The knee injury not only sidelines Young for approximately a month, beginning with Sunday's road game at Cincinnati, it buys the Titans time to try and get the quarterback's fragile psyche back under control and not have to worry about putting a less-than-focused player on the field at the game's most important position.

Young endured a tempestuous three-day stretch beginning with the end of Sunday's season opener over Jacksonville when it appeared he was reluctant to re-enter the game after throwing his second interception of the day.

After retaking the field, Young suffered a knee sprain four plays later when Jacksonville's Daryl Smith rolled up on his leg on an incomplete pass in the flat.

But that was just the beginning of Young's problems. He failed to show up at the team's practice facility the next day for a scheduled MRI, and later that evening, after apparently getting a visit from coach Jeff Fisher at home with his emotional state reportedly an issue, Young was unaccounted for for approximately four hours.

Young spoke to the media for the first time Thursday since Sunday's win over Jacksonville and recounted his version of what transpired that Monday evening.

"It was just so many people coming over to the house and with what I was going through, I just needed my space to think and let the cloud go away for a minute. And that's what I did. I left," Young said. "My mom saw me, and she thought I wasn't in my right mind, and (the) whole time I was watching the game (at a friend's house) and ... eating some hot wings, and all of a sudden, my man came in and said, 'They're looking for you.' And I said, 'Why are they looking for me?'"

Young refuted speculation and talk that he was ready to quit football and believes he will be the starting quarterback once he rehabs a sprained left MCL that could keep him out 2-4 weeks.

"I'm here. I'm ready to play," he said. "They drafted me to be the quarterback here with this organization, and that's what they want me to do. That's what I like about our organization. They're behind me."

Fisher indicated Wednesday that Young would return to his starting role, but offered a caveat that the quarterback needed to "get some things back in perspective."

With Young on the shelf, the Titans can move forward indefinitely with veteran Kerry Collins at the helm of the offense.

"I love being back out there this week," Collins said. "I now relish the opportunity to play, because I don't get to play all the time anymore. I'm looking forward to it. I think we can go up there and be the kind of team that can handle everything and go out there and try to execute our game plan and play ball."

The other variable with that was that Young was having trouble throwing the football, completing just 12 of 22 passes against Jacksonville, and Collins could give the passing game a desperately-needed spark. He was two of two for 65 yards and engineered a touchdown drive after coming off the bench.

As insurance, the Titans added quarterback Chris Simms, recently released by Tampa Bay.

The Titans feel their defense, which had seven sacks and two interceptions last Sunday, is championship caliber, and that they need only for the offense to not turn the football over and give them an occasional contribution.

A sage veteran like Collins could be just the right tonic needed for such a setup and his strong arm is a good fit for the vertical passing game Mike Heimerdinger likes to employ.

SERIES HISTORY: 72nd meeting. Titans lead the all-time series, 38-32-1. Last year, an also-ran Bengals team thumped the Titans 35-6 at Paul Brown Stadium.