40 Acres Sports

According to the headlines on both ESPN.com and SI.com, Tennessee Titans’ head coach Jeff Fisher announced today that [tag]Vince Young[/tag] would not get his starting job when he was back healthy and able to play. The ESPN headline is “Unbeaten Titans to go with Collins over injured, troubled Young” as if Young has been benched, but is that what Fisher actually said?

Here’s the actual quote from Fisher in the AP article:

“We’re going to get Vince back, get his knee back, work with him, get him back involved in the offense, but Kerry’s going to go ahead and play for us until either he struggles or whatever else happens.”

And…

“He’s got to get back. He’s eventually going to be under center for us. When that happens, I don’t know. For right now, Kerry’s our quarterback”

That’s not exactly the statement the headlines or the article are making it out to be. Fisher essentially said that Collins would be starting for him since Young was injured and that they’d take the time for his knee to heal and not rush him back.

This isn’t some huge vote of confidence in Collins. Fisher stated that Collins would play until “either he struggles or whatever else happens.” For anyone who watched Collins play back in 2006 and in limited time in 2007, it would be pretty surprising if he does anything more than put up the average day he did Sunday against mediocre competition. That “for right now” is also pretty damn noncommittal.

Collins will likely start the next three games, put up two clunkers against Minnesota and Baltimore, and then Vince is back in as the starter after the bye week. For the next few weeks Vince needs to get both his knee and his head healthy. He’ll get his chance again soon, he just needs to get back out there on the field and just play his game when it comes.

The Tennessean is reporting that former Horn [tag]Chris Simms[/tag] has signed with the Titans to backup Kerry Collins and the currently injured [tag]Vince Young[/tag].

With Titans quarterback Vince Young out indefinitely, the Titans on Tuesday began firming up their back-up plans. Those plans include veteran Chris Simms, not former Montgomery Bell Academy star Ingle Martin.

MRI results on Tuesday confirmed Young, injured in Sunday’s win over the Jaguars, has a left MCL sprain. While the team had no timetable for his return, early indications are it could keep him out anywhere from 2-4 weeks. But there were also indications the team might be prepared to let Kerry Collins lead the way if the team is playing well even when Young returns.

On Tuesday, the Titans agreed to terms with Simms, who will serve as Collins’ back-up starting with Sunday’s game at Cincinnati. Simms, a 28-year-old left-handed free agent, is expected to be on the field for the Titans on Wednesday, a day after the team auditioned three veteran quarterbacks and let Martin go to the Chiefs.

Simms will back up Collins for now and I assume compete to be the number two guy when Vince returns. If Vince’s injury is more serious there is a chance he could beat out Collins some time later in the season. Collins has been really average so if Simms is healthy he’s certainly a better long term solution.

Source

Some quick notes on three former Longhorns…

Adam Schefter Reports Titans Think Vince Young Has a Torn MCL

Schefter is reporting that the Titans think [tag]Vince Young[/tag] tore his MCL. I am not really sure what that means. He is expected to have an MRI tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see what the MRI reveals.

Now it gets interesting. PFT is reporting that the Titans have contacted Chris Simms. If the Titans don’t have confidence that Ingle Martin, who is on the practice squad, can step in if Kerry Collins were to go down, they absolutely have to bring in another quarterback. Simms is probably the best guy available, but I would also put a call in to Daunte Culpepper to see how serious he is about retirement.

(Source)

Tom Brady done for the year, Chris Simms to work out for Patriots

The Patriots are resigned to the fact that Brady likely suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and perhaps other damage in his left knee during today’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Brady’s condition publicly. Brady exited the game after taking a hit to the knee and was replaced by backup Matt Cassel.

Free agent quarterback [tag]Chris Simms[/tag], released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their final round of roster cuts, is scheduled to work out for the Patriots on Monday and could be signed by day’s end. The Patriots also could consider free agent Tim Rattay, a source said.

(Source)

Saints, Texans showing interest in Cedric Benson

Former Bears running back [tag]Cedric Benson[/tag], released by the team June 9 after two alcohol-related off-season arrests, said Saturday he has a tryout with the Houston Texans this week.

Benson also said by phone he’d had a workout with the New Orleans Saints two weeks ago and that it “went well.” Benson believes teams are waiting for his legal matters to be cleared up before signing him.

(Source)

Tennessee quarterback Vince Young just left the game with a possible knee injury. He was hit as he attempted a pass and the defender then rolled up on his leg.

Team doctors are done looking at him and he is currently resting on the bench. Worse news for Vince, backup Kerry Collins looked much sharper in his one series so far.

The team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics officially debuted their new Oklahoma City team name and logo this evening. To no one’s surprise the team name is the Oklahoma City Thunder, but I’m not sure anyone expected the logo to be completely terrible. I’d love to support [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag], but I’m not wearing anything with that on it.

It honestly appears as if they spent $71 at TemplateMonster or LogoMaker.com. They used so much money paying off the city of Seattle that they were forced to get on the Internet and search for “basketball logo templates” and after 10 minutes decided on “Basketball team logo 3” you see now on their merchandise. Wow.

The logo says nothing about the team, the city, or the mascot. All it says is swooshy colors and “basketball.” I just hope the state of Oklahoma never gets a pro football team, I shudder to think what their logo would look like.

Good luck up there Kevin, you’re going to need it.

Kevin Durant is the future of Team USA. The 2012 Dream Team should feature KD and several more of the league’s new stars.

Very high praise about former Longhorn [tag]Ricky Williams[/tag] from a Miami Dolphins’ source in a Pro Football Weekly story. It appears that Ricky will not only begin the season as the team’s number one running back but that “he’s clearly the best player on the team.”

Check out the story below:

Don’t read much into the comments by ESPN’s Chris Mortensen on “Monday Night Countdown” that the Dolphins could be looking to trade RB Ronnie Brown. The way we hear it, it was purely speculation, and coach Tony Sparano was adamant at his Aug. 20 press conference that he will not do such a thing. Even if they were unhappy with Brown, whose preseason numbers have certainly been uninspiring in his first action since tearing his ACL in Week Seven last season, his trade value couldn’t be any lower than it is right now.

However, what we do hear is that the roles of Brown and Ricky Williams have changed, at least temporarily. Initially, it was believed that Williams was going to be the complement to Brown as soon as Brown was fully healthy. Now, it appears that Brown will play the role of reliever to Williams, regardless of his knee health. The coaches have been so thoroughly impressed with Williams – one team source called him “clearly the best player on the team” – that only slippage on his part will revert the RB hierarchy to Brown being on top. Williams is set to become a free agent after the season, so expect the club to lock him up before he hits the market if he continues performing in such a fashion.

(via)

Cat Osterman throws no-hitter, K’s 13 as U.S. extends Olympic win streak to 16. 14 of the wins have been by shutout.

Finally healthy, Titans’ Vince Young ready to take next step. ESPN’s John Clayton is high on VY for the upcoming season.

Former UT backup quarterback Adam Dunn was traded today from the Reds to the Diamondbacks for three prospects.