If you're a Tennessee Titans fan it's basically assumed at this point that you have an opinion on the team's current backup quarterback, Vince Young--one way or the other.  Love him or hate him, think he's still got potential to assume the QB throne or think he's already on his way out of the league, Titans fans have been arguing amongst each other about where he stands going into the 2009 season.  And considering how little we saw of him in the 2008 season, during which he threw a total of 36 passes, a little extra is being read into his every movement during this pre-season.

Having said that, in my observation, Titans fans currently have a lot of reason to think that Young is progressing.  Granted, Young's stat line from the pre-season opener against Buffalo looked pretty bad (5 of 10, 39yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 rush attempt for 1yd) and the offense lacked any sort of rhythm with him at the helm, but there was little that could realistically be drawn from the performance.  At home against the Buccanneers, however, Vince was back to showing some glimpses of progress.

A handful of series in a meaningless pre-season game against second- and third-string defenses can't tell a casual fan too much about a player.  But here are some things to consider regarding Vince's performance over the weekend (9 of 14, 131yds, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 2 rushes for 9yds).  

One.

Perhaps one of the biggest complaints about Vince The Player, going back to his sophomore NFL season in 2007, is that he had "stopped running."  Many fans have voiced the sentiment that Vince no longer utilizes the tools that promised to make him one of the more dynamic and threatening weapons in the league.  Vince has looked hesitant to take off out of the pocket, to create on the fly, to improvise; at times, he has looked like he was being forced--whether by his coaches or by himself--to stand in the pocket and take sacks or force bad throws.  Additionally, following an injury to his quad against the Buccanneers in the 2007 season, questions began to rise regarding his ability to become explosive again.  

Albeit only a slight respite, Vince executed a dash more reminiscent of himself in 2006 than 2007. 

2nd and 13, 12:23 - 3rd quarter

Vince comes out under center, in a two tight-end, singleback set.  Tampa counters with a base 4-3 package, corners 2-3 yards off their receivers in man-to-man coverage.  At the snap, the corners turn and run with their men.  The TE and WR split out to the right are running deep patterns; the call here is to go deep with the ball and it is Young's first read.  TE Craig Stevens, lined up on the left side of the line, runs a drag across the formation, taking the right and middle linebackers with him.  After a delay, RB Chris Henry delivers a nice chip on the defensive tackle then runs a curl underneath, causing the ROLB to peel off of Stevens and back inside onto Henry.  Vince steps up, pumps to the right side and feels the pressure of the pocket collapsing from the right.  Without hesitation, Vince pulls the ball down and breaks to the left picking up 9 yards before being chased out of bounds by the ROLB and creating a far more manageable 3rd and 3.  In fact, a better chip by Chris Henry on the ROLB as Vince breaks the pocket and Vince goes one-on-one with a corner and probably picks up the first down.  The Good here is that Vince exhibits a good degree of his elusiveness and play-making ability by making an instant decision to escape and picking up what he can; he also makes a wise decision by taking it out of bounds and not exposing himself to unnecessary hits.  Whether Vince had a second or third read on this playcall is moot at this point as the pressure was on him and he did what was needed to make a positive out of the play.

Bonus points: Vince's physical and mental toughness has also been called into question by many as fans have become accustomed to Vince's melodramatics of rolling around on the turf after any sort of contact.  However, on the play above, Vince seems to pull up limp as he crosses the sidelines and grabs at his left hamstring.  But Vince makes his way back onto the field and into the huddle without looking for his replacement, without asking for trainers' or coaches' assistance.  It might stand as an indication that Vince gets what is at stake now and understands the game at the NFL level requires playing through a degree of pain.

Two.

One of the biggest complaints I have come across regarding Young's performance in the pre-season opener was how stiff the offense appeared under his control in the 2nd and early 3rd quarters.  Without sustaining any drives, the Titans' offensive series under Vince's direction terminated with one interception and three three-and-outs.  The one drive that resulted in points for the offense under Young was the result of a special teams fumble recovery at the Buffalo 37 yard line.  Meanwhile, the offenses displayed much better rhythm and execution under QBs Kerry Collins and Patrick Ramsey.  

Fast forward a week later against Tampa and Vince's offensive series execute much better, establishing rhythm and sustained drives.  Although his first time out on the field concluded with a three-and-out after failing to convert a 3rd and 6, Vince rebounded with a 38-yard strike to rookie Kenny Britt off of play-action to open up his second series (a drive of 8 plays ending with three points).  And although the offense struggled to put together a 2-minute drill to close out the first half and ended up punting, Young and company assembled a respectable 10-play drive culminating in a touchdown.  


Three.

However I have also heard nay-sayers criticize Vince's apparent progress and attribute it to a "dumbed-down, one-read, cut-the-field-in-half" version of the offense.  While there is a degree of truth to these claims and some evidence to back up this opinion, as with nearly everything you see in pre-season, you do not always see what you think you see.  

