Tennessee owner needlessly praises himself for move to V.Y. Matt Bowen
Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams made a comment yesterday in regards to Vince Young that still isn’t sitting well with me this afternoon.
According to The Tennessean, Adams told reporters that it was his call to make the switch from Kerry Collins to Vince Young at the quarterback position, saying, “I made the move this time because we had lost six in a row and we had 21 of the 22 players that got us the best record in 2008. I said, ‘It’s time to make a change right now.’”
Well, how convenient to come out and say such a thing after Young has taken this team on a 5-0 run and put the Titans right back in the playoff race.
My question: what if it was the opposite and Young had come in and the Titans could not turn it around? Would we then see an owner coming out and proclaiming that it was his decision to play the quarterback—despite the team’s lack of success?
Of course not, and this is why this statement is something you would only hear from the luxury box up above the stadium or on the sideline in the fourth quarter—in between giving the middle finger to the opposing team, which Adams so eloquently did after a win against the Bills. Classy move.
Despite whose decision this was, this is still Jeff Fisher’s team and Jeff Fisher’s locker room. I know that there are Titans fans who think that Fisher gets too much respect from the media and too much respect from the league, but I can’t agree with anyone who doesn’t believe that it is Fisher’s leadership that has aided the Tennessee turnaround—along with Young’s production.
He is the one running the meetings, the practices and making the decisions on Sundays, while rich owners, like Adams, are watching from high above.
It has always been coaching, not ownership, that leads to playoff runs during the season, especially at the crucial point we’re at right now—where seasons are won or lost. Yes, I agree after seeing V.Y. lead the 99-yard drive—after his fifth straight win—that Collins had to be sat down. No question about that anymore. Vince Young is the right man for the Titans at this point in his career and at this point in Fisher’s career as the head coach.
If Adams made the call to get Young into the lineup, well, great. I don’t see why we have to hand him a trophy or why Adams himself needs to let us all know that he is in charge.
Because this Sunday, when Tennessee travels to Indy, it will be Fisher that prepares the team to play, to execute and to try and win its sixth in a row.
With V.Y. under center—no matter who made the decision.
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Vince Young isn't the only QB playing well. To read about how Brett Favre's MVP-type season could actually hurt the Vikings, check out this article from Bleacher Report.
All owners want to play coach from time to time, but not many owners have a pair of shoes like Cousin Eddie's in Lampoons Vacation like good old Bud in that photo... along with that blue leisure suit he is rocking.
Although I'm a fan of Jeff Fisher, with all due respect Matt, I TOTALLY understand why Bud Adams is publicly taking the credit for Vince Young being inserted. It's because everyone in the media is crediting Jeff Fisher for the move & Vince Young's turnaround. It's common knowledge that Jeff Fisher did not want to play Vince Young. How do I know this? Anytime a owner has to threaten you with your job to play the man, that is a good sign that he didn't want to play him (Adams didn't deny giving the ultimatum). I have NO problem whatsoever with Bud Adams doing that. As far as I'm concerned, he waited TOO long.
Umm, since when is this news? Prior to the switch from Collins, every news outlet in the Country was reporting that Adams wanted the switch to be made, and once that information is out there, it was only a matter of time before the switch WAS made. In other words, we already knew that Young was playing because Adams wanted it that way. Furthermore, pretty much everyone was on-board with the idea that the Titans need to play Young because they needed to know whether he was the future. I may be wrong, but I believe either Matt, Lombardi, or both of you expressly advocated that position.
So the idea that Adams is now "taking credit" for the win streak by telling the media what everyone already knew is a bunch of baloney. If Young had imploded, what would Adams have lost by either denying or admitting that he wanted the switch? If he denied it, nobody would have believed him, and if he admitted it, it would still have been deemed the right move under the circumstances. The team was 0-6 and had just been shellacked 59-0 - not like the situation was going to get any worse!!
I also don't agree that Adams is taking anything away from Fisher by saying that he called for the switch - except that it continues to highlight some lack of judgment by Fisher in not making the switch earlier. Bottom line, we can all agree that Fisher is still a heck of a coach and has this team playing lights out, but you still have to wonder what the heck he was thinking for the first six games.
