Vince Young has enough physical talent to be a very good maybe even great NFL QB. He has a great arm, inaccurate at this point, an uncanny ability to make a great play out of nothing with either his legs or his arm and leadership on the field that few had questioned when he came out of the University of Texas. But over the past two seasons Young has told more than one person that he has thought about quitting pro football. A quick timeline of what he has said.
First, In an interview with Thomas George of NFL.com last summer, Young said he considered giving up football prior to the '07 season because of the pressures of being an NFL quarterback and other factors.
At age 24 -- only one year into his NFL career -- he said he considered retirement.
"I really thought long and hard about it," Young said on Thursday after practice. "There was so much going on with my family. It was crazy being an NFL quarterback. It wasn't fun anymore. All of the fun was out of it. All of the excitement was gone. All I was doing was worrying about things.
"My teammates helped lift me out of it. I prayed really hard. And I began to focus on God's calling for me. Play football. Be a role model."
"My teammates helped lift me out of it. I prayed really hard. And I began to focus on God's calling for me. Play football. Be a role model."
"It's 'Vince can't do this' and 'Vince can't do that,'" Young said. "I don't want to be a pocket quarterback. I want to be a Hall of Fame quarterback. Compare me to Randall Cunningham in my game. I ask our coaches to let me be me on the field. I listen and I do what I am asked. But they are listening, too."
2. Then there was the story from Adam Schefter of NFL.com last weekend that said Young wanted to sit out the 2nd half of the playoff game against the Chargers and had to be talked into going back out and playing the final 2 quarters. Adam Schefter reported on NFL Network’s NFL GameDay Morning that during last season’s AFC Wild Card game against San Diego, Young wanted to stop playing at halftime and had to be persuaded to take the field with his teammates in the second half. Think about that. It was the biggest game of his professional career, and Young wanted to stop playing at halftime. That’s stunning for a guy who left Texas with a reputation as a big-game player.
3. Last week his mother spoke up for her son after his latest incident that according to everyone was overblown, saying that football was the last thing her son was thinking about. It was taken by the media as her saying her son didn't want to play anymore, I took it more as he had things other than his football career on his mind. Either way it's just the latest in a disturbing trend in Young's short NFL career.
No matter how his comments and actions are interpretted, it seems that Young is not a place in his life that he can commit himself 100% to playing QB in the NFL. That feeling may change, many 25 year-olds change their minds, and he may decide that playing football in the NFL is a much better gig than say, selling insurance but we'll have to wait and see.
5 comments:
vince is getting the shit end of the stick here babe. everything he says, does, insinuates etc..is being picked apart by the media now.
he possibly sat out & had to be coaxed back in, cuz maybe, just maybe, he's getting tired of falling off a bit in his playing. re group, get your shit together? what's the answer........NO ONE but VY
knows that.
time will tell i suppose, maybe now that his job has been given to a back up, he will wake up!
Hopefully he will. He is getting the sh-- end especially on what his mom said, I don't think she ever meant that he didn't want to play anymore, she just said football isn't #1 right now. I think everyone at one time or another has not felt like going to work or has other priorities then work, you stuff like family.
The playoff game was different, it was the biggest game of his pro career so far, and whether we like it or not, other players, coaches and teams see that as an indication that he's not committed and he can't handle things when they don't go well.
He was at practice yesterday but did not talk to the media, I hope he's not pouting, and that he is listening to someone who can help him.
he's probably not talking because everything he says get cross examined
media=issues
maybe football isn't #1 right now, it shouldn't be, getting healthy & getting your mind back together, should be #1~
Hard to say what's going on with him. You're right some stuff he has said has been taken and twisted, the quote about him thinking about retirement wasn't. But I do think he said like, "Oh sure I've thought about quitting"; the same way I might say; "Oh sure I've thought about getting a new car."
In kind of a flippant way, it's something I've thought about but not really considered.
i point up to your latest blog entry on this matter.
this guy cannot get a fkin break no 2 ways about it!
if nothing else it's a learning experience?? sorry i got nothin, i feel bad for this guy!
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