The Blue Workhorse

Vince Young has been shrouded in controversy for the past six months, and even though Tennessee is 5-0, it has become apparent that Young is steamin!

‘Steamin’ Willie Beamen that is.

It started earlier this summer when Vince Young returned to the University of Texas to take some classes to work toward completing his degree. The quarterback, who had just led the Tennessee Titans to a 10-6 record in the regular season and a berth in the NFL playoffs, was, undoubtedly, a huge celebrity around the Austin campus.

And how did Young take advantage of his celebrity? He partied.

In the movie Any Given Sunday, what does ‘Steamin’ Willie Beamen when he first takes over the starting quarterback position and quickly ascends to celebrity status? He parties with the Sharks at Luther Lavay’s house.

We will just naturally assume that while it was never reported, Vince Young had his automobile sawed in half by Keith Bullock or Albert Haynesworth as Lavay does to Beamen’s hummer after Willie runs his mouth about the defense needing to play better.

Young originally was thrust into the lineup in 2006 replacing aging, veteran quarterback Kerry Collins when the offense was struggling, very much similar, to when Beamen was thrust into the Sharks lineup when the offense was struggling and after aging veteran quarterback Cap Rooney was injured on a blindside hit (note: second string QB Tyler Cherubini also was injured in the same game).

And while Young was not captured on film puking on the sideline as Beamin was, we are pretty sure Young did indeed yak all over the place in his first start against Dallas. It just occurred during a TV timeout and the cameramen were more interested in using their cameras to scope the Texas Stadium crowd for females.

Beamen and Young also have a penchant for upsetting their offensive teammates. Beamen and star running back Julian Washington were the center of a shower confrontation after Washington became upset at Beamen’s checks at the line of scrimmage that were taking away from his touches. While his situation did not end up in fisticuffs as Beamen’s did, Young didn’t necessarily gain himself any extra Christmas cards when he called out his offensive skill players before the playoffs last season talking about how he wished he had more playmakers, similar to the weapons opposing quarterback Philip Rivers has with Antonio Gates, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Chris Chambers.

Now like Beamen, Young has been benched in favor of the veteran quarterback with the hopes that the young, athletic QB will learn much will watching from the sideline.

For Young’s sake and the sake of the Titans future, hopefully, he will be able to follow in Beamen’s footsteps while on the sideline. As Beamen told coach Tony D’Amato after defeating the Dallas Knights with a last second touchdown run, “I learned more watching [Cap] in the first half than I did in five seasons.”

If VY is able to pull a similar feat and learn better how to professionally run the offense, coach Jeff Fisher will look like a genius, the Titans will be in contention for a Superbowl title, and all Young will have left to do will be to record a rap and shoot a poolside video (Beamin’s greatest feat while with Miami):

Shotgun Spratling

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