More often than not, the right choice is a bold choice. Problem is, only one bold choice is usually the right choice, and while it’s easy to see which choices are bold, it can be pretty hard to figure out which one of those is right. Thus, most people opt for a safe choice — something neither wrong nor particularly right.
This happens in all walks of life, and particularly in the high stakes world of pro football.
After the NFL draft in April, I wrote a post titled Dumbest Texans Around, a label applied to Houston Texans owner Bob McNair and then-GM Charley Casserly. Staring them down in the draft were two franchise-making players: a sure-fire offensive star in RB Reggie Bush and the biggest football hero at any level in Texas, Longhorn QB Vince Young. To make matters more interesting, they had the option to walk away from their underhwelming current QB, David Carr, with no salary cap penalty.
Reggie Bush felt like a can’t-miss selection, but Young would’ve been the bold choice. After they passed on both for defensive lineman Mario Williams, I wrote:
The only hope McNair’s team would ever have of passing the Cowboys in state importance lay in the possibility of Vince Young finding stardom in a Texans uni. Houston-born and raised, the kid is already a folk hero there, and building around him would have bought the team eternal loyalty from hundreds of thousands of locals.
And:
Young will be taking snaps for Tennessee — you might remember them from such franchises as the Houston Oilers. Should Young make the Pro Bowl in the traitorous Titans jersey, Bob McNair might as well fold up his retractable roof stadium and head for the hills; the locals will never let him live it down.
After a record-setting comeback 2 weeks ago and another last-second comeback against the 10-1 Colts last week, Vince hit the trifecta Sunday by coming home to Houston and running away with a victory in front of a very pro-Vince Texans crowd. I say “running away” because the man took off for a breath-taking 39-yard game-winning TD scamper on 3rd and 14 in overtime:
The worst fear of the Texans has been realized, and it’s happened sooner than expected. Along with Drew Brees (another Texas high school product, by the way), Vince Young is the hottest QB in football. His scintillating performances have left other players, coaches, and beat writers using the kinds of superlatives reserved for athletes like Magic Johnson — those unorthodox, once-in-a-generation talents who change the game while inspiring teammates to raise their play to another level.
Young will torture the Texans for years. He plays in the same division. He plays for the team that deserted Houston. He signifies everything the Texans franchise lacks, including inspiring leadership and game-breaking talent. And maybe Tony Romo’s catching up, but I bet VY is still the most popular football player among Texas residents. If you need evidence, look at what the Texans’ best player, WR Andre Johnson, just said about Young:
I mean, when I first got here, I heard about Vince and couldn’t wait to meet him myself. He’s a star here.
It would’ve been difficult for the Texans to dump the QB they’d been grooming since the franchise’s launch to draft Vince Young. If Young bombed out and Carr became a capable QB for another team, the team would’ve been humiliated. But anyone who’d observed Vince Young’s psychological impact on the previously soft and scared Longhorns should’ve been able to see precisely why he was more than the bold choice; he was the right choice.
Young’s inspirational x-factor has always been underappreciated by the football punditry. That’s probably because there’s really no comparison in his sport. Honestly, other than maybe Joe Namath for a single game, has any other football player ever made his teammates feel as invincible as Vince’s?
At every level, VY’s teams have played with absolute certainty they will win the game. His joke-cracking in the huddle, his exhilarating play, and his difficult-to-replicate cocktail of humility and confidence transformed the Longhorns from underachievers into winners of the most exciting college football championship game in modern history. Now, in 10 NFL starts, he’s turned a talent-light Titans squad into the scariest team on anyone’s schedule.
As silly as it might seem, Vince Young inspires me, too. Whenever I watch him make another improbable game-altering play, a giddy, irrational optimism washes over me. Anything seems possible. I’m like a wide-eyed, hope-filled kid again, and I honestly didn’t know I could ever feel that way as an adult. Maybe I should feel that way about someone more important than a football player, but I can’t help myself.
The Texans landed a solid defensive end with the #1 selection in the 2006 draft. Twice a year in person (and every day in the division standings) for the next decade, Texas Football Jesus will never let them forget it.
Y’all have been sniffing that Yellow Rose too much. The Titans are still only moderately impressive, compared to the utter revolution The Good Bush has performed on the perpetual Losers, oops, Saints.
Now, put them both in the same uniform, and you’ve got a truly terrifying team
I have all but forsaken pro football this year because of the dismal performance of my Bucs. Oh, I’m not a fair-weather fan, mind you; I endured (albeit as a child, but a sensitive, football-fan child who was frequently mocked for sporting creamsicle orange t-shirts emblazoned with the likeness of a gay pirate) the most abysmal string of losses in professional sports (not just football — sports!) history. I’ll be back on board next year. But the combination of moderately high expectations and wretched performance has alienated me for the 2006 season. I still watch. But I watch without hope.
Good thing I have the Gators to console me, the University of Florida Gators who, against all odds and inspite of their error-filled execution and bone-headed play-calling, will contend for the title this year. And as I endure the taunts of confident Buckeye co-workers who are sure their team will make mincemeat of my lowly reptiles, I remind them that I was the sole person in the office football pool last year who picked the Horns over the “invincible” Trojans. Vince Young, baby. Of course, the Gators don’t field anyone worthy to hold his jockstrap and will probably get trounced, but still, Vince Young inspires.
Not exactly a timely comment here, but–you’re right. The most amazing thing to me about Vince Young is how, precisely when he’s taking over a game and scoring the winning touchdown, he just appears to be jogging, like he’s playing in the backyard with his little cousins. As for the decision to pick Williams over VY–you’d think a quick look at Orpheus Roye and the rest of the Cleveland Browns’ DL first-round picks would have clued them in. At least they didn’t take a receiver…
nice article. Tony Romo needs to settle down and play football, forget the gals until he wins a Super Bowl!