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NFL betting lines for the next weekend’s games are usually posted on Sunday evenings.  In some instances a line won’t immediately be made on a game for several reasons–injuries or suspensions to impact players or teams playing on Monday night are the most common causes of a NFL game being ‘off the board’.   Once they know the extent of an injury or other circumstances, sportsbooks are good about quickly posting a number based on the new information.  Just when you think you’ve seen it all, however, something happens that you don’t really expect.  Such is the case with next weekend’s Tennessee Titans/Houston Texans game which is currently off the board at virtually every major sports betting establishment in the world due to the latest strange twist in the career of Vince Young who at the moment at least is the Titans *former* starting quarterback.

Young’s career had been going reasonably well since winning the starting job back from Kerry Collins, but it nosedived on Sunday due to a bizarre set of circumstances.  On the surface, Young responded poorly to being replaced by rookie Rusty Smith after suffering an injury to a tendon in his thumb. After trying to tape the thumb so he could return to the game, Young went ballistic when Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher opted to stay with Smith.  As if things weren’t bad enough already, the Titans lost 19-16 in overtime to the Washington Redskins.

Young wasn’t having a particularly good day at the office before the injury—the Titans  fans booed him and the rest of the team on several occasions and at one point he appeared to wave his arms in a sarcastic attempt to egg on the crowd.   He suffered the thumb injury late in the third quarter and had it taped and re-taped in an effort to return to action. After the game, Young curiously suggested that his thumb was fine and suggested that Fisher didn’t put him back in the game because of a lack of confidence in his leadership.

The low point of Young’s tirade came immediately after the game ended. Perhaps inspired by the climatic hockey game in ‘Slap Shot’, Young stopped on his way to the locker room to strip off his jersey and shoulder pads and throw them into the stands.  Once in the locker room, he started to mutter expletive laced comments under his breath during Fisher’s postgame speech. The coach told him to shut up, at which point Young finished dressing and prepared to leave. Fisher suggested that he not ‘run out on your teammates’ to which Young responded:

“I’m not running out on my teammates, I’m running out on you.”

The specifics of the incident are still up in the air since everyone around the team is under a de facto ‘gag order’, but Fisher did say that Rusty Smith is now the starting quarterback:

“There is going to be frustration in losses. There is going to be times when you have to dig deep and fight and turn to one another. I don’t think you run, and so I am disappointed. There are some things that need to change.”

Fisher also reiterated that Young’s thumb was jacked up and that’s why he didn’t want to put him back in the game–that and his quarterback’s questionable communication skills:

“I was not satisfied with his ability to control the ball. He never came to me and said he was OK and wanted to go back in, and I was told he was obviously a little upset after. I was also told he threw half his uniform into the stands. I think clearly that is no way to respond, and so we have some things we have to sort out with him. He may need surgery, and if that’s the case, he’s done for the year.”

Were this a garden variety case where an injury knocks the quarterback out of action, this game would likely have a line posted already.  This situation is a complete mess starting with the disputed thumb injury itself–either Young’s thumb suffered a potentially season ending tendon injury or else it didn’t and Jeff Fisher just doesn’t want him to play.  That question notwithstanding, it’s impossible to tell how this will play out–either extreme is possible.  Young could apologize to Fisher and his teammates and everyone could kiss and make up.  Or else this could be the beginning of the end of the Vince Young era in Tennessee.   Making it all the more bizarre is that this sort of meltdown is more typical of teams that are out of the postseason hunt.  The Titans are 5-5 after Sunday’s loss, but they’re in a division without a dominant team–Jacksonville and Indianapolis are currently tied for the lead in the AFC South with 6-4 records.  Sure, Tennessee has lost their last three games but two were in tough road venues (Miami and San Diego) and with several divisional matchups ahead they’re still in the thick of things.

In any case, it looks like Rusty Smith will get the start next Sunday and could have just backed into the Titans’ starting quarterback gig.  At the moment, injury reports are listing Young as ‘downgraded to doubtful’ due to his thumb injury.  Once Young is confirmed out either due to injury or Fisher’s edict look for a line to go up with Houston a -2′ or -3 home favorite.

UPDATE:  Young is done for the season–he’ll need surgery on his thumb and will be placed on injured reserve.  So far Young hasn’t sought a second opinion, but it doesn’t sound like it would make any difference based on this comment from Jeff Fisher:

“He may want to get a second opinion. He may want to get two dozen opinions. Our doctor said for his position, it needs to be fixed.”

Rusty Smith will be the starter for now and the Titans are bringing in veteran Chris Simms as a backup.  Kerry Collins is currently listed as the #3 QB though there’s a good chance he’ll start once his calf injury heals up sufficiently to allow him to play.

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