I wholeheartedly agree with jermaine brown and Scot. Why would it possibly bother you for the owner to take credit for doing exactly what he claimed he did (and everyone knew it anyway)?
Let me ask you a question about the real subject of this post: Why do players resent owners participating in football operations? Is this a proletariat thing or what? In particular, to attack a business owner for stepping in after his team loses, 56-0? How dare he?
I am going to agree with the writer here. Owners need to stay out of football operations. Case in point, Dan Snyder in Washington.
Need I say more?
Adams signs the pay checks, he can say what he wants. Happens in any business in America. And if he's the guy who wanted Young and the coach won't play him, then he's perfectly within his rights to fire the coach -- difference between being an owner and being an employee.
Why shouldn't he take credit? It was his move. Fisher probably would have still had Collins in and this team would be nearing full blown rebuilding mode. The media needs to stop bowing down to Fisher and realize that he's not perfect.
If it wasn't for Adams this franchise may have drafted Leinart instead of Young if it were up to Fisher. Where would they be if that were the case? So sometimes owners do need to step in. Not all of them are as football inept as Daniel Snyder is. Adams at least hired a GM unlike Snyder.
Let him enjoy his victory lap, he's an AFL pioneer and has been pretty far from a "meddler". Yeah, him coming out and taking credit isn't great, but it's pretty inconsequential. From day one he's said VY was his guy, so that's an influence here. Adams let Fisher put his guy on the pine for a season and a half and feels vindicated now that he's exceeding expectations. And regarding the thought of any potential discord between owner and coach re: VY, his play shows that he's clearly Fisher's guy too... he's sticking to the script and managing the game like his coach wants.
This is a pretty darn positive story all around... no need to nitpick on Adams.
I think it should be Jeff fisher who comes out and apologizes to his team for playing that bum Collins for so long. Fisher has never won a super bowl and had 2 good seasons in 14. I am surprised that he hasn't meesed up Chris Johnson. Glad I don't live near the Titans
I was thinking the same thing, but wasn't sure how to say it. Well said.
Bud Adams is the man. Jeff Fischer is a big dummy. He's trying to take credit for whats going on right now in Tenn. He was ready to abandon his team a month ago, wearing a Peyton Manning jersey talking about wanting to feel like a winner. I hate Fischer. He even said the same week that VY was coming back that he's still in Kerry Collins corner and it wasn't his decision to pull Collins and start Young. Belive it or not, I think that Fischer is rooting against his own team now that Vince Young is in. I bet on that game winning drive against the Card's Fischer was praying that VY threw an interception. It hurt Fischer to see Vince drive 99 yards and win the game. Because now people are saying: you know what that Bud Adams guy was right, he did the right thing by going over Fischers head and making that decision. Jeff Fischer stubbornly did not want to play VY because his own personal vendetta he has against him. Fischer would rather stubbornly go 0-16 with Kerry Collins than win a couple games with VY....JEFF FISCHER NEEDS TO BE FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why are the commentators lieing, giving Jeff the credit! That fool needs to be fired! The writer fully knows that Jeff stated he wasn't going to play young and collins was his guy. After 59 point loss he stated same thing and the owner said on same day vince will be playing after jeff made his collins statement. Jeff made vince a third string bc vince slept at home of family instead of with his team while vince was having family issues. A coach should be a mentor and know family is the backbone and mental stablity or instability. But Jeff says forget young loser collins is his man. meanwhile they harp on vince young shortfalls but what about collins. why was expectations higher for one and not the other. Jeff should be fired and go down as dumbest coach ever and collins who blew his oppurtunity after 6 games and a stupid coach on your side should be traded to the nearest shelter and talked about the way they trashed vince young.
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Dec 01, 2009
05:14 PM
Although I do think that Fisher is widely over hyped, this was a classic "look at me move" by Bud Adams. No point other than to draw attention to himself during a winning streak.