Vince Young vs. Matt Leinart

[erpowers]

I figure that what I am about to say will anger some people, but I will say it anyway. First, I will start with a question. Why is Vince Young getting so much sports media hype for having an okay season and only beating the Manning brothers because of his defense. I just listened to a downloaded version of yesterday's Pardon the Interruption and Tony Kornhiser and Michael Wilbon were making such a big deal about how Young had thrown for 412 yards in his last two games. I thought it was ridiculous that Kornhiser and Wilbon made such a big deal about Young going for 412 yards in two games. In my opinion that was horrible. When they started talking about this and acting like this was a great number I was thinking "412 yards in two games, that is terrible". Kornhiser and Wilbon went on to say that they thought Young should be considered for rookie of the year for his play. Once again I thought Kornhiser and Wilbon were wrong in that one should first look at other rookies like Joseph Adai and Marques Colston. In my opinion, Adai and Colston are blowing people minds with what they are doing. Young is just doing an okay job.

Another thing to look at his how Young stacks up against Matt Leinart. In my opinion, Young is not even the best rookie quarterback. In Matt Leinart's last two games he threw for 600+ yards. In addition, Leinart has 1939 passing yards with a 72.1 qb rating to Young's 1486 passing yards with a 64.8 qb rating. The average qb rating this season is 77.4. In his last three games Leinart has thrown for 824 yard on 65-104 passing while Young has passed for 513 yards on 47-82 passing. Leinart has 9 TDs and 9 1NTs to Young's 10 TDs and 10 INTs. Finally, Leinart has had two games where he had a 100+ passer rating while young has had only one. Yes, Young's 100+ game rating (107.9) was better than both Leinart's two (101.7,100.3), but Leinart still has two 100+ passer rating games to Young's one game.

So can anyone tell me why Young is getting so much attention while Leinart as far as I can tell is getting very little if any at all. I am not a Leinart lover or a Young hater I am just going by the numbers. It seems to me that based on the numbers Leinart should be getting more attention than Young or at least the same amount of attention. He just seems to be doing more with less.

[Captain Hilts]

1. I think from the get-go more was expected from Leinhart, so the standards...

are different.

Young's scoring the lowest score EVER at the NFL quarterback trials really got a lot of people's attention. And Mike and Tony mentioned that as something he's had to overcome.

I think people really want them to be the NFL's Johnson vs. Bird combination.

[BOSSHOG]

2. I believe

Hofstra's Coulston is the NFC rookie of the year handsdown. Hopefully he can come back from being out two games with an injury. That other kid the Saints drafted, Reggie something or other is having a handy little season as well; as the Niners can attest.

I think the attention differential between Young and Lienart is a reflection of the teams they play for. The Titans are somewhat of a soap opera this year due to getting rid of McNair. The only football news anyone reports about out of Arizona is the cool new stadium they have. I recall a sports talking head saying during the draft that he hopes Lienart's career does not get lost in the desert, unreported by one and all.

[Longhorn]

3. Have you actually seen Vince play this year?

Stats don't tell the whole story. There's also attitude and he has a game-winning attitude; that is, he doesn't give up and he makes things happen. I think you have to see it to know what I'm talking about. Even though I watched him do wonders on the field at Texas, I was still amazed watching the Titans-Colts game last Sunday. I haven't watched Leinart play this year so I can't make a comparison.

[bmbmd]

4. This guy gets it.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6238286

No Wonderlic interrogation or mechanical flaw in his release will stop Young from developing into an elite NFL quarterback. Tony Romo is all the rage now, proving that mobile quarterbacks are required in an age where 300-pound pass rushers run the forty faster than yesteryear's defensive backs — especially when those mobile quarterbacks are measured against the statue-still likes of Drew Bledsoe.


But right now, in an open draft, I'd take Young ahead of Romo. I'd take Young ahead of Matt Leinart, Eli Manning, David Carr, Alex Smith, Michael Vick and Rex Grossman, too.


I'd take him ahead of a lot of starting quarterbacks. He's tall, he's strong, he's swift, and he's apparently in possession of an Elway-like flair for the dramatic.


Vince Young is going to be good for the league. And a special thanks goes to Mathias Kiwanuka, the rookie pass rusher who let the rookie quarterback leave the pocket and run toward stardom.

[frylock]

6. no mention of philip rivers..

this guy is gonna look like an idiot when the Chargers win the Super Bowl.

[Awsi Dooger]

7. Ha! Tony Romo is averaging 8.9 yards per attempt

That is stratospheric. In 20 years I've only looked at four individual seasons with 8.9 or higher. There's probably no way Romo can maintain that mark but undoutedly it will be extremely high at season's end.

Give me a break. Vince Young is at 5.8 yards per attempt. That is pure reject level. In fact, if he were 6.8 it wouldn't be any good. I give him some slack as a rookie but 5.8 is an embarrassment.

He will be a flop if that level continues next year. The league catches on, and makes you beat them with your arm. I said the same thing about Michael Vick years ago. Vick is a lifetime 6.6 guy which won't get you anywhere in this league. Over the last two seasons he has actually regressed, to the 6.2 level. Vince Young will be more of the same unless he somehow gets markedly more accurate down the field.

Gad, one thread today ignoring how vital rushing attempts are, and another ignoring yards per pass attempt. ESPN and its cohorts really do a lousy job. If they were baseball numbers everyone would be aware of them but for some reason even the most critical football stats are ignored.

But if you want the bottom line, almost every Super Bowl winning QB is above 7.0 in yards per attempt. The lowest in modern history are 6.8 by Brad Johnson of the Buccs in 2002, and 6.7 of Trent Dilfer of the Ravens in 2000. You might note that both of them benefitted from among the greatest defenses in league history, enabling a less than stellar passing attack. It appears the Bears will try the same thing this year, with Grossman currently at 6.64 yards per attempt. That is the definition of vulnerable.

And since 6.7 is the low, it demonstrates how far Vince Young has to improve.

[Midnight Rambler]

5. You go by the numbers? How about the numbers in the win column?

Those numbers say quite a bit, IMO.

[Awsi Dooger]

8. I forgot to answer the question

If Matt Leinart had 5% more arm and 5% more athletic ability, then no question he's an easy choice over Vince Young. Leinart has superior touch, tremendous variety of throws, and probably the best mental grasp of the game of any rookie QB since Bernie Kosar.

But Leinart is not as physically gifted as a Carson Palmer and that may limit his upside. Leinart is at 6.6 yards per attempt, which is not great but above average for a rookie. Certainly far superior to the 5.8 of Vince Young right now.

An NFL QB is never going to beat you with his legs. Young won two home games when the other team stalled in the 4th quarter and made silly mistakes. Let's see Young do something on the road. Have I mentioned he's at 4.8 YPA in road games? I have now, and that 4.8 is disgraceful.

Leinart is much more balanced 6.5 at home and 6.7 away, indicating he's the more reliable QB at this point.

[bmbmd]

9. I'm bookmarking this thread

to be revisited later.