Magic and Bird. McGwire and Sosa. Russell and Wilt. LeBron and Melo or LeBron and Wade, ok maybe that one is the Triple Threat, or just doesn’t count yet. Will Matt and Vince be in this kind of company? There are comparisons that might point to the NFL’s new Dynamic Duo and signs that have yet to come about that will prove if they really will.
    Magic and Bird, Young and Leinart. Indiana State and Michigan State, USC and Texas. Just like Magic and Bird left the amateur stage behind as opponents on the biggest basketball stage short of the NBA, Young and Leinart left behind the closest thing to an amateur stage as opponent’s in what was one of the greatest games that we can remember to take on the NFL. Magic and Bird were forever linked during their playing days after that fateful championship game and were their sport’s two most recognizable players. A little help came in the form of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry and the fact that their teams were in opposite conferences which allowed for them to meet on the big stage for the ultimate team goal even in the pro level. It remains to be seen how the Young and Leinart card will play out but there are some similarities, starting with that fateful championship game. Obviously, the Cards/Titans does not have that same ring as Celtics/Lakers and probably isn’t in the same galaxy but these two young signal callers could change that. The media would have an absolute field day, and you have to admit it would be pretty cool, if Leinart and Young clashed in the Super Bowl. A lot cooler than an Eli and Peyton clash would ever be. Besides what have those two ever won besides the media lottery? The royal family theme went by the wayside a long time ago.
    But obviously these two are still young pups and have a lot to prove before they can be held in the same category as Magic and Bird. So we will leave that to the realm of fantasy for the time being. I’m sure those two would prefer to be on a fantasy team than one man shows on the Cards and Titans. Ok, I was just kidding about that Fitz and Anquan, you guys are pretty good too. But really, people are talking about who is the better rookie, who is the better quarterback, who is the better player. Remember the rookie of the year debate between Melo and Bron? The debate started before the draft for those two as it did with Young and Leinart. With Young bringing the Titans out of nowhere by winning four in a row and Leinart bringing the Cards towards respectability by winning three of the last four maybe the debate is living up to it’s expectations. But maybe until it blows up we should just relegate them to the “Fun Category” for now. Something along the lines of McGwire and Sosa’s epic home run battle. Not to equate Vince and Matt with steroids or anything, but that home run battle was the coolest of the cool at the time and these two quarterbacks are as cool as they come. Both just seem unfazed when they are in the pocket and VY doesn’t even seem like he’s trying to outrun his competition, almost as if he’s saying, “Bring on someone who will let me show off my real rockets.” That deceptive speed is a cool thing. And they don’t call him Hollywood for nothing. But he’ll have to bring something home to the desert before Hollywood will go to him. It’s not USC anymore.
    But then again maybe someone will just come along and trump this fantasy. Jordan came along at the twilight of Magic and Bird and simply blew them away when it came to discussing the greatest ever. Wade has already won a ring and maybe he’ll just end up being better than Bron and Melo could hope to be. Maybe Jay Cutler will pull a Dwyane and explode onto the scene in his second year and carry those Broncos to the promised land like Elway did. Too bad he won’t get to come along for the ride like Shaq did. Or maybe the head-to-head battles are a thing of the past. Maybe this generation will get the treat of three-headed monsters in Bron-Melo-Wade and Young-Leinart-Cutler. Now that just redefines cool.

     Coming into the draft and even before last year’s National Championship Game, I truly doubted Vince Young and his ability to simply win football games. It was the reason I felt Matt Leinart was such a good draft pick, and why I believe he shows the cool intangibles the exude from a winner, and it is the reason that Young is a notch above Michael Vick. Young is capable of making things happen against the staunchest of competition and even though his numbers, like Vick’s, are a little below standard, he is capable of winning when the going gets tough, something Vick does less and less of as his career goes on. It could simply be the life of a new age scrambling quarterback who faces more athletic and quick defenses than ever before. The life where the quarterback goes the road of a Daunte Culpepper or Kordell Stewart, where success was seen so vast and so early that maybe the weight of success along with the weight of the injuries and toll of the hits piled onto a quarterback who not only holds strong while letting defenders hit him but also putting the body on the line while scrambling for extra yards. It is unclear whether someone like Donovan McNabb, who is still so electric but showed signs of letting down before giving way to injury so early in the season, or Michael Vick, who showed early signs of flash and success but is starting to give way to criticism, will go the road of Culpepper and Stewart but they have yet to bring home the prize.
    Someone like Vince Young seems to have that extra intangible that a winner possesses that perhaps McNabb and Vick do not possess. Young seems so calm and cool in the pocket while McNabb seems a little jumpy and Vick too early abandons plays in favor of the scramble. It partially came with last year’s success on the college gridiron where Young proved all experts wrong by taking down the Dynasty of Troy in true winner fashion, via a comeback. Michael Vick was not capable of taking down a Florida State team who was dominant in that they placed in BCS Championships for the first 3 years of its inception but they only came away with that win against Vick’s Virginia Tech team. Vick has showed signs of not being able to lead the team to victories when too much is on the line. That Virginia Tech team rode Vick’s shoulders through the season but Vick’s shoulders seemed to give way to the pressure once they had to perform like other teams. The same came after beating the Packers at the impenetrable Lambeau Field, which followed with a lifeless performance against the Eagles. After the Eagles went on their NFC Championship binge, the Falcons, in a weak NFC with two 8-8 second round teams, failed to continue the trend of beating the Eagles in that game. Since then Vick has helped continue the trend where the Falcons have still failed to have consecutive winning seasons, followed by another unsuccessful one.
    Young is still early in his NFL career but he seems to carry the qualities of a winner. It is common in the NFL draft for people who possess somewhat weaker tools than others have their winning qualities overlooked as a result. Young is does not appear to be as fast as Vick and has been criticized for his unusual throwing motion but he does things that are so unexpected. Leading the Titans to victory over the strong Indianapolis Colts after almost also doing it the first time around is something that seems to only happen when a player is a winner. It is hard to say if Young can buck the common trend of lesser production that results from the beating taken by a scrambling quarterback but after finally wrestling the starting role from Collins, after settling in he has led the Titans to 5 of 7 wins along with 1 point losses to the Colts and Ravens. These things are unheard of from a rookie, especially when his team is expected to do so bad that experts predict his coach will be fired because they are expected to lose so many games, and shows that teams should pay attention more to the player’s ability to win football games, sometimes even willing the team to victory, rather than measure their physical track and field capabilities. Expect Young’s winning mentality to lead him to greater success than many quarterbacks who are considered better than him because whatever it is, it does not show up in the stat books and is seen within the cool collectiveness of a quarterback, like a Tom Brady (not that Young is comparable to him), who just seems to be able to make things happen and lead to victory. Maybe that is all that is missing from someone like Vick, who makes enough excuses to question his killer instinct, rather than something in his game. Because Young puts up similar numbers to Vick’s but he seems to make more happen with less than Vick was ever able to do. But only time will tell because Young is still so young.