http://sports.espn.go.com...id=3577597

Young's four-hour absence spurs call first to Titans, then police

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nashville police were asked to search for Vince Young on Monday evening after family members placed a call to the Tennessee Titans informing them of their concern for the quarterback's state of mind.

According to Nashville Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron, Young "abruptly" left his home in Williamson County at around 7 p.m. Monday without his cell phone. Those with him at his home, including family members, were "concerned with his emotional well-being," Aaron said.

Police issued a bulletin to all on-duty officers to be on the lookout for Young and negotiators were also placed on stand-by, a procedure that is common in such situations, Aaron said.

Someone contacted Fisher out of concern for Young, and Fisher contacted the police department, police said.

"Not having all the facts available to us and approaching the matter prudently, we contacted Metro Police to make them aware of the situation and asked for their assistance in locating Vince," the Titans said in a statement Tuesday. "He was located at a friend's house, where we made contact with him.

"He then came to the practice facility, where it was determined that those initial concerns by his friends and family were unfounded and he returned home without incident," the Titans said.

Young left the facility by himself in his own vehicle after speaking with Fisher and officers, police said.

Young was booed during Sunday's season-opening victory over Jacksonville and did not finish the game because of an injury to his left knee. The Titans are expected to reveal results of an MRI on the knee sometime Tuesday, and possibly a timetable for the quarterback's return. Fisher said Monday it's not believed to be a season-ending injury, and ESPN's Chris Mortensen has reported Young will miss two to four weeks.

After throwing an interception in the fourth quarter, Young was late to join the offense for its next series, creating speculation that he tried to take himself out of the game after throwing what was his second pick. He sat on the bench after that interception, seemingly unmoved by players and coaches who tried to console him, often holding his head in his hands.

Fisher explained Monday that the issue was tightness in Young's hamstring and that there wasn't clear communication on the sideline about his ability to return to the field. Young did return to the field, but four plays later he injured his knee.

Inconsistency.

phunkdaddy said:

Inconsistency doesn't make your family think you're gonna harm yourself so they call your coach who in turn calls the cops to find you. There's something else going on here.

Dude might not have the gonads to handle the pressures of being an NFL QB.

Wow.....not everyone can handle the big boys league.

They're trynta clean it up now saying the family overreacted. I don't care what they say, that boy did something to make a house full of family members react that way.

MuthaFunka said:

Yep. Sounds like he was depressed over his lousy performance. Tough sh!t. The NFL is a MAN'S league son. Defenses have caught on to him, and if he doesn't work on his game, he won't last. And it's up to the Titans to help him develop(how about having McNair work with him?), and get him better skill players.

uPtoWnNY said:

These young cats think that success comes without HARD work.....they had better ask somebody.

uPtoWnNY said:

The thing is, no matter how fast or nimble or athletic yo ass is, you STILL need to be a pocket QB in order to be successful in the NFL.

MuthaFunka said:

Tell McNabb, Steve Young, Cunningham, etc that. A pocket passer has a longer career but being a pocket passer is not a requirement. You certainly can't throw as far on the run.

I think he's fine.
It may be as simple as he didn't want to talk to people and he has a house full, so rather than throw them out he just leaves.
The family probably never sees themselves as intruding.

SUPRMAN said:

I dunno about that. I'm sure he leaves the house everyday and nobody feels the need to call the coach in hysterics prompting a search by police. Something in his behavior before he left must've alarmed the family enough to take it there, IMO. I hope he's okay cuz that was my boy when he was at UT and I think if properly developed he could be a great QB. All of this though, is kinda disconcerting.

SUPRMAN said:

And how many of them did anything without a great WR and JUST their running? None. Being a pocket QB wins titles. Being a running QB gets you hurt.

SUPRMAN said:

But those cats could stand in the pocket and deliver the ball when they have to. VY has to learn that(and how to read defenses too). The kid has skills, but he needs better coaching(that's why I mentioned Air McNair as a mentor).

The NFL has become a "now" league which hurts young QBs developement. IMO, they should be brought along slowly. Nothing wrong with holding the clipboard while you learn the NFL game. Teams don't have patience anymore - Matt Leinart lost to Kurt Warner, and I'm hearing the Titans are disappointed VY hasn't progressed further.

