Billy Volek

[White Shogun]

That coupled with the standing "O" Young received when he entered the game means Volek has no room for error this year.

Honeslty, I wish I shared your enthusiasm. I don't think its a question of how well Volek plays; he is done. I don't even know why they pretend otherwise.

Billy Volek threw for more yards (2,789) in his first 10 starts than any quarterback since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. pretty impressive, despite his losing record as a starter.

This is another awesome stat that will end up meaningless once Volek becomes a perennial backup. He may end up like Matt Schaub, too valuable to trade but unable to start because of an over-hyped black quarterback.

 

[Triad]

With Volek and Young struggling the Titans have signed Kerry Collins to compete for a starting job.

In a related note, the Raiders signed Jeff George?Edited by: Triad

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Anything will be better than Young starting the whole season!

 

[Don Wassall]

I think Jeff Fisher is too smart to play Young this year other than for a series or two per game. I like Kerry Collins, but Volek deserves the opportunity to start on a rebuilding team without having to fear being benched every time the offense struggles. But Collins to Drew Bennett still sounds a whole lot better than Young to Bennett!

 

[sport historian]

On Saturday, I went to a Borders Store in Franklin TN. There was a life-size poster of Vince Young beside the front entrance wearing an expensive suit. The poster was captioned, "Meet the NFL's newest superstar." It was an advertisement for an upscale restaurant.

 

[Triad]

The NFL's next superstar currently has a 64.3 QB rating in preseason games against mainly 2nd and 3rd teamers.

Vince Young - 21/40 for 277 yards, 0 TD's and 1 INT

Volek wasn't much better: 24/38 for 266 yards, 0 TD's, 1 INT, a 72.9 QB rating

The team's problem isn't the QB. Over the past three years they have made some of the worst personnel decisions in the league.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Good point Triad. The Titans have gone from playoff perenials to being happy just to have a winning season.

 

[White Shogun]

Kerry Collins is taking snaps from Volek. Rumor is they are trying to prepare Collins enough so that he can start Sept. 10 against the Jets.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Yeah, Volek should be the starter, I think, but any white starter is better than having a black one. I say the longer Young is buried on the depth chart, the better.

 

[Warnipple]

Why is everyone so high on Volek? I agree 100% that Young is pure hype, the next God that Failed, etc. But I think there are misleading impressions about Volek due to his performance in 2004, a year when passing stats were enormously inflated across the league (McNaab had 5 4-TD games I think, 2nd only to Marino and Manning). Plus, a guy can often come off the bench when there no intel on him and perform well. But, reality catches up and I'm not sure Volek is really worth shedding tears over. Sorry, just my opinion.

 

[Don Wassall]

The thing is that we may never know how good Volek is because it looks like he's another white quarterback who's going to get very limited opportunities. I don't understand Tennessee's apparent mad rush to get Collins in there almost immediately. Maybe the Titans players refuse to accept Volek because they want Young as the starter, but will tolerate a veteran like Collins more while Young sits for a season or so.


Volek understandably isn't too happy about the Collins pickup:


[url]http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=7&sc reen=news&news_id=51849[/url]


And here's a rare MSM reporter who thinks Young will be a bust in the NFL:


http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/9626003

 

[Colonel_Reb]

WOW! I can't believe they are going against the standard line. The thing is, none of the black QBs like Young have made it big in the NFL. They all had to become at least pseudo-pocket passers. Only Cunningham really succeeded at it. Guys like him are rare birds indeed! Pun intended!

 

[White Shogun]

Why is everyone so high on Volek? I agree 100% that Young is pure hype, the next God that Failed, etc. But I think there are misleading impressions about Volek due to his performance in 2004, a year when passing stats were enormously inflated across the league (McNaab had 5 4-TD games I think, 2nd only to Marino and Manning). Plus, a guy can often come off the bench when there no intel on him and perform well. But, reality catches up and I'm not sure Volek is really worth shedding tears over. Sorry, just my opinion.

