NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Vince Young hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass since Sept. 24, and six of his eight interceptions have come in his past four games. Tennessee ranks next to last in the NFL in yards through the air.
The 2006 Offensive Rookie of the Year is asking for patience while he develops.
“It’s coming. It’s coming. You just got to be patient with it,” Young said Wednesday.
Neither coach Jeff Fisher nor any of Young’s teammates are worried. They measure Young by only one statistic right now: a 6-2 record a year after a 2-6 start.
“We’re winning games. That’s the bottom line. We’re winning games,” Fisher said.
“He is contributing an awful lot to those wins. If people want 400 or 500 yards passing out of our offense, they’re going to have to wait. They’re not going to get it. We’re not there yet. Whether we ever get there, I don’t know. But we’re winning games. There are other ways to win games.”
Young recently wore a T-shirt under his practice jersey that read simply: “I am a quarterback.” Right now, it might be better to call him the Titans’ manager.
“We expect Vince to do what we want him to do, and that’s to manage the game, not turn the ball over and go out there and win games,” center Kevin Mawae said.
“Again, the No. 1 stat that means more than anything right now is 6-2. We don’t have to have him have 98 percent completion percentage for us to win games. We need to go out, control the clock, control the ball and let our defense do their job.”
LenDale White and the offensive line are responsible for the NFL’s third-rated rushing offense and mixes with a very stingy defense in a three-game winning streak.
For a quarterback, Young’s statistics are ugly.
Young threw for 2,199 yards as a rookie and didn’t top 3,000 yards passing until he threw for 110 yards in his 20th career start last week.
His completion percentage is up 10 points from 2006 and now is at 61.6 percent. But 32 NFL quarterbacks have better passer ratings than his 61.5, and he has only three TD passes this season, none since Sept. 24.
Young missed one start and nearly half of another game with a strained right quadriceps. Through seven starts, Young is 93-of-151 for 855 yards passing, and he has run 47 times for 165 yards and two TDs, a big drop from 2006, when he ran 83 times for 552 yards and seven TDs.
“Teams figure you out,” Mawae said. “So he’s struggling through that right now.”
Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio has to scheme to defend Young for the second time this season when his Jaguars (5-3) visit Sunday. Young ran for a touchdown in their season-opening 13-10 win at Jacksonville, but had only 100 yards combined.
Del Rio called Young an amazing young athlete who always has been a winner.
“He’ll still take off and make plays with his feet. Obviously, teams are trying different tactics to try and keep him slowed down. But you still have to get him tackled,” Del Rio said.
Young has been spending extra time after practice working with his receivers, and he pointed at receiver Brandon Jones after miscommunication resulted in an incompletion last week. Jones said he sees Young as much more of a leader these days, someone who doesn’t stress in the huddle.
“We’re in a little slump right now, a baseball slump,” Jones said. “We’ll come out of it.”
Fisher insists he isn’t worried about Young’s decisions or offensive production, not for a quarterback who has 20 career starts. Young was intercepted by Carolina in the end zone when he had an open lane to run.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with his attitude, his approach and his enthusiasm for playing this game, and what he does during the week, what he does during his off days and the extra time he’s putting in. Even though sometimes the numbers don’t reflect it, he’s improving,” Fisher said.
Young said his thigh feels much better, and he ran for only his second TD of 2007 last week. He said he is ready to make a big play if needed, but points to a 6-2 record as the important fact.
“It’s not all about me,” he said.
And that’s OK for the Titans right now.
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