks to disguise where pressure is coming from and confuse opposing quarterbacks. A lot of times the opposing signal caller can’t figure out where the extra defender is going to come from until it’s too late.

Some may disagree, but the Jets are the team to beat right now in the AFC East. Their defense can contend with anyone in the league and as long as Sanchez can cut down on the fumbles (he already has three on the year) and show the poise he has in his first three games, the Jets are going to be tough to beat all season.

The highly anticipated first game of the NFL season is tonight at 7:30 p.m. as the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers host the Titans at Heinz Field. Here are five things to watch as the 2009 NFL season kicks off with this opening matchup.

1. The Steeler offensive line.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger admitted that Pittsburgh became a Super Bowl contender last year when the offensive line gelled late in the season. What was supposed to be an Achilles heel for the Steelers actually turned out to be the thing that lifted them to a Super Bowl title. Now Pittsburgh has one of the more cohesive offensive lines in the league and while no one player stands out, the entire unit works well together and it’ll be interesting to see if they pick up tonight where they left off last February in Tampa.

2. How will the Titans fare without Albert Haynesworth?
Haynesworth was the key cog in Tennessee’s defense the past couple years while commanding double teams and freeing up those around him to make plays. In steps Tony Brown, a player coming off a great ’09 season and one that must fill the massive shoes left by Haynesworth. Brown is more than capable as an interior pass-rusher, but he probably won’t command double-teams like Haynesworth did. How will his linemates Jevon Kearse, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Jason Jones fare now that they might not see one-on-one matchups like they did when Haynesworth was playing next to them?

3. Do the Titans still lack offensive playmakers?
Running back Chris Johnson burst on the scene last year as a rookie, averaging 4.9 yards a carry and totaling 10 touchdowns (9 on the ground, 1 through the air). But it was clear in Tennessee’s loss to Baltimore in the AFC Divisional Round that the Titans lacked offensive playmakers. So they signed former Steeler Nate Washington and drafted Kenny Britt in the first round to give their receiving corps a boost. Will it be enough? We won’t find out about Washington tonight as he continues to battle an injured hamstring, but Britt practiced with the starting offense all week and will get an opportunity to play. Although he lacks elite speed, Britt was a monster after the catch while playing at Rutgers and could give quarterback Kerry Collins a nice weapon tonight in the passing game.

4. Will Timmons’ injury open the door for Johnson to make big plays?
Former first round pick Lawrence Timmons became a regular starter this summer when Larry Foote was released. Timmons is supposed to give coordinator Dick LeBeau another weapon in his already stocked defensive arsenal because he runs well and is an effective blitzer. But Timmons is battling an ankle injury and won’t play tonight, so it’ll be interesting to see if Johnson has room to work with in the middle of the field, or if James Farrior and company will still put the Titans’ running game on lock down.

5. The Pittsburgh running game.
The Steelers won the Super Bowl last year despite finishing 23rd in overall rushing. Part of that can be contributed to the offensive line needing time to gel, but now that the line is playing as a cohesive unit, the Steelers should get back to their running ways. Willie Parker needs to stay fresh this season and the return of former first round pick Rashad Mendenhall (who broke his shoulder in Week 4 last year) will help. Can Parker and Mendenhall form a solid 1-2 punch in the Steelers backfield? Or will they continue their struggles in the Steel City?