Collins a steady hand for Titans

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With three touchdown passes and a 74.2 passer rating, Kerry Collins is being hailed at a hero at the helm of the undefeated Titans.

With eight TDs and an 80 rating, Peyton Manning is fielding a lot of questions about what's wrong.

The two quarterbacks who square off Monday night at LP Field lead very different schemes and are asked to do very different things -- Manning must produce points for the Colts to be successful; Collins needs only to minimize mistakes.

Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said it's almost like the two play different positions.

"Peyton is still a great quarterback and everyone would love to have him on their team," he said. "What Kerry has come in and done is not made mistakes for us, put us in good situations and let the defense do a lot of the work.

"Peyton has to carry [his] team and Kerry doesn't. He just needs to make plays and not make mistakes, that's all we ask of them ... There is not as much pressure on Kerry as Peyton. He's the face of that franchise. You know here, the face of the franchise is going to be Vince [Young]. So all Kerry has to do is go out there and basically not lose it, which he hasn't. He's played well for us."

"Not losing it" isn't what young quarterbacks grow up dreaming about. But in what amounts to a second career renaissance and at 35 years old, Collins has a handle on what's important.

"Maybe my numbers don't jump out, but I think offensively as a whole, we've been fairly productive," Collins said. "...At this point in my career, I'm really only worried about one stat and that's how many wins I can get."

Said Manning: "They are 6-0, that's definitely the truth. Things usually are a little rosier and easier when you're winning. When you are 3-3, you've got to kind of grind it out."

Collins was a late addition to the 2006 Titans, and thrown into a tough situation, he struggled in the team's first three games, with six interceptions and only one touchdown. With prodding from owner Bud Adams in Houston, Jeff Fisher made the switch to Young, the third overall pick in the draft.

Young played well that season, guiding the team on a six-game winning streak and winding up NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. But he never got to sit back and watch a veteran work, learning not just about in-game decisions but locker room comportment, media relations and all the travails that come with the job.

Those issues bubbled up at the start of this season, when Young was booed during the opener in Nashville, tried to take himself out of the game and subsequently suffered a sprained knee. The next day, overly concerned friends and family put Fisher in the awkward position of having to call the police to help find Young, who'd left home in an apparent huff, causing those close to him to worry about his mental state. He was just trying to get away and clear his head, he and Fisher later said, but the story added to the pile -- Young wasn't handling all the attention that came with being an NFL quarterback, particularly when things weren't going well.

Collins was anointed the starter for as long as things were going well; Young was instructed to rehab, then take over as the backup, watching how an old pro handled the job.

Having endured a set of his own struggles, Collins is a perfect resource for Young. (I won't rehash -- here's a blog entry outlining all that.)

A change at quarterback has the potential to divide a locker room, cause a stir, amount to a distraction. To Collins' credit, his seamless takeover -- and ability to lead and to win -- quickly smoothed over the potential for any of that. He's liked and respected by everyone on the team for his non-nonsense, no-glitz, straightforward approach and execution.

As head of the Carolina Panthers in 1995, Colts president Bill Polian drafted Collins fifth overall, the first selection in the history of the expansion club.

Polian was drawn to Collins and traded down, selecting the Penn State signal-caller when he could have had Steve McNair -- a decision that he rated as much more difficult than Manning over Ryan Leaf in 1998.

"First of all, his arm strength -- he can make every throw and he could seemingly make every throw from his back if he needed to," Polian said. "Secondly his competitiveness... Highly competitive, very intelligent, really a hard worker, a guy who wanted to do whatever it took to do well. His so-called hitch never bothered me and it never bothered him."

Like many who've known Collins through his 14 seasons, Polian is happy to see him doing well again.

Nobody's happier than Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, who returned to the Titans this season to mentor Young but now has a steady and reliable guy steering his offense.

"We don't ask Kerry to do the same things that Peyton has to do for the Colts' offense," he said. "And that's just a philosophy thing. But as far as what we need done here, Kerry is having a great year.

"He needs to manage the game and not turn it over. He's making good decisions. We're trying to move the chains. He's done a nice job of getting us in the right play when he's got to make those decisions. I think he's doing a good job of getting the ball out, he's helped the offensive line because we haven't had a sack in the last few games. Kerry is managing a game the way you'd expect a 14-year vet would."



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