Titans' Collins back in control after rocky journey

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kerry Collins has had that epiphany. The same one Rich Gannon, Vinny Testaverde, Dave Krieg and Steve DeBerg once had. The one where the scrap heap quarterback can finally see the pieces of his NFL career in a singular perspective – right out to the edges – like a map flattened in front of him.

After 13-plus years, and in a time when he finally has the ability to let go of the NFL financially and emotionally, Collins is grasping opportunity tighter than ever. Not because he has to but because at 35 years old, the Tennessee Titans quarterback has found a professional rebirth uncommon for players who begin their careers in dark leaps and self-destructive bounds.

"I'm through all the hard part," Collins said Tuesday, giving a relaxed smile after nursing a protein shake in the Titans' locker room. "These are the good years, you know what I mean? I don't have to play if I don't want to. I want to play. I want to do this. I want to be out there every Sunday doing it. And I enjoy it more now than I ever did.

"I'm just playing for better reasons than I did earlier in my career."

Collins talks to Fisher during the Week 2 game against Cincinnati.

(USP Presswire/Frank Victores)

As Collins says this, there is a clear view over his right shoulder of Vince Young's locker, which is adorned with five pictures of Young. And over Collins' left shoulder is the view of the lone picture Collins has in his own, of his daughter Riley. This could serve as a metaphor for where these two players are at this stage of their NFL lives. On one hand, you have the undeveloped quarterback, still hanging on to the self-embrace that so often consumes celebrated draft picks handed the keys to a franchise. And on the other, you have the graying veteran, once blessed with that trust in Carolina, and whose character has been shaped by the mistakes he subsequently made.

Maybe that's the ultimate irony in the Titans' 5-0 start. That for all of Young's missteps – his lack of development, attempting to pull himself from the season opener after throwing two interceptions, his perceived lack of toughness in various corners of the NFL – Collins has been there ten-fold. Now riding high at 4-0 since taking over for Young, Collins' mettle has been carved out by the blunt instrument of his own errors. He once tried to remove himself from his own starting job in Carolina. He wrestled with alcoholism and failure on the field. He alienated teammates by once uttering a racial epithet that he naïvely believed would bring him closer to his teammates.

And yet, here he stands, having earned the respect of his teammates in Tennessee, a living testament that Young could heed, if only he would listen.

"You can learn from someone like that," said Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse. "It shows you can move on. You can do better no matter what situation you are in. We look at Kerry, and we know inside this locker room we all make mistakes and we're all capable of that. But out there in the world, fans see us as perfect individuals or whatever, so they take our mistakes a lot harder. But we as players, inside this locker room, we know what kind of stress mentally and physically this whole deal can do to you. We know it can make you veer off at times."

Those are the generous words of a second chance, and Collins has gotten his fair share over the last decade. Waived by Carolina in the middle of the 1998 campaign and later picked up by New Orleans for the rest of the season, it wasn't until the Giants gave him a second chance at their own tremendous public relations risk, via a four-year $16 million deal.

But it was during that time that Collins gathered the tatters of his life, entering alcohol counseling and then eventually exercising his own demons publicly, speaking before nearly 300 rookies and some assembled veterans at the league's 2000 rookie symposium. At this venue, Collins talked about his partying, alcohol abuse, and before a largely minority audience, about his use of a racial epithet in front of teammates. Later, Collins would talk about the moment bringing some closure to his demons. Now, eight years later, he's talking about re-shaping his legacy.

"I hope it's just a guy that was able to weather some tough times early in his career," Collins says now.

THE MAIN GUY AGAIN

That legacy wasn't clear only a few weeks ago, as the preseason bled into September, and it looked like Young would continue an ascent that included a run into the playoffs last season. But a brutal season opener against Jacksonville, in which Young was booed after throwing a pair of interceptions and then sprained his knee, delivered a glint of opportunity. And that glint turned into the best chance Collins has had in three years, when it was revealed that Young was struggling mentally with being booed – a fact that surfaced when police were summoned to help find Young on Sept. 8, after his family contacted head coach Jeff Fisher concerned about his mental state.

Fisher announced that week that Collins would be the team's No. 1 quarterback this season, a standing that would be cemented as long as he won games. And buoyed by a defense that has held opponents to an average of 11.7 points over the team's last nine games (regular season and playoffs), Collins has done exactly that. He's rarely been perfect in that span, completing 55.7 percent of his passes and throwing only three touchdowns in four starts. But he has done something that, in hindsight, Young may not have fully accomplished – gaining the trust of a defense that is winning games.

"Kerry has a way – and I'm sure veteran quarterbacks in general – (that is) a calming influence," said Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. "(The trust) hasn't just been from the way he's played this year. He threw scout team every game last year. The (defensive) guys know the throws he can make. They've played against him for two training camps now. It hasn't just been this 5-0 start. It's been long before that."