Well, let's take a look at Billy Volek:

He came into the league in 2000, but he didn't play then, and only performed mop up duty in '01. He's played in 24 games since then, and started in 10 of those.

He has a completion % of 60.3%
He has thrown for 3,505 yards.
He has 26 TDs, with 13 INTs.
He has a career QB rating of 86.9, which is lower than it should be because of his 39.6 rating he earned in '01, when he played in ONE game and threw THREE passes.

By comparison (career):
Drew Bledsoe - Completion % 57.3, QB Rating 77.3
Aaron Brooks - Comp % 56.4, QB Rating 79.7
Jake Delhomme - Comp % 59.1, QB Rating 84.5
Matt Hasselbeck - Comp % 60.9, QB Rating 86.6
Byron Leftwich - Comp % 58.7, QB Rating 80.8
Donovan McNabb - Comp % 58.4, QB Rating 84.1

Oh, and that guy behind whom Volek has been riding the pine?

Steve McNair - Comp % 59.5, QB Rating 83.3
Jake Plummer - Comp % 57.3, QB Rating 75.1

And round it out with St. Vick:
Mike Vick - Comp % 54.1, QB Rating 75.8

In a random sampling of supposedly good, starting, quality NFL quarterbacks, Volek beats them all. I chose Completion % and QB Rating because those stats reflect TD/INT ratios, yardage, and so on, but if you take the time to look through the quarterbacks list at NFL.com like I did, you will see that Volek compares favorably to all these quarterbacks, and others, across the board.

How do we know Volek is overrated? He has performed ably when he has been asked to play. Why do you think he isn't qualified to start at least ONE SEASON with the team he's been playing for the past six years? Does he lack 'leadership qualities?' Does he lack 'presence in the huddle?' It certainly isn't because of his performance on the field.

If he blows that bad why haven't they cut him and signed another backup quarterback in the past six years?

 

[Warnipple]

White Shogun,


You should focus on the stats for games in which Volek has started (I know, more yards in his first 10 starts than anyone, etc., but not 3500 yards in 10 games). And, I'm sure he's better than losers like Aaron Brooks (to be fair we shouldn't compare him to McNair, a man worthy of respect, at the end of his career). And Bledsoe in his (admittedly uneven) prime? Forget it. And maybe the reason he's still around is because half-way decent QBs are hard to find, and Tennessee has had issues at that position. The point is, basing your assessment on Volek because of a freak year like 2004 is liable to be misleading. Bottom line is, if it weren't for the Vick Part 2 aspect of Young's role with the Titans, I doubt anyone on this list would much care if Volek got his due. There are bigger fish for Caste Footballers to fry.

 

[White Shogun]

All those stats I ran were career stats, not end-of-career headed-to-retirement last-year-in-the NFL numbers for McNair and Bledsoe.

I don't think half-way decent quarterbacks are that hard to find, they just don't fit into the caste system idea of the way things should be.

There may be bigger fish to fry, like the Search for the Holy Grail of White Runningbacks, but the truth is the quarterback position is the last bastion of whites in the NFL, and it is falling. If we don't pull a read guard action on the QB position at some point, there won't be any white players in the NFL at all.

 

[Warnipple]

White Shogun,


I don't entirely disagree with your reaction to defend a fellow white in a conflict with a non-white. However, one thing that should be kept in mind is that whites, unlike the other races, tend to look at the objective/universalist justice in a situation. This is NOT a weakness: such universalism has permitted whites to extend the division of labor and its attendant productivity beyond the family/tribal level and has given us the material resources that can still win the day for us. It would be foolish for us to renounce this universalism, just as it is foolish for many whites to (mistakenly) believe that universaism requires that we see the black man's point of view. Put simply, I'm not going to defend Volek just because of the Vince Young issue. I don't see that any great injustice has been done to the man. If we act like non-whites and unthinkingly defend other co-ethnicists, we're just as bad as them. The difference is that we THINK before we defend (taking care not to think too much, it should be stressed).