The MRI on Vince Young's left knee revealed a sprained MCL.
The Titans are not giving a timetable on Young's return, but a MCL strain usually takes 4-6 weeks with quarterbacks giving it a go at 2-4 weeks. Tarvaris Jackson recently bounced back after two weeks. Coach Jeff Fischer called Monday night's "police invervention" a complete misunderstanding, and Young's agent said the quarterback was at a friend's house watching football and eating chicken wings.

uPtoWnNY said:

It's a "now" league because they pay out all this money and they want to see a return on that investment. Also you have to draft a QB two to three years before you need him, you develop him, he plays one year and is a free agent. Then where is your investment? Out the door.
Vince Young is probably frustrated by his self-image and the reality. Apparently his coaches at UT did little to develop him for the next level.

SUPRMAN said:

Young's agent is paid to say that sort of thing.

Young and Fisher wound up at a police station here in Nashville, with TV news crews in hot pursuit.

SCNDLS is right about the call to police from Young's home getting folks on edge.

Young was acting like his head was totally elsewhere on Sunday, and local coverage here (not to mention an acquaintance of mine who works with the Titans) all put Young as emotionally ill-suited for an NFL franchise.

Fisher has a rep for being a bit of a babysitter (i.e., Pacman Jones), but I'm not so sure how patient he's likely to be this time. Young's "injury" might lead to some lasting changes, if he's not careful.

uPtoWnNY said:

Fran Tarkenton could do it all!

These guys are overpaid and coddled. Where's the motivation when rediculous sums of money get thrown at you before you earn it? The average poor, young man who suddenly finds himself with millions is more often than not going to do some stupid things without proper guidance.

Now some of these family members probably crawled out of the woodwork after hearing of young Vince's good fortune and maybe he's sick of it. It could be that he left to keep from cussing one of them out or kicking some butt.

Being surrounded by hangers on all the time won't help his ability to focus on developing his game. He's not mature enough to understand that he needs to stay grounded.

This guy is soft mentally. I'll bet he retires soon.

I just read a story online about Young's mother saying her son wants out of the NFL - WTF is going on?

Don't teams give these kids a battery of psychological tests? If ThreadBare is right, that should have been a red flag for the Titans.

uPtoWnNY said:

He is VERY close to his mother and I KNOW she wouldn't have raised that flag if there wasn't reason to. I don't care what the team OR his rep says now, that's just damage control and to be expected. Where is his comment to the public?

The guy that drafted him to the Titans is now an ESPN analyst and he said there was NO indication that he would turn out like this. If you talk to any of his coaches down to junior high everyone says he was the consummate competitor. And his college career wasn't indicative of his behavior. So who knows, maybe there's something new emotionally/psychologically that's just now surfacing. I hope it all turns out well though.

http://www.tennessean.com...9/-1/RSS05

Young’s mother says Titans QB needs ‘love and support’

Felicia Young has seen her son experience the ups and downs that go with being a football star.

On Monday night, she saw 25-year-old Vince Young sink to his lowest point. It ended with Coach Jeff Fisher calling Metro Police to search for her son for over four hours, and opened the biggest window yet into the emotional and troubled side of the Titans quarterback.

A psychologist was among those who met with Young at his Brentwood home on Monday, and what she concluded and told team officials led to a bizarre, 24-hour period that ended just after midnight Tuesday morning. That’s when Fisher met with Young and police at Baptist Sports Park.

Felicia Young said her son has grown weary of all the negativity he faces as an NFL star. On Monday, he indicated to those around him he didn’t want to play football any more.

“Vince has gone through a whole lot as a young person,’’ Felicia Young said. “And I think he has done pretty well up to this point. But it is hard, all he is going through right now. He’s hurting inside and out.

“But he will be fine if people are prayerful and help my baby boy out. He is a young man. He just needs a lot of love and support.’’

When the frantic search for Young ended, Fisher and the Titans said the incident had been blown out of proportion. So did some of Young’s friends and family.

But the events that led up to it all — and the fact Fisher called police — showed just how much concern the team has regarding the mental state of Young, who suffered a left knee injury in Sunday’s season opening win over the Jaguars. Young opted not to get an MRI of the knee on Monday; an MRI on Tuesday revealed he has a sprained MCL that could keep him out anywhere from 2-4 weeks.

The Titans, meanwhile, were making plans to go on without him.

“In a major city police department we have calls like this all the time about people who fear for their loved ones … the difference here being Vince Young’s notoriety,’’ Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron said. “When the police department gets such calls, you have to take them seriously. You never know how these issues will ultimately turn out. The concerns of (Monday) night appear to be unfounded.’’

