The "Invincible" Vince Young

Tells Pelley Titans Have A "Big Shot" At The Playoffs

(CBS)  His fans call him invincible and Vince Young, who doesn't pretend to be modest, would probably agree. He's arguably the most fascinating quarterback in the NFL because he doesn't play the game the way the experts say he should. He runs too often, throws the ball all wrong, and yet, last season he was the record-breaking offensive rookie of the year and he's already talking about the Hall of Fame.

60 Minutes thought that was a lot of confidence, even arrogance, from a 24-year-old, who not long ago was just a kid running with a gang, with a father in prison and a mother on drugs.

But Young lives to prove his critics wrong. And he did it, spectacularly, at the 2006 Rose Bowl when Texas was seconds away from a devastating loss to USC.

Correspondent Scott Pelley asked Young to take us back to that moment when he was surrounded by more than 90,000 screaming fans.

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Young had been in perpetual motion and virtually unstoppable throughout the game. His stats were stunning, rushing for 200 yards and passing for 267 more. But he was losing, down by five on his last possession.

"You're telling me you didn't walk out on the field and say to yourself, 'Damn, we're gonna lose this ball game'?" Pelley asks.

"I mean, I ain't even gonna lie to you, you or millions of people across the world, I was so nervous, man!" Young remembers.

Fourth down, 26 seconds to play, it was Young's last stand. "I thought I was gonna drop that ball that snap, I was so nervous. But at the same time, ya know, I didn't show that to my teammates," he recalls.

"You picked up the snap and USC's got perfect coverage, every one of your receivers blocked off," Pelley remarks.

"Perfect coverage," Young agrees.

Except one.

"Except one insane guy," he recalls, laughing. "And I just used my God-given talent in my legs and got into that end zone."

Young went for the corner and scored.

It meant the national championship for Texas, its first in 35 years. And it was sweet revenge for Young, because just the month before, sportswriters had passed him over to give the Heisman to USC's Reggie Bush.

"I was angry about that situation, not bringing it back. And I wanted to show the world that I was the real Heisman Trophy winner. But on paper, Reggie Bush is the Heisman Trophy winner. Not taking nothing from him, he know he's a phenomenal athlete," Young tells Pelley.

"But you think you're better?" Pelley asks.

"I always feel like I'm better," Young replies. "Always."

But critics haven't always agreed. Sure, he was good in college, they said, but in the NFL he'd get killed running like that. Some asked whether he could shift from a relatively simple college offense to the complex playbook in the pros.

And then there's that throw. Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher has learned to love Young's slightly off the shoulder pass, a toss that would likely be batted down if Vince weren't 6 feet 5.

Fisher tells Pelley that Young's height compensates for that "side-arm flick," especially compared to quarterbacks a few inches shorter. "This is the same place the ball's goin' on a 6-1 or 6-2 quarterback. So, it's not an issue," the coach explains.

"Before the draft -- and you know this, you've read this -- some scouts were saying, 'Vince Young is either gonna be the biggest thing in football or he's gonna be a total bust.' To those people, you say what?" Pelley asks Young.

"I love you, too," Young replies, laughing.

That laugh is a cover. He may be 233 pounds, but the skin is a little thin.

"That's what gets you going, isn't it?" Pelley asks. "People saying, Vince, you can't throw the ball that way. You can't run like that in the NFL. Not winning the Heisman Trophy. You feed on all of that."

"Yeah, I feed …" Young agrees.

"You come off the bench and say, 'Watch this,' " Pelley adds.

"All that stuff builds up in me," Young says.

[anthonyc12]

Even though I cant see the need to tattoo your own name on your body. I cant find any reason to criticize Vince Young. Some may think that he is cocky, but everyone should be their own biggest fan. He has earned his place and made a successful career for himself. Who could be mad that? Bad tattoo or not.

[anthonyc12]

Even though I cant see the need to tattoo your own name on your body. I cant find any reason to criticize Vince Young. Some may think that he is cocky, but everyone should be their own biggest fan. He has earned his place and made a successful career for himself. Who could be mad that? Bad tattoo or not.

The 60 Minute piece on Vince was shameful. Pelley simply performed a hatchet job on one of the most admired athletes in the world. Admired not only for his talent, but for his good nature, and his commitment to communities in both Nashville and Houston. It makes one wonder what the motivation is for totally ignoring a wonderful record both on and off the field. Does Vince have an ego? He certainly should. He wouldn''t be the leader whom teammates at every level have loved following, otherwise. Pelly was off-target so often in his assumptions, the only plausible explanation is that he just thought it would be cool to trash a pop icon with very little to trash. It may be fifteen years before I ever watch Scott Pelley do another interview, but I will definitely be tuned when he comes back to ask Vince all about his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

PS regarding previous thread: as far as Vince''s vocabulary, he''s not a college graduate. He left early, for $25 million at the age of 22. Never mind that he grew up in a poor neighborhood and survived, without a father at home, partially by fitting into a tough, street environment. That might have some effect on the way he currently communicates. No mystery there.