Fact is, for what it's worth Volek has shown nothing in the preseason, and you don't pay a guy like Young many millions to ride the pine, just like the Giants didn't pay Eli Manning to sit on the bench, however unwise it was to start him. Young will eventually start this season so the question the Titans have to ask is, what's the best move until then. Clearly they think they can do better than Volek, and I'm not sure they're wrong. Collins has done more over more years. Volek had one good stretch of one fluke season when EVERYONE putup big numbers. He might be a decent back-up but that's about it.

 

[Bart]

The point is, basing your assessment on Volek because of a freak year like 2004 is liable to be misleading. Bottom line is, if it weren't for the Vick Part 2 aspect of Young's role with the Titans, I doubt anyone on this list would much care if Volek got his due.

Volek played extremely well when given the opportunity.The Volek to Bennet aerial show was very satisfying to watch. I'd love to see them produce more highlight reel footage. I am cheering for both of them.Freak year huh?Yeah, that's the ticket.

 

[White Shogun]

Warnipple:

This sounds like another Tommy Morrison debate. I'm not defending Volek because he is white. I'm lamenting the fact that he isn't going to get a real, bona fide opportunity to start and play for the Titans. There are lots of players who play poorly in the pre-season and it doesn't matter: their position on the team is unaffected. Volek, like many other white players in the NFL, no matter how well they play, are rarely ever given a fair opportunity to display how well (or not) that they can play.

The NFL will allow a black player time to 'develop.' They get YEARS of underachieving and poor performances, including and during the regular season, before they pull they plug. They'll even send them to special ed learning centers to help them grasp and understand the team playbook.

Yet, Volek, despite not having ever played so poorly to be cut or traded, and who in reality played very well when given the opportunity, will not now and maybe never, get a chance to 'be' the starting quarterback.

And frankly, it seems to me there has been a rash of people posting on the board recently who seem to think that every time one of us at CF disagrees with the mainstream sports media's bashing or dismissal of a white player, we jump to his defense 'merely' because he is white.

The truth is there are a lot of white athletes, Tommy Morrison and Billy Volek included, who do not deserve the coals heaped upon their heads, and especially so when their black counterparts, whom they have often outperformed and beaten, do not receive the same heaping of coals and criticism.

I object to the double standard that demands white men play better than blacks to receive lesser accolades, and black men have to perfrom so little to receive so much.

I object to the idea that a white man cannot defend another white man BECAUSE HE IS WHITE. I am all for objectively covering an athlete's performance, but please - remove those black-tinted shades first.

 

[Warnipple]

White Shogun:


You object to a "rash" of people claiming Caste Football defends white players just because they're white, yet you essentially affirm that this is exactly what you're doing.


You are quite right that blacks are given every opportunty to "develop", are constantly forgiven their failures and serious transgressions, etc. I'm afraid you are preaching to the choir. EVERYONE, whether they read Caste Football or not, knows this. At some point this account becomes bellyaching, if not insulting to the intelligence.


The real question is, how to combat the anti-white sentiment that pervades our society. If you think defending Billy Volek is the way to do that, fine. I'm not so sure.

 

[White Shogun]

Warnipple:

Perhaps you can give me some suggestions for Warnipple- approved topics on which I can post here at Caste Football, a site I thought who's purpose was to celebrate white athletes.

You say that I should not lament the priviliges shown black athletes, as this amounts to mere bellyaching and insulting to one's intelligence.

And apparently defending Billy Volek is an inappropriate topic as well, for combating anti-white sentiment.

I don't know what you've read in my posts that say I am defending Volek because he is white. I am not (and what of it? if I were, but thats another story.) I am defending Billy Volek because I think he would be a good, viable, starting quarterback in the NFL, but he will not be given that opportunity because of the caste system. I am basing my assessment of his talent on his performance on the field, and not the color of his skin. Isn't that what we want, a society (sport) where one (athlete) is judged by the content of his character (performance) and not by the color of his skin (NFL)?