Call for help

The Titans had concerns about Young even before late Monday night.

After Young balked at having the MRI on Monday, Fisher went out and talked to him at his Brentwood home, spending over an hour with him. The Titans also sent a psychologist, Dr. Sheila Peters, and Tina Tuggle, the team’s Director of Player Development, to meet with Young to try and encourage him.

The psychologist said Young was extremely depressed and expressed concerns to the team about Young’s safety. Later, Young left the house and sped off in his Mercedes Benz without his cell phone. He couldn’t be found for some time, which prompted a phone call to Fisher.

Fisher then called police, who began searching for Young. When Young was finally tracked down, he met with Fisher and police at Baptist Sports Park and eventually went home.

“The people that are closest to Vince inform(ed) us that he had left his house in a state of mind that had them concerned; and that he was unreachable, having left his cell phone at the house,’’ Fisher said in a statement. “(Later) it was determined that those initial concerns by his friends and family were unfounded and he returned home without incident.’’

According to police, Young had a handgun in the glove compartment of his vehicle, but it was not loaded and Aaron said officers had no concerns about Young trying to harm himself. Young was not charged with any crime because it’s not a violation of the law in Tennessee to transport an unloaded firearm with no ammunition in a motor vehicle.

“The fact the gun was in the glove compartment and was unloaded did not present an issue for the officers,’’ Aaron said. “There was no ammunition in the car. The gun was unloaded. The slide was back in a safe position, and it was in the glove box.’’

Young’s whereabouts

A friend of Young’s said on Tuesday the quarterback was with him watching Monday Night Football in Steve McNair’s office in Nashville when police were searching for Young, and neither had any idea anyone was looking for him. Earlier, the two had stopped by Nuttin’ but Wings on Jefferson Street and exchanged autographs for free wings, Raymond White said.

“We sat around watching football and eating chicken wings,’’ said White “Everything was fine. There was no problem.’’

Agent Major Adams, who represents Young, said on Tuesday the quarterback was shocked at all the attention the story generated on Tuesday.

“He understands that people care about him and all that; that is the good part of it,’’ Adams said. “But to have it all blow up like it was … Vince feels like he can’t go anywhere without people knowing where he is 24 hours a day. That’s the only negative part of it. He’s fine.’’

Point of no return?

The events of the last 48 hours, however, have clearly left a lasting mark on both Young and the Titans.

On Sunday, before Young was injured against the Jaguars, he initially refused to re-enter the game after throwing an interception and getting booed by fans. His decision to ignore the team’s request for him to have the MRI created even more friction between the player and the team, and indications last night were the Titans have turned the team over to back-up quarterback Kerry Collins. Even when Young returns from his injury, he might not get his job back.

The Titans believe Young’s injury is one that will keep him out anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Then there’s the question about whether Young is interested in returning, something he mentioned to those who were with him on Monday.

“What would you think, if you were tired of being ridiculed and persecuted and talked about and not being treated very well, what would you do? What kind of decision would you make?’’ Felicia Young asked. “He may not want to deal with it (all), but you have to get to that point before you make that decision first.

“But we’re not talking about football right now. We’re talking about what would make him happy, and that is the most important thing.

“… You don’t want people to be hurting like he is. But it is a growing-up process, and he will eventually come out like gold no matter what. But Vince is going to be OK. We are just going to try and give him some space.”

For the NFL, I'll take a throwing QB(or a running QB who's an accurate thrower) over a running QB any day. In the pros, you have to get that ball downfield. The defenses are so good and so fast, that a QB who uses his legs too much will get killed. Jay Cutler might wind having a better career than Leinart or Young because of his rifle arm.

uPtoWnNY said:

Co-sign. That is what running backs are 4.

While we're on the subject of young, struggling QBs, here's a great article on the sad case of Alex Smith.

http://49ers.pressdemocra...em=2261149

Now they're saying that the police shrink said he had mentioned "suicide" a few times. Damn. V needs to take some SERIOUS time off.

MuthaFunka said:

And, that's after he gave the press conference saying that everything had been blown out of proportion and that his family had overreacted...

ThreadBare said:

Exactly.

I think he frustrated but fine. Not suicidal. I think he just wants some time alone and can't get it at home.

SUPRMAN said:

Uh, how many people you know that are just "frustrated but fine" that mention suicide?