NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year: Vince Young

Congrats to Vince Young! As you know by now, he was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year…and deservingly so. He took his team from a 0-5 record to 8-8 since starting in Week 4, and narrowly missed the playoffs. Perhaps his most memorable highlight of the season was his 39-yard sprint into the endzone to beat the Houston Texans.

I can’t recall on which sportscast I saw it, but they timed his run and it was something like 46 yards (that’s 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage for you non-rocket surgeons) in 4.5 seconds. That’s fast. When asked about what made him run so quickly, he replied “I felt like my mom was chasing me with a belt”. Awesome. Exactly what I was thinking.

So, why did I post about this? Well, a few of my friends have brought to my attention one stat that supposedly tarnishes this accolade. His passer rating. It was 66.7 and #30 of 30 QBs that played this season. See for yourself on NFL.com. Ok. Fine. So his 3/4 throwing style causes him to throw to the opposing team a few too many times. So, here was my reply to that stat…taken from ColdHardFootballFacts.com:

The struggles of rookie QBs this season are not an anomaly. They are in keeping with the Cold, Hard Football Facts of NFL history. The truth is that the NFL has always been tough on rookie starters. Just look, for example, at how these modern Hall of Fame quarterbacks (those who were given significant playing time as rookies) fared in their debut seasons:

• Dan Fouts completed 44.8 percent of his passes, with 6 TDs, 13 INTs and a 46.0 rating. He played in 10 games (aging Johnny Unitas was also on the team) for a 1973 Chargers squad that went 2-11-1.
• Troy Aikman played in 11 games for the 1989 Cowboys. He completed just 52.9 percent of his passes, threw 9 TDs with 18 INTs, and had a passer rating of 55.7. The Cowboys went 1-15.
• John Elway also tossed twice as many INTs as TDs (14-7) in 11 games for the 1983 Broncos. He completed just 47.5 percent of his passes and posted a 54.9 rating. The Broncos went 9-7 and lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

One of my buddies replied “Are you serious??? Too bad that Vince’s game is NOTHING like any of those guys… What were the rookie stats for Randall Cunningham?”. *snicker* Really? Randall Cunningham? Maybe Michael Vick = Randall Cunningham. But Vince Young doesn’t leave the pocket nearly as much as Randall did…or Mike Vick. This is too easy. Naturally, I did what any Vince Young leg humper…or any football fan with common sense…would do. Use QBs that share his “game”. I’ll use Steve Young, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb and Daunte Culpepper. Here is my list of QBs and their passer ratings in their respective rookie seasons:

Steve Young = 56.9
Steve McNair = 81.7 (2 seasons, 16 games but only started 6)
Donovan McNabb = 83.9
Daunte Culpepper = 93.2

Ok, so he falls a tad short of his peers’ passer ratings. Woohoo! And Steve Young? Yeah, I know…somewhat of a stretch, but he liked to giddyup every now and then. Burger King even dressed him up as the King and use this scramble in one of their commercials. I’ll bet you didn’t figure that his 4,239 career rushing yards are the second most ever gained by a quarterback, behind Randall Cunningham. Well, now you know. (By the way, Steve Young currently has the best cumulative passer rating ever at 96.8). And let’s throw Steve Grogan on the list of comparables only because he’s from San Antonio.

Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Vince…I doubt you read my blog, but congrats, man. You deserved it, and I can’t wait to see what you do next season. And as a side note…just for the record, I declare myself president and driver of the Maurice Jones Drew bandwagon. The VY ‘wagon is already filled to capacity.

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