Tom E. Curran • E-mail

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Injured Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young said Wednesday he’s using the negativity heaped on him after his Week 1 meltdown as motivation for the next stage of his career.

“I feel like they’re writing my legacy,” Young said. “They’re writing my story. I’m a great guy, a great humble guy. I’ve done a whole lot in my career in just three years and for [the media] to do stuff like that to try to make me look bad for some reason — I don’t know why — but they’re just writing my legacy.”

The backstory: Young appeared reluctant to return to the field during a poor performance in Tennessee’s opener against the Jaguars and eventually sprained his left knee. A firestorm ensued Monday when he was missing for four hours after leaving LP  Field. A police report indicated that Young mentioned suicide before leaving the team's facility.

Asked about concern over his mental welfare, Young said Wednesday, “I don’t want to talk about that,” then added, “That’s something else the media made people think like that. I know who I am, everyone knows who I am as a person. They know good and well, I ain’t trying to commit suicide or all that kind of crap. It was just a story everybody wanted to write. It was hot and everybody need to make their money, feed their viewers. I always get the bad end but I just brush that off and use that as motivation for myself.”

The Titans are now the NFL’s last unbeaten team at 5-0. Young, who’s been back practicing for two weeks, is now backing up veteran Kerry Collins. The Titans play at Kansas City this week.

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Right now, Young's “just letting my knee heal and be a leader off the field.” It's a tough role, given Young's been the on-field leader everywhere he's played, including his junior season at Texas when he led the Longhorns to the national title.

Asked how difficult that transition’s been, Young said, “It’s different. It’s frustrating but you gotta fight the blows, gotta keep moving, gotta be supportive. Me and 5 (Collins) are real close so he’s doing his thing right now and I’m just being supportive until it’s time for me to get back out there.”

Young, the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year and a Pro Bowler in 2006, was asked about reports that he hadn’t sought out Collins’ counsel.

“That’s why I don’t like messing with the media,” Young bristled. “They’re always flipping and always trying to make me look bad. [Collins] and me, we talk all the time. All the time. For anything. Not just football but off the field things, business-wise, accounts. All kinds of stuff.”

Titans tight end Bo Scaife, Young’s teammate at Texas, said, “We all embrace Vince. That’s like my little brother. It’s been a tough situation for him but our job as teammates is to be there for him and be supportive of him but also do our job on the field regardless of who’s under center.

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“Vince is a competitor, he wants to be on the field,” Scaife continued. “To sit here and tell you he’s happy, that wouldn’t be true. But he’s doing good and he knows his opportunity will come again. Adversity builds character. Life is never a straight road. Same with football. There will be things you have to deal with. I was concerned with Vince but not mentally. I know Vince, I was with him through the whole situation and I think everything got blown out of proportion. Knowing him as a person and the stuff that I was hearing was going on it was sad. It’s sad that people in the spotlight have to deal with things like that.”

When or if Young reclaims the starting job with Tennessee isn’t something he’s currently focused on. Besides, the Titans haven't needed him to rush his return to the field.

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“I’m just sitting back letting my knee heal up, paying attention, being supportive of my teammates, clowning around a little bit. Just waiting on my time to get out there,” he said. “Whenever they make the decision to put me back out there [is fine]. Right now, I can’t be like, ‘OK, man, [I’m ready], why aren’t they doing this?’ I understand what’s going on. The fact that everything is going pretty good, we’re 5-0. All I can do is be supportive of my teammates.”

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