NASHVILLE -- Nothing says you're really, really upset like angrily throwing your official No. 10 Tennessee Titans game jersey and shoulder pads into the LP Field stands.
Look at me, you're silently screaming. I'm %#*%&# mad!!!!
At least that's what quarterback Vince Young appeared to be miming a few seconds after his Titans lost a 19-16 overtime head-scratcher to the Washington Redskins on Sunday afternoon.
Not that Vince was necessarily upset about the Titans' third straight loss. He was apparently much more angry that he was on the LP Field home sideline during the entire fourth quarter and overtime as Team Turmoil fell to 5-5 on the season.
In fact, he was supposedly so undone that when Titans defensive back Michael Griffin -- a former teammate of Young's at the University of Texas -- ran up the tunnel leading from the field to console him, Volcano Vince threw an elbow in Griff's general direction.
Like too many of his passes over the years, it missed its target.
But regardless of inaccuracy of that 'bow, at least Titans Nation can sleep better knowing that the quarterback once trumpeted as the face of the franchise is once more displaying uncommon calm and reasoned leadership in the face of adversity.
Just don't expect Titans coach Jeff Fisher to be impressed.
Asked about Young's post-game pout, Fisher said, "I am very disappointed. I think his teammates are disappointed. There is going to be frustration in losses. There are times when you have to dig deep and fight and turn to one another. I don't think you run and so I am disappointed."
Of course Fisher has often been disappointed in Young's penchant for running from his problems. There was the infamous suicide watch in Young's third season; there was the Pittsburgh Pout earlier this season when Young stood by himself on the sideline after being removed from the game. Now this.
By today, those few brave and stubborn souls still squarely in Young's corner -- tight end Bo Scaife foremost among them -- will say their quarterback was merely upset about a torn flexor tendon in his thumb that threatens to end his season.
Said Scaife, "I hope my boy's all right. The team needs him. We have to get all of this resolved."
On that one point, there is no disagreement. Once viewed as a near-certain wildcard team, the Titans now trail both the Indianapolis Colts and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC South.
Yes, there's still time to alter those standings, given that five of the team's final six games are within the division.
But Fisher may have personally decided on Sunday that the season is now secondary to the long-term health of the franchise, which would always appear to remain shaky with Young at QB.
Given that Titans owner Bud Adams has allowed this dysfunctional relationship between his beloved Texas-grown quarterback Young and Fisher to fester, the NFL's longest tenured active coach may have decided that it's him or Young.
Fisher wasted so little time in naming rookie QB Rusty Smith the starter for this Sunday's game at Houston that Smith found out about the promotion through the media.
It's almost as if Fisher is saying that if sometime-starter Kerry Collins can't rebound from his leg injury, the coach is ready to finish 6-10 to prove a point, and if Adams doesn't like it, well, the Dallas Cowboys would probably love to hire him.
But Young isn't the only problem, even if he's the biggest one. By failing to re-sign such outspoken veterans as Keith Bulluck, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Kevin Mawe in the off-season, the Titans lost the kind of leadership that could nip this latest controversy in the bud.
Instead, the team now has discipline issues everywhere, as shown by its two personal foul penalties on the Redskins' winning drive.
"We have a lot of work to do," said Fisher. "We are going to look at the roster. There may be changes."
Unless those changes quickly include a dramatic change in a certain quarterback's attitude, the Titans' once-promising season has changed for the worse for good.