I have been bothered that in the Vince Young debate (for those of you who care) - Young is mostly compared to black running QB's by those who prefer drafting Reggie Bush. On the surface that seems fine because he is a black QB who runs very well. But Vince Young was not a running QB in the sense of running an option offense, he was more of a pocket passer who scrambled. That would put him more in the category of a Stauback, Steve Young, John Elway type QB. It just feels sterotyped to me. If Vince Young was a white QB who had the high passing effeciency he did in college and made big plays scrambling and he led his team to the national championship as happened in the Rose Bowl- Wouldn't people be glaringly comparing him to other great white QB's like Staubach, Young and Elway. Why is it that detractors initially bring up Randall Cunningham, Michael Vick and Steve McNair? Just because VY is black does that mean he is limited to what other black QB's acheive? I smell bias, and stereotype. People question his ability to become an NFL QB. I believe if he was a white QB with the same skills, talent and record he would be hailed as the next great NFL QB. Is prejudice slipping into people's evaluations? Is a black running back more apt to be successfull than a black QB? Maybe I'm over-reacting.
All the hyper-criticism of Vince reminds me of 1983 when such ploys drove Dan Marino to the bottom of the first round, into the welcoming arms of the Miami Dolphins, into the NFL record books, and into the Hall of Fame. That won't happen with Vince but.... shoot the guy is a phenomenal football player who makes plays. I don't even see the funky throwing motion that everyone else does. I think the guy throws a nice catchable ball, can elude the pass rush better than most, and can run like the wind when necessary. He's also a big dude. I think there is some stereotyping going on but I think it mostly due to the heightened expectations and lowered results of Mike Vick. Maybe we'll see a return of the 1970's Cowboy style shotgun offense due to VY. I hope he falls to the Titans and that the Texans get Reggie Bush.
That's because no coach without severe player deficiencies (service academies, Kenny Hatfield...) runs the option anymore. Vince had many, many designed running plays called for him this year. UT-Austin did have an option-like play where Vince would run wide and keep the ball most of the time, with the occasional pitch. I wouldn't call it a classic triple option style Hatfield-like call, though. To compare a great college quarterback to these Super Bowl champions is extremely premature.
Yeah, I agree with that. And I don't really have an issue about it, but there seems to be bias or stereotype when a really good black QB can only be compared to other black QBs and a really good white QB is only compared to white QBs. I don't even know why I thought about it. Except when I here people criticize Young it is because he will be the next- Vick, or Cunningham. Like he couldn't possibly be the next Steve Young. People who like V Young will make the Steve Young comparison, I have. But others only picture him being the 'black runnning QB'. I know he had set run plays and options at Texas but he wasn't the typical running QB. He had run options because he was the best runner on the field most times. But he still ran the offense and the passing attack from the pocket. He rarely used the roll out and was most effective passing from within the pass protection. Do we assess based upon race? Maybe that is OK to assess by race? But 30 yrs. ago many NFL teams didnot think blacks could be QB in the NFL. I remember Warren Moon addressing this in an interview. That has been changed, but is there still a stereotype of what a black QB can do and what a white QB can do?
Now that you mention it... YEAH, he reminds me of BUCKY RICHARDSON. Ok, ok... so we play the "yeah, he reminds me of another black quarterback" because his skin color is the same as that other quarterback. I don't see too much wrong with it, but we should stop that. Actually, does Vince Young have freckles?
So I guess the scouts need to stop talking about finding the next Yao Ming from China. Why does Adam Morrison only get compared to Bird? It happens with all races.
no doubt race becomes an issue.... look at the immediate comparisons in those threads to Akili Smith. the only comparison i can find between Smith and Young is that they both played college football and they both were black. it stops roughly there. (i'm avoiding d&d like the plague...but come on..it's freaking VY! )
who was comparing him to Akili Smith? Thats not anything to do with race, that's just stupidity. It's like comparing Jordan to Harold Minor.
... but they were college players once too. You can compare them at those snapshots in time. I saw Elway in college; he didn't dominate the way that we've seen Vince Young dominate.
I don't see it so much as a matter of race but Vince Young's running ability is much closer to Michael Vick and Randall Cunningham as compared to Steve Young or John Elway. As Bigtexxx pointed out you have to look at the plays he runs. Its true he doesn't run the option much but he does run QB draws a lot which Vick and Cunningham did. In terms of the amount of passing to run he does he is far more closer to the Vick and Cunningham, especially when Cunningham first got in the league, than Steve Young or Elway who were mostly pass first run second. For instance I haven't heard much comparison between Vince Young or Donovan McNabb or Warren Moon even though they are black QB's they didn't run nearly as much as Vick or Cunningham and as their careers progressed have become more pocket passers.
And my own opinion is not to compare him too much... I think he is a one of a kind. A different more dominant scrambler. His strength, size, and moves surpass what I have seen before, even Cunningham. We will look back and say we haven't seen that before...
rimrocker's uncle would probably respond: "Oh, that Donovan McNabb and Warren Moon, boy are they clean-cut young men. And well-spoken. You don't see them dancing around the field because they know what's important." Of course there's some racism at play here. It's exacerbated by the fact that Vince is not the most polished public persona and because of his identification with Hip-Hop. When people compare him to black quarterbacks who didn't do well in the NFL, what they are saying (at least on some level) is that they don't think he's smart enough... and some of that is reflective of the culture he represents. While we've had many successful black quarterbacks in the NFL... based on what happened at UT, I suspect Vince intends to remain his own self and not buy into what a quarterback "should be," but redefine the whole thing. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this plays out over the long term like a watered down version of Ali... Like Ali, I think Vince will be great and anyone who lets these kinds of things blind them to the talent and heart will look foolish in the years to come. If you have the pick and Vince is on the board, you have to take him.
i can tell you there have been a few mcnabb references already. but remember..mcnabb is successful. if you're trying to degrade VY, you don't compare him to the guy who took his team to the super bowl the year before. we saw warren so much here, i don't think anyone would dare make those comparisons.
Put Cunningham on a better team and he might have gotten some rings and a hall invite (see Troy Aikman). Cunningham, as is, had a good NFL career. Projecting that for Young should not be a Bad Thing. Success in college does not necessarily translate into success in the NFL (see Major Applewhite, André Ware, David Klingler). Having projected NFL skills also does not guarantee success in the NFL (see Ryan Leave, Jeff George, Dan McGwire)
