Mike Celizic

Vince Young made this team better just by pulling on shoulder pads and a helmet. The Titans were nothing before he got there, nothing when he was sitting on the bench waiting his turn, and winners when he stepped on the field.

He had the first of what should be many nights in the national spotlight on Monday Night Football and didn’t disappoint. When this game was scheduled, it looked as if the story was going to be about the Titans’ opponent, the New Orleans Saints, who had gone to the NFC Championship Game last year and were coming back to finish the job.

Instead, with the Saints reeling to their third loss in as many games, it became Young’s stage and Young’s night. His stats look pretty ordinary — 14 completions and not even 200 yards —

but he wasn't. He led the Titans to an early lead then performed flawlessly when the game was still on the line in the second half as

Tennessee triumphed 31-14

.

The kid is a winner, the sort of kid who seems capable of doing anything to help his team prevail. In just his second NFL season, he is the acknowledged leader of his team and the player your eyes are drawn to whenever he’s on the field.

He’s like John Elway when he came up with Denver way back in 1983, a big kid everybody likes who can win a game with his feet or with his arm, an exciting player who’s at his best when the clock is winding down and the game’s on the line.

If this is what he is just three games into his second season, think what he’ll be two or three years down the road. Peyton Manning is still the gold standard, but both he and Tom Brady better watch out, because Vince Young on the rise.

Young had done pretty well during his rookie season, when he made the Titans respectable again. But most of the glory last year was focused further south, in New Orleans, where Drew Brees, the quarterback the Saints signed as a free agent from San Diego, and Reggie Bush, the man who beat out Young for the 2005 Heisman Trophy, made the Saints the hottest story in the NFL.

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Bush had his moments last year and scored two touchdowns against the Titans.

But Young has had far more impact on his team, which is why more quarterbacks go at the top of the draft than running backs. Bush had a chance to do something on a handful of plays; Young had a chance to do something on every snap.

The Saints could have had Young with the second pick in the draft, but went with the experienced Brees instead and took the exciting Bush. Young went third to the Titans, where he arrived to mixed reviews.

There was some question about his Wonderlic score and more about his sidearm throwing motion and penchant for running out of the pocket. NFL fans love mobile quarterbacks, and coaches love a guy who can get out of trouble, but the league is also very wary of guys who run too early and too often.

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There’s good reason for the rap that running quarterbacks get. Michael Vick was Exhibit A for the breed, a man who could run better than anyone on the field but was challenged to complete half of his pass attempts. He filled the stadium in Atlanta and got to the playoffs, but when defenses keyed to stop his running, his effectiveness declined.

But quarterbacks who can get first downs when nothing’s open can also jump-start bad teams like no one else. In the BCS Championship Game to crown the 2005 champion, Young had faced off against Matt Leinart, the previous year’s Heisman winner, and Young had won that meeting. Leinart went to Arizona, where his pocket skills have not translated into instant success, not the way Young’s skills have transformed the Titans.

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