Last modified: Thursday, December 28, 2006 12:50 AM EST Belichick, Pats prepare for Young BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - A year ago, a former coach of the New England Patriots got a pretty good idea of what Vince Young is all about. This Sunday at the recently-renamed LP Field in Nashville, the current coach of the Patriots will, too. Leading up to that, Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said there's good reason to be respectful of the Tennessee Titans and their young quarterback. "He's a winner," Belichick said Wednesday of Young, the former Texas signal-caller, who singlehandedly led the Longhorns past Pete Carroll's Southern Cal Trojans in last year's Rose Bowl, 41-38, spiriting away the BCS national championship in the process. "He makes plays for Tennessee to win," Belichick said of the quarterback who'll be leading the Titans into battle Sunday (1 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12) in the regular-season finale. "He helps set up a lot of things in the running game because of his ability to run the ball. But the biggest thing he's done is manage the game and win games. They've been in a lot of tight games and they've found a way to win them." Young will have to be at the top of his game Sunday if the Titans are to hold out any hope of making the playoffs after a dismal 0-5 start. Not only must Tennessee knock off the newly-crowned AFC East champions, it also needs help elsewhere in the league in the form of a Cincinnati loss to Pittsburgh, a Denver loss to San Francisco and a Jacksonville loss to Kansas City. The Patriots' playoff fortunes have an outside shot of improving slightly from the No. 4 seed, which they have now, to No. 3 if the Indianapolis Colts (also 11-4 and possessing a tiebreaker edge over the Patriots in head-to-head competition) lose to Miami on Sunday. The Colts are unpredictable these days, which is why Belichick abruptly dismissed any notions that he would rest some of his starters at Tennessee. "We're going to approach this game just as we do for every game, we're going to prepare for it and prepare to win," he said. "If the situation was different, maybe it would be different." Belichick lauded Titans' coach Jeff Fisher and his staff for stepping back from the abyss at midseason and turning the fortunes of the team around. "They're one of the hottest teams in the league, pretty impressive to watch in the last few days," Belichick said. "Jeff and his staff have done an awesome job to come back from an 0-5 start. They're obviously playing with a lot of confidence." Three of the Titans' first five losses were by a touchdown or less, and they stood at 2-7 after a one-point loss to Baltimore on Nov. 12. Since then, they've ripped off six straight wins - five of them by seven or fewer points and three by a field goal or less, but to Belichick, that indicates a maturing team that has learned how to win the close games instead of losing them. Young is at the heart of that turnaround, he said. "He's fast and strong … he runs through a lot of tackles," Belichick said. "He's done what they've asked him to do and doesn't make a lot of mistakes. This is one of the highest scoring teams in the league over the last six or seven games." Young draws a lot of attention for his running, and deservedly so. He has carried 81 times for 523 yards this season, an average of 6.5 yards per carry. But running isn't his total focus, and much like his predecessor, Steve McNair (now in Baltimore), he runs to set up other facets of the Titans' offense. Steadily, his passing statistics have improved. He has completed 169 of 321 passes (52.6 percent) for 1,972 yards, 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, having been sacked 20 times for 109 yards in losses. Last week, in a 30-29 victory over Buffalo, Young may have had his most complete games of the season. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns (127.7 passer rating), and ran eight times for 61 yards - including his most electrifying play of the day at the end of the first half, when he scored on a 36-yard keeper on a fourth-and-2 play. There was a time when Patriots' fans used to covet a player of such multi-faceted skills. But given the three Super Bowl championships won by Tom Brady from the position, Belichick knew back in April that his only interest in Young would be to admire his development from afar. "I can't say I studied him," Belichick said Wednesday. "We weren't in a position to draft him, and given our quarterback situation, it wouldn't have been good for our football team if we had." MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com