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.

Titans’ owner Bud Adams is getting even more vocal about his desire to see quarterback Vince Young start over Kerry Collins this week.

From the Nashville Tennessean:

In the past week the 86-year-old owner has been more direct, according to sources familiar with the situation. Adams wants the change now.

Adams and Fisher could not be reached for comment on Monday night.

At his weekly press conference earlier in the day, Fisher was non-committal when asked if Kerry Collins or Young would start this week, citing competitive reasons. It was the first time this season Fisher did not immediately say Collins would remain the starter.
This isn’t really anything new because Adams went on record a week ago that he’d like to see Young play. But if the report is true and Adams is getting more direct, the situation is starting to become interesting because it could play into whether or not Fisher is retained at the end of the year.

One would imagine that Fisher is on the hot seat after the Titans’ brutal start. If the owner wants to see more of Young, but Fisher sticks with Collins and the team continues to lose, will the long-time head coach been shown the door for not granting the owner’s wishes.

Young isn’t the answer, but he could at least provide a spark for a lifeless team. At this point, Fisher should be willing to try just about anything to earn a win and if that means starting Young, then so be it.

The wife of former Titans GM Floyd Reese ripped into head coach Jeff Fisher on WGFX-FM 140.5 The Zone on Thursday, indicating that her husband is the only reason Fisher still has a job.

From the Nashville City Paper:

Sally Reese, who alleged that her husband saved Fisher from being fired twice in his tenure, indicated that she was happy that the Patriots routed the Titans in the fashion they did and hoped it would be worse than the final score.

“He kept Jeff from getting fired two times. So if he’d let him get fired, he’d still be there. Hello? That’s hindsight.” Reese said. “But you know paybacks — can I say bitch? — payback’s a bitch. Sunday I was hoping they’d run it to 100. And I love Tennessee. All you Tennessee people, my dad’s from Tennessee, but when you get sucker punched, you want to sucker punch back. My husband said it would be very uncool. He said, ‘We have to play them again.’ I said I only hope.”

Sally Reese also refuted that Fisher did not have input into the draft process while Floyd Reese was GM.

“Floyd had Devin Hester on the phone. He was going to the Titans. And Jeff wanted LenDale White. So Floyd backed it up, and you guys got LenDale. The Chicago Bears got [Hester], and that would have been the fourth Rookie of the Year my husband would have had. Not too shabby,” Reese said. “I just wanted to set the record straight, because sometimes when I hear what John has to say, I have to say B.S. to it. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

During Reese’s time in Tennessee, the Titans won 106 regular season games, three division titles and nearly won Super Bowl XXXIV. I don’t know if the intimate details that his wife shared are true, but Reese definitely knows what it takes to build a football team.

That said, this sounds like someone who couldn’t wait to kick a team while its down and Sally took advantage of the opportunity after the Patriots (her husband’s new team) dismantled the Titans last Sunday. Either way, Fisher’s time in Tennessee seems to be running out. His team gave up on him two weeks ago.

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.

We’re going to start something new this week….individual power rankings in the NFL for MVP, coach of the year and rookie of the year. We may expand this to separate entries, since frankly it’s difficult picking just three of each. But here is what we’re thinking so far after the first quarter of the season….

MVP

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—With all due respect to Drew Brees and Peyton’s little brother, there is no way in hell the Colts would be 4-0 without Peyton. And he’s doing it with young receivers not named Harrison and Gonzalez.

2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Favre mostly handed off to his stud RB Adrian Peterson the first two weeks, then made himself comfortable with a game winning pass with 2 seconds left against the Niners, and a fierce performance including 3 TDs against his former employer Monday night. Again, without Favre, is this team 4-0? Probably not.

3. Steve Smith, New York Giants—Are you kidding me? This guy has not only made everyone forget about Plaxico Burress, but he’s on pace to catch 136 passes, which would be second in NFL history for a single season. Smith is the only receiver in the league averaging 100 yards per game (102.8) and has 4 scores.

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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.

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Vince Young recently sat down with Esquire magazine and in the interview, he set some lofty expectations for himself and his football career.

From AOL Fanhouse:

I don’t know when I’ll start again. But I will be the next black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. And I will be in the Hall of Fame.

Does it count if he wins a Super Bowl as a backup?

I like a player who sets a goal and then goes after it. The problem is that Young is currently stuck behind Kerry Collins and his future with the Titans is up in the air after proving that he’s a mental midget last season.

Young certainly has the athletic talent to succeed in the NFL, but does he have the mental makeup? Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks don’t feel the heat in pressure situations and when things start to go awry, they’re usually the coolest customers. Does any of that fit the description of Young?

I like VY and I’m hoping he earns (key word: earns) a starting role again someday. But he has long odds to win a Super Bowl as a starter and even longer odds to be in the Hall of Fame.

Nice ambition, though.

Last month we started looking at last season’s statistics for position players in fantasy football land, and today we’ll look at a position many often overlook. That’s fantasy defenses, which can sometimes put up just enough points to earn your team a victory once in a while. It’s always smart to try and grab one of the top units, although as we’ve seen before, things change, sometimes drastically, from year to year with fantasy D’s. Me? I like to grab my defense before my kicker. This list is based on point totals from one of my leagues, so keep in mind that stats vary from year to year.

1. Baltimore Ravens—The Ravens’ defense is perennially awesome, and we’ll find out for sure how much of that was due to former coordinator Rex Ryan, who is now the head honcho for the Jets. Ryan took plenty of players with him too, like LB Bart Scott and S Jim Leonhard, but the Ravens still have Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs. Reed just keeps getting better every year, and his sick nose for the ball is one reason the Ravens had a league high 26 picks. They will keep scoring low as always, but their 34 sacks last season isn’t much to get excited about. Bottom line: The Ravens won’t be a number one this year, but are still top 10.

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