SageAgainstTheMachine

"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." That's from the Nashville Tennessean, the equivalent of the Buffalo News, I assume http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...909129/-1/RSS05

Apparently the Titans are ready to move forward with Kerry Collins as their starting QB even after Young returns from his injury, which should be in 4 weeks, maximum. But Young's psychiatrist has described him as "extremely depressed" and Young is talking about being done with football permanently. Now, this isn't the first time we've heard talk like this from Young. After his first season, he considered quitting. Personally, I feel bad for the guy if this is all true. I think we often incorrectly assume that talented athletes just automatically have the correct mental and emotional make up to be athletes and handle failure. People have slowly begun to realize that Young just isnt a very good passer, and that might be wearing on him alot. But this should make the Titans, who possibly have the NFL's best defense, a better team now that they have a competent pocket passer behind center.

I always respect a player who can man up and admit he made a mistake, especially one that didn't turn out to be crucial. It says to me that he's committed to improvement.

I'm aware that he's a million miles away from being an elite Tight End, but I was impressed by what I saw from Royal on Sunday. Even though the touchdown comprised most of his 52 yards, he didn't have any drops, picked up a few first downs, and he blocked incredibly well, especially against the pass rush. I won't judge based on one game, but could Royal possibly be less of a liability than we all thought he'd be? Bottomline, I thought that TE would be far away the biggest weakness of the offense, but Sunday's game was certainly encouraging from Royal.