Analysis: Can Young find closure to 2008?

Vince Young made another effort over the weekend to prove he is ready to move past the disaster that was his 2008 season.

Young rehashed the now infamous day of and following last year’s season opener in an ESPN E:60 interview [1] that is available here.

Young spoke of not wanting to play the game because of the injury and the booing from Tennessee Titans fans that came after his second interception of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars that day.

Young initially was reluctant to return to the game after the boos, and injured his knee a few plays later. Kerry Collins was sent onto the field, leading a drive that put the game away, and Jeff Fisher quickly handed the reins of the team to him, with no intention of giving it back to Young anytime soon, barring injury.

Things, of course, got worse the following day when Young was unaccounted for after leaving his Williamson County home with a pistol, with family and friends apparently concerned that he might harm himself.

Young reiterated that he had no intentions of suicide that day, despite a Metro police report that mentioned that.

For Young, now several months removed from the incident and trying to piece his career back together, he has been surprisingly visible this off-season, after saying he would simply keep to himself, work hard and be ready for the next opportunity. His recent remarks about somebody else wanting him if the Titans didn’t created a stir that lasted for a few days and led his agent Major Adams to speak out to deny any talk of Young wanting to be traded.

In trying to explain last September’s bizarre incident, perhaps it was good for Young to speak at length about the matter, to try and put the episode to rest once and for all.

But there is still the big question to be answered in how does Young live down the perception/reality that he wanted to quit on his team, plus an admission in the interview that he didn’t want to play at that time, because of the injury and the boos from the crowd.

The only way for Young to do that is simply play, play well when he gets the chance and earn back the complete trust of his teammates and fans by showing he has matured, changed and is now on the right track.