True, many of the throws attempted by Young in his quarter-and-a-half of play appeared to come off of just one look, implying Vince is being given one read to make and is expected either to make the throw or pull the ball and run.  Personally, I have some problems with stating that the plays were called as read-or-run as any type of a fact.  First, the fact that Young saw and threw to his first read does not necessarily mean that there were not secondary reads/progressions on the play.  All you can legitimately take away from these plays is that Vince recognized his first read and made the throw to his first read.  Taking it to the opposite extreme, one could argue that Vince has progressed so greatly at the QB position that he is now able to diagnose the proper pre-snap read and get the ball out to the correct man.  There is something to be said for this.

Picking up where we left off, in the same series in the 3rd quarter, following Young's 9-yard scamper, the Titans face a 3rd and 3 from their own 39 yard line.  Tennessee comes out with a four-wide look from the shotgun with Hawkins split wide right, Britt in the slot, Cook split right, and Williams split far left.  Tampa's defense is in nickle with all 11 men in the box; the corners are lined up in man coverage, with a linebacker on the LOS and the safeties 6-yds off the ball.  They are in nickle but expecting run.  At the snap, the nickleback breaks off of Britt and blitzes from the right side of the formation.  If Tampa drops into run-zones or stay manned up, the ball probably goes to Cook who runs a 5-yard curl underneath the safety.  But Vince, immediately recognizing the blitz, fires to Britt running a 4-yard out.  The ball is on time and is caught past the sticks--as long as Britt secures the ball, a defender could have dropped him on the spot and it's still a first down.  It turns out to be a nice pick up of 13 on 3rd and 3.  As simple as it sounds and looks, Vince makes the proper pre-snap read, seeing the body language of the nickleback turning into the LOS too early, probably tipping the defense's hand too early.  Otherwise, it's still an excellent reaction by Young to get the ball to the right man and throwing into the face of pressure.

Another reason to believe that Vince was not being given a read-or-run offense to run is that Vince had only two rushing attempts in the game, one of which coming as the result of pressure flushing him out of the pocket.  It is more likely that if all of the plays called for Vince to throw to the primary read or run it if it's not open that Vince would have ended his game with one of two things: more interceptions or more rush attempts.  As stated earlier, Vince finished with 0 INTs and only 2 rush attempts.  

Four.

Conceding what I would consider to be the worst-case scenario and admitting that most of the playcalls from last Saturday night were of a quick one-read-and-run nature, it still is not to say that Vince cannot make multiple reads or that he cannot begin learning to.  While this clearly is a concession that the expectations for a fourth year quarterback selected with the third overall pick are exceedingly low, I'll take it and be glad for it if it means Vince is really improving.  

An obvious example of this is the 3rd quarter 38-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Britt.  On this 3rd and 10 play, as the rush comes upfield, Vince moves up into the pocket.  With his primary read taken away from him on the right side (where the Titans had lined up three wide), Young clearly is about to take off and try to pick up the 10 yards needed for the first down.  However, just as he approaches the line of scrimmage, Vince--keeping his eyes downfield on his receivers--sees the safety and corner break off their deep assignments and attack the LOS.  Vince pumps, then throws on the run, delivering an accurate ball to Britt in-stride in the endzone for the TD.  Again, it's something that sounds and looks simple enough and the fact that it comes against mostly Tampa's 2nd- or 3rd-string defenders somewhat diminishes the difficulty level.  One is certainly welcome to make the argument that most safeties starting in the NFL won't bite up on the run that quickly and abandon their deep assignments to leave Kenny Britt so wide open.  But the significance of the play is not to be overlooked; fans have asked for Vince the Playmaker and on Saturday night he was in the building.

Looking at just the facts.

Reviewing just the facts, I came away from pre-season game two with several impressions regarding Vince's development as he continues preparing for his role as the #2 quarterback on the 2009 roster.  We can see that Vince is ready to be more decisive with his decisions to pull the ball and run.  There was little, if any, dancing around looking confused in the pocket last Saturday, and his decision to run the ball resulted in critical yards to set up a high-percentage third down play.  After pre-season game one, we the observers asked that the offense show some degree of rhythm, timing, efficiency, competency with Young under center; on Saturday we saw just that, as the offense produced 10 points in approximately a quarter and a half.  For a season and a half, we the observers have asked that Vince anticipate better, look more decisive with the ball and get it out quicker instead of waiting too long on a route to develop or for a man to come open.  On Saturday, we saw a Vince Young getting the ball out quickly, attacking defenses at soft-spots and picking up chunks of yards and making first downs.  And we the observers have asked since 2007 that Vince continue developing his potential as a playmaker, using his legs to set up plays for himself and for his offense.  On Saturday, Vince the Playmaker re-imerged for a quarter and a half.

He is still a work in progress, and I don't think you can argue that he is where you would hope for a fourth-year 3rd-overall pick to be be at this point.  But Saturday night the improvement was finally recognizeable.