Will Leon

The Titans won its preseason game against the New England Patriots. The Titans defense looked good, particularly cornerbacks Courtland Finnegan and rookie Michael Griffin.

The Titans offense, especially Vince Young, still needs work.

Nevertheless, it is not time to panic, despite Young’s 5 for 17 performance. He showed his trademark competitiveness in an unsuccessful dive toward the endzone. Most importantly, he walked off the field without injury.

Yes, statistics are important to a degree. But here’s a little perspective.

John Elway, one of the greatest (if not the greatest) quarterbacks ever, completed 47.5 percent of his passes during his rookie year, along with 7 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

Number of Super Bowl championships? Two.

Dan Marino, the current all-time leader in passing yards attempts and touchdown passes. He completed 58.4 percent of his passes in his rookie season and had an out-of-this-world second year, throwing for 5084 years and 48 td passes.

Number of Super Bowl Championships? Zero.

There’s no need to panic over Vince Young’s preseason performances.

Vince Young is a big game player. This was not a big game.

The New England Patriots, however, played defense as if it were in a Super Bowl. The team was true to character Friday night. It was ruthless.

Any franchise that would put Vinny Testaverde, an over-the-hill backup quarterback, into a game simply to extend an NFL record has to be ruthless.

From reports, the Patriots defense attacked Vince Young and the Titans offense with the same intensity as it would during a playoff game. Young took a vicious hit from safety Rodney Harrison, a player not know for his sportmanlike conduct.

Here is a highlight video from the Titans-Patriots game.