Indeed, like journeymen quarterbacks who have had late-career flourishes before him, Collins does have solid career numbers. He has played in two NFC championship games, a Super Bowl, and is one of only three active quarterbacks with over 35,000 passing yards (along with Peyton Manning and Brett Favre). Those are statistics that are often panned because of Collins' touchdown-to-interception ratio (177 to 175) and his failure on the Super Bowl stage with the Giants, when he threw four interceptions in a 34-7 loss to the Ravens. But Collins had also thrown for five touchdowns in New York's NFC championship win over Minnesota, and that Baltimore defense had also disassembled two other good quarterbacks in those playoffs: Steve McNair and Gannon.

But those are facts that have earned Collins points in the locker room, not to mention the fact that he's a veteran who has stuck in the league for 14 years, including a stint with the Raiders that has often been the death-knell for so many other quarterbacks. What Tennessee's players see in Collins is a veteran who came in prior to the 2006 season knowing he would likely be Young's understudy. And through that time, he never undercut Young – even when Young was struggling at various times over the previous two seasons. Now, when many of those same players look at the offense, they talk about ways the offense could get better by upgrading around Collins.

"I still think we need a little tweaking," said Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. "I still think what every great NFL team has is a dominant receiver that needs to be double-teamed every single play. I think we don't have that. We've got good receivers, but we don't have that dominant guy who will just demand a double team. That's one of the things we're missing."

STAYING FOCUSED ON THE MOMENT

How all of this will play out, well, Collins doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Young is back in uniform and once again on the sidelines after spending a couple of weeks in the coaching box. He has spoken to Tennessee reporters twice since losing the starting job – once on Sept. 11, and once more after Sunday's win over Baltimore, when he told Titans beat writers that his knee still isn't 100-percent, and that he understood Collins was the starter.

"It's not about me, period," Young told reporters. "It's all about everybody else in this room."

Titans QB Kerry Collins had a 52.0 passer rating against the Ravens but led Tennessee on a game-winning 80-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter.

(AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Fisher has made that much clear, telling the team that Collins would remain the starter as long as he commandeered victories. Something that he's committed to even if Collins suffers through multiple interception games like Sunday's win over the Ravens.

"When I said 'Hey, it's yours and it's yours as long as we're successful', I didn't lay guidelines and criteria down," Fisher said. "I didn't draw a line under a quarterback rating and say 'you've got to stay above this, or else.' "

But the reality is Young is still earning a paycheck that demands the team eventually give him another starting shot – whether that be this season or in 2009. And Fisher said this week that he has drawn up packages where Young could be inserted into games at certain points, forcing defense to prepare for an extra look. Packages that, when Collins was asked about them, replied, "You've heard it, but I haven't heard anything."

As for the communication between Young and Collins, there hasn't been a great deal of sharing between the two about the mental tolls of the game, despite it looking like Young has two of the best possible resources sitting in front of him – Collins, and former University of Texas quarterback Chris Simms, who lost his starting job in Tampa Bay after being celebrated as the answer to the Buccaneers quarterback woes.

Yet, Fisher said he's not concerned about Young reaching out to Collins or Simms, and that he's actually seen Young loving the game more than ever.

"It's not necessarily their responsibility to sit down or go bowling and talk about their experiences," Fisher said. "Their responsibility is to try to get better. And Kerry has a responsibility now to try to keep winning games. Vince doesn't necessarily have to ask the questions. He can see the answers to whatever he's wondering about.

Waxing more philosophically about Young, Fisher added, "If you look across the league, everybody's had that defining moment at some point. Hall of Fame quarterbacks have wanted to leave the game and just quit. I'm not saying that's what Vince experienced early this season, but the fact of the matter is, Kerry is so far past that now. He has the perspective."

And Young is expected to get it by watching Collins play. Meanwhile, Collins is enjoying his renaissance. He's down to 230 pounds, which is as light as he's been since being a junior at Penn State, and feeling as athletic as ever. And while he resists looking beyond this season, he can't see himself reverting to a backup role in 2009 and beyond.

"I know I can still play," Collins said. "There's no question about it. The way I feel physically, the way I'm still throwing the ball – I say there's no reason why I can't play another 3-4 years."

But first things first, and Collins and the Titans have an opportunity to seize an AFC that has been turned on its ear by injuries an ineffectiveness in Indianapolis, San Diego and New England. For the first time since his Super Bowl season with the Giants, Collins has a championship opportunity and a team willing to follow him to it.

"He doesn't have to win our respect," said center Kevin Mawae. "All he has to do is win."