Young says he’s OK for Titans

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young attempted to lay to rest Thursday the melodrama that surrounded him between the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game and the dramatic proceedings through Monday and Tuesday.

Young said the he needed some time alone Monday as there were plenty of people at his Williamson County home and plenty more people calling his cellphone to check on him after he injured his knee Sunday in the fourth quarter of the Titans victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Young said his mother overreacted in thinking his mental state was not sound when he left the house on Monday and was unaccounted for for four hours while Metro Police searched for him.

“I had just got through talking to coach Fish [Jeff Fisher], and he told me I need to go get my MRI, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to go,’” said Young, who did not get the MRI on his injured left knee Monday as scheduled. “It was just so many people coming over to the house and with what I was going through, I just needed my space to think and let the cloud go away for a minute. And that’s what I did. I left.

“My mom saw me, and she thought I wasn’t in my right mind, and whole time I was watching the game and … eating some hot wings, and all of a sudden, my man came in and said, ‘They’re looking for you.’ And I said, ‘Why are they looking for me?’

“It’s like I was when I was little, when I was a kid. You had to tell your mamma where you were going. But even though you’re paying your own bills at your own house, you’ve still got to tell your mamma where you’re going now. So I understand where my mamma was coming from. She just wanted to know where I’m going. And I didn’t take my cellphone because there were so many people calling me to make sure I was all right.”

He also attempted to end the talk that he might be contemplating giving up football altogether.

“I’m here. I’m ready to play,” he said.

Asked if he would have the starting quarterback job awaiting him once he returned, Young said, “They drafted me to be the quarterback here with this organization, and that’s what they want me to do. That’s what I like about our organization. They’re behind me.”

Fisher had said Wednesday that Young would have to “get some things back in perspective” before moving back in as the starting quarterback. Kerry Collins will start this Sunday at Cincinnati.

Fisher said on Thursday that getting Young’s knee healed is his first priority.

“I talked about him healing up and getting the knee ready. First and foremost is getting the knee back and taking care of his treatment and getting his mind back in football,” Fisher said.

Young’s mental state of mind came into question first with 5:57 to play in Sunday’s game after he threw an interception and sat by himself on the sideline while teammates tried to console him. When the rest of the Titans’ offense took the field during a TV timeout, Young was still on the sideline and appeared to have to be coaxed back onto the field by Fisher.

Young then took the field and injured his knee four plays later. Afterwards, Fisher said he was asking Young about a tight hamstring, not trying to force him to take the field with his teammates.

“It’s not that I wanted to come out. It’s just that there was a TV timeout and I had some time to clear my head before I stepped back on that football field, and that’s what it was. And my hamstring was tight,” Young said.

He called the thought that he didn’t want to go back into the game a misperception.

“I can’t do nothing about what the media thinks or says. I know what happened on the sideline,” Young said. “I’m me. I’m going to take my time to clear my head before I step on that football field for my teammates.”

Young admitted that being booed by Titans fans after the interception by Derrick Harvey and when he took the field late, hurt him, but he said he spoke to Steve McNair and Donovan McNabb and said he will know better how to handle the situation if it arises again.

“That was my first time ever getting booed before. I didn’t know how to handle that,” Young said. “I’ve talked to some people that have really inspired me a whole lot, like Pops [McNair] … and McNabb and a lot of people that have went through similar things to what I went through. But now I’m good. I know I can handle it. I just needed a day and a half to get through what was going on and how to handle different things.”

The quarterback said that, contrary to reports and speculation, he was not in any state of depression in the aftermath of the sideline incident and subsequent knee injury.

“I was never depressed. I just hurt a little bit,” Young said. “Sometimes as a competitor, you’re trying to go out there and make plays and an interception happens, and that’s the way the game goes. And when I come to the sideline, I can’t get too frustrated. I just have to get ready for the next series.”

Young said he won’t necessarily change his sideline demeanor, saying, “That’s just me.”

As to when he will return to the lineup, Young said he won’t push the knee and come back too soon and risk further injury.

“I don’t want to push it and try to get back out there too fast and then go out there and have a major, major injury. I’m just going to take my time and let it heal,” Young said.