What does how well other quarterbacks played that same year have to do with Volek passing for more yards in his first ten games than any quarterback in the NFL have to do with anything? He performed almost at that same level in the games he's played in since then. Does that mean that Manning's record setting year was also a fluke, since other quarterbacks played well that year, too?

That is nonsense.

And finally, what do you suggest *is* the way to combat the anti-white sentiment that pervades our society? I'm all ears. Edited by: White Shogun

 

[Don Wassall]

The real question is, how to combat the anti-white sentiment that pervades our society. If you think defending Billy Volek is the way to do that, fine. I'm not so sure.

That's not the "real question." No single thread is going to do that. No one has a formula or solution to solve the "anti-white sentiment that pervades our society." And even if someone did, we're here to talk sports, politics, race and whatever else we want to.


As far as Volek, the standard measurement for comparison is racial. If a black quarterback had put up the best yardage ever in his first ten games as a starter in limited opportunities, would he be as easily disrespected and dismissed as is Volek, by both fans and media? No, it would be understood that he had earned an opportunity to start while the raw white "phenom" (again reversing the races involved) would sit on the bench and learn for a season or maybe even two. It would also be understood that if the "black" Volek did well, he would remain a starter, either with Tennessee or else be traded or signed elsewhere. He would not be readily consigned to career backup status as is Volek.


That is a legitimate topic of discussion. It doesn't have to have cosmic importance or prescribe solutions to societal ills. It is what it is, something people here want to discuss.

 

[Guest]

WOW! I can't believe they are going against the standard line. The thing is, none of the black QBs like Young have made it big in the NFL. They all had to become at least pseudo-pocket passers. Only Cunningham really succeeded at it. Guys like him are rare birds indeed! Pun intended!

maybe Tennessee got Young because they are thinking of installing the wishbone?

 

[White Shogun]

You object to a "rash" of people claiming Caste Football defends white players just because they're white, yet you essentially affirm that this is exactly what you're doing.

Yes, I do object to that, because I believe that I can defend any white athlete for whatever reason I choose, skin or otherwise. I don't always do so, but what I object to more so is people who arrive at CF and in one month deign to tell someone on this board what they can and cannot post about regarding a white athlete.

If you object to my opinion of Volek, debate me with statistics. Argue about leadership and 'winning games.' But don't tell me that I cannot defend, approve of, or appreciate Volek's performance, or that of any other white athlete, as I choose.

The 'rash' of posts about which I object are those which attempt to silence those here who defend or praise white athletes. You, and others, are attempting to demean me and others here who support athletes like Volek by describing such support as insulting to one's intelligence, as though there is no reason to defend these athletes other than the color of their skin.

And that is simply not true.

 

[Bart]

Interesting article about Volek , written in Dec. 2004


[url]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/reuben_frank/1 2/22/frank.numbers/index.html[/url]


Dan Marino didn't do it. John Elway didn't either. Joe Montana wasn't even close.


Steve Young? Tom Brady? Brett Favre?


Nope.


Nobody in NFL history has done what Titans QB Billy Volek has done.


No quarterback has been close.


Volek, who was 0-for-3 passing in his first two NFL seasons, has thrown for 2,305 yards in his first seven NFL starts, by far the most passing yards in NFL history by a quarterback in the first seven starts of his career.


The previous seven-game best to open a career was 1,866 passing yards by Kurt Warner. Volek broke that record by 439 yards. Neither Warner nor Volek were drafted.


Volek has more passing yards in his first seven starts than Steve Young and John Elway combined (1,891). He's already thrown for 334 or more yards three times. It took Tom Brady 40 starts to do that. He's already thrown for 426 or more yards twice. Favre has started 202 games and has never thrown for 426 yards. He's already thrown for 492 yards once. Montana, Young, Peyton Manning, Daunte Culpepper, Bart Starr and Troy Aikman never did that.

 

[White Shogun]

Hey Bart
Its all a fluke, don't ya know! There was magic in the air that year!