The 60 Minute piece on Vince was shameful. Pelley simply performed a hatchet job on one of the most admired athletes in the world. Admired not only for his talent, but for his good nature, and his commitment to communities in both Nashville and Houston. It makes one wonder what the motivation is for totally ignoring a wonderful record both on and off the field. Does Vince have an ego? He certainly should. He wouldn''t be the leader whom teammates at every level have loved following, otherwise. Pelly was off-target so often in his assumptions, the only plausible explanation is that he just thought it would be cool to trash a pop icon with very little to trash. It may be fifteen years before I ever watch Scott Pelley do another interview, but I will definitely be tuned when he comes back to ask Vince all about his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

PS regarding previous thread: as far as Vince''s vocabulary, he''s not a college graduate. He left early, for $25 million at the age of 22. Never mind that he grew up in a poor neighborhood and survived, without a father at home, partially by fitting into a tough, street environment. That might have some effect on the way he currently communicates. No mystery there.

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[worknonjoy]

I know you only have a limited time for a segment but what a distorted piece. Anyone who knows Vince at all knows he is known for his leadership and the way his teammates rally around him. Not ONE interview with those who play with him? 60 Minutes tried to portray Vince as an ego driven know it all, when that couldn''t be further from the truth.

[irwinball]

Youall really missed the greatness that is in Vince Young. He represents such great character and is an awesome role model for young people today. I don''t know if you didn''t know how to ask the right questions and bring out the realness in him or if you cut and distorted the whole story. It was so disappointing to watch the way youall did the interview.

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[yankeerebel7]

I was really looking forward to this segment but it really wasn''t that exciting and it didn''t have much more on him than I already knew, though it was just cool seeing VY on 60 Minutes. I actually found the Clarence Thomas segment much more fascinating.

Anyway, Vince is simply an amazing leader who has a charisma that you can''t teach and that only a select few athletes are blessed with. It''s a winning spirit...he inspires his players, and he is sorely missed at UT (esp with the pitifullness of this season). But he has turned a whole generation of Texans into Titans'' fans, that''s for sure.

[jtravillion]

The interview missed several critical elements which define Vince Young. First, his mother was spoken of in a very unflattering light. She is responsible for keeping his pastor, an uncle, and a very strong team of honorable men around him (in addition to a loving grandmother). Second, very little was discussed about his legendary work ethic. The work ethic, coupled with his leadership ability, have made his teammates at all levels believe in him (he is successful because he has made his teams better). Finally, he has accepted the counsel of wise and positive people. These elements have made him "Invincible". They were missed in this story -- they were caught in the Clarence Thomas story. Is the same editor responsible for both stories?

[hornsruleu]

The best way to reform the process would be to introduce a rigorous, mathematical system for measuring the accomplishments of various players, and comparing them fairly.

In other words, when a player picks off a pass, how does that event change the likelihood of his team winning? Scoring points? Which is the more devastating, mathematically -- forcing a fumble, picking off a pass, blocking a punt, forcing the other team to punt, or scoring a safety? All these events can be compared mathematically to see which correlates most closely with high scores and winning records. This kind of analysis can produce a sort of currency, if you will, to let us know how the pancake blocks delivered by an OT compare with the sacks of a DE.

Now, let''s say this sort of system highlights 3 players as ''Heisman worthy.'' One of the 3 is just barely above the other two, on the mathematical scale. Does this mean that you''re wrong if you vote for someone else? No. Ultimately the voting comes down to human decision.

What the system COULD do is help voters avoid infatuations with certain players or certain positions.

[hornsruleu]

By any reasonable measure of accomplishments (yards, TDs, explosive plays, etc.), Vince Young outperformed Reggie Bush PRIOR to the Rose Bowl. That''s all that matters. Heisman voters had to vote before the Rose Bowl -- before Reggie''s ill-advised lateral, and before Vince put the Longhorns on his back.

Voters also could not take into account that one of these two athletes was ineligible for the award...

Back to the point. The Heisman voters are a bandwagon bunch. They jump from leader to leader, for tiny reasons. Straw polls tell them how others say they''re going to vote, and so momentum builds rapidly and at times there doesn''t seem to be any reason for the switch from player A to B.

That''s why the vote was so lop-sided. It wasn''t that Reggie was better than Vince. Even if my Longhorn bias is showing, at least grant me that the vote should have been close to a tie. Instead it was one of the most lop-sided votes ever. This shows that the process is flawed.

[jim-ed]

mitch0927,
I think what you are trying to say is:

"As a college graduate, it seems he would have a better vocabulary than that."

or

"A college graduate should have a better vocabulary than that."

Actually, he left school early to sign a $25 million contract.

Do you feel even dumber now?

[mitch0927]

I now feel dumber reading his quotes. A college graduate it seems he would have a better vocabulary than that.