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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Did someone know what they were doing with Vince Young in Tennessee?

Apparently so. There's no doubt that Young is a different quarterback as a starter in 2009 than he was in 2007 and during that infamous opening week game of '08, when the former Titans' No. 1 draft pick sustained a career and emotional breakdown and was benched for Kerry Collins.

NFL players grow and mature as athletes, leaders and men differently. A rare few come out of the draft as impact players. Of those, fewer still are quarterbacks, the most visible and important member of an NFL franchise.

So while Titans coach Jeff Fisher enjoys some breathing room now that his once maligned and winless team is revitalized following a two-game winning streak, perhaps it's time to give the NFL's longest-tenured head coach some credit: making Young a sideline protégé in 2008 and half of '09 has turned this fourth-year quarterback into a new player.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Atlanta Falcons weren't even finished piling up takeaways, yards and points in Sunday's 45-10 rout of the 49ers at Candlestick Park when San Francisco coach Mike Singletary lost his sideline poise.

Rather than take out his frustrations on one of his underachieving players, Singletary instead engaged in a third-quarter shouting match with Falcons right guard Harvey Dahl.

During an early third-quarter drive that was dominated by running back Michael Turner (22 total carries for 97 yards) chewing up the 49ers' 3-4 defensive front, Singletary and Dahl argued back and forth, with both of them very animated and obviously irate. Neither was penalized for the jawing match.

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Rookie quarterback Nate Davis, a San Francisco 49ers fifth-round draft pick in 2009, had an uncomfortable conversation several times in recent days with 12th-year quarterback Damon Huard. It wasn't about mentor-pupil anymore. How's this for awkward: Only one of them would make it through the week on the 49ers' roster.

So the conversation was about survival.

Mandatory roster cutdowns were imminent on NFL teams and the 49ers were carrying four quarterbacks. Shaun Hill had earned the starting job; former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith was idling in neutral at No. 2. That meant a final spot came down to Davis or Huard.

"We always stayed positive with each other and said, 'We hope that we're both here,'" Davis says of his many heartfelt talks with his most direct competitor for an NFL job.

So according to 49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco's Twitter feed, the 49ers announced that Shaun Hill, and not former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith, will start the team's first regular-season game three weeks from now. And while this is significant news for those who follow the 49ers -- and while I would never want to downplay the resolution of a training camp position battle since we all spend so much time analyzing them -- I watched the 49ers' game from Saturday night, and my reaction to this move is: YAWN.

Whether the 49ers picked Hill, Smith, you, me or brought Joe Montana out of retirement, whoever starts at quarterback in San Francisco is going to do a whole lot of handing off. They brought Nate Davis in during the second half and the broadcasters said something about, "He's got a big arm and we're going to get to see that," and they looked pretty silly when the first six plays after Davis went in were running plays.

The goofy NFL news of the day Saturday was the renaming of the home of the Miami Dolphins after Jimmy Buffett's beer company. "Land Shark Stadium" will be the fifth different name this building has had since it opened in 1987.

The stadium has an interesting history. Its $115 million construction cost was completely privately funded (imagine that!) with the help of season ticket holders who made long-term commitments in exchange for the promise of a state-of-the-art football facility. Joe Robbie, the owner of the Dolphins at the time, envisioned it as a stadium that could host baseball as well as football, and for that reason, the front-row seats are set back further from the sidelines than at traditional NFL venues.

Next February, Super Bowl XLIV will be the fifth Super Bowl this stadium has hosted -- under four of its five different names:

Well, not really, but it felt that way during a two-hour conference call that NFL.com draft guru Mike Mayock held with members of the media this afternoon. I'm pretty sure every NFL writer and every college writer in the country was on the call, and that everyone got to ask a question. Mayock is, I am 100 percent certain, either a computer or the 21st-century version of the robot 2XL (without, of course, the 8-track tapes). Only one time in the entire two hours did he fail to answer a question, and that was because somebody asked about a kicker, and he admitted he didn't really look at kickers in the draft.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

San Fransisco 49ers' tight end Vernon Davis might be struggling this season, but he has plenty of other interests to keep himself balanced. From his surprisingly impressive talents as an artist, to his unique outlook on what he'd be doing if he weren't playing football, Davis is a true renaissance man. In this video we catch up with the Bay Area footballer. Watch the interview after the jump.

There was a "reality" game show on ABC called "The Great American Dream Vote," in which competitors ... actually, I don't know what they did. The show didn't last very long before being cancelled. Somehow, I get the feeling that this did not deprive the American public of some great work of visual art.

Anyway, there was a fellow on the show by the name of Jim Davis, a 43-year-old English teacher at Andover College (that's not him pictured, at least, I don't think it is) ... and his dream was to be the oldest rookie in the NFL, and if he won on the show, he'd have a chance to make that dream come true. The final episode never aired, but ABC did come through on their promise ... they've hooked Davis up with an official tryout with the San Francisco 49ers.

He's taking this very seriously. He's training hard, he's in good shape, and he likes his chances. I admire the guy, and I'm glad he's doing this, but the realist in me says ... come on, you're 43, trying out in an industry populated with the world's greatest athletes, many of them all goosed up on HGH, who work for employers who are known to universally favor younger athletes.

But hey, miracles do happen. Roy Hobbs got a shot with the Knights. Rick Vaughn overcame poor vision and a lack of control. Henry Rowengartner's arm healed funny after breaking it, and he became a star with the Cubs. Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny beat a bunch of animated aliens to save their freedom. All those things happened.

Seriously, though, best of luck to Jim Smith. Whatever you want to get out of this, I hope you get it.

That's just a figure of speech. I very much doubt that at this very moment, Frank Gore is rolling around in the nude on top of U.S. currency. He could if he wanted to, though.

Rewarding him for a monstrous 2006 campaign, the 49ers extended his contract today and stuffed some moolah into his pockets. The deal includes $14 million guaranteed, which sounds like a lot, and in fact, is a lot ... but I don't know, it seems like backup guards are getting that these days.

But it's an extension, and not something he picked up in free agency, so I guess he can't complain. And neither can the 49ers, as Gore last year established himself as one of the best backs in football, and all things considered, the 49ers are getting him at a pretty good price.