Culpepper not expected to play Sunday...
Indications are that former Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper is being benched for Sunday's game against the New England Patriots. Although he made a remarkable comeback from a season-ending knee injury, Culpepper has struggled to lead the Dolphins offense, which boasts running back Ronnie Brown, receiver Chris Chambers and tight end Randy McMichael. In four starts, Culpepper has just two touchdowns against three interceptions, and he's been sacked a league-high 21 times.
He was added to the injury report Thursday as probable, which means a virtual certainty that he'll play, with a bruised right shoulder. But veteran Joey Harrington is expected to start Sunday against the Patriots.
Culpepper has looked tentative and certainly not as mobile, as he tries to regain full strength in his knee. It also hasn't helped that his offensive line is suspect, and offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey may be struggling with the play-calling.
All of that has resulted in the Dolphins being a disappointing 1-3.
He was added to the injury report Thursday as probable, which means a virtual certainty that he'll play, with a bruised right shoulder. But veteran Joey Harrington is expected to start Sunday against the Patriots.
Culpepper has looked tentative and certainly not as mobile, as he tries to regain full strength in his knee. It also hasn't helped that his offensive line is suspect, and offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey may be struggling with the play-calling.
All of that has resulted in the Dolphins being a disappointing 1-3.
posted by Karl r at 6:17 PM
4 Comments:
Daunte Culpepper is nowhere near being healthy physically or psychologically. His knee has not healed completely. In the games I've seen, he can't push off his leg and has no drive when he tries to throw deep. His throws are all arm and have no velocity. His lateral movement is also affected, hence all the sacks. Psychologically, his confidence is shot. He's making way too many mistakes such as throwing the ball up for grabs just like he did last year here in Minnesota.
Sean, did you ever think you would write that Daunte was being benched for Joey Harrington?
Absolutely not. But he clearly isn't himself yet. It usually takes guys at least a full year to fully recover from such a major injury. I wish him the best.
Well, considering how he played in his last two games - against the 31st and 32nd ranked defenses in the NFL (losing one of the games and scraping by in the other) - it wouldn't be a surprise if he gets benched, if only to "save him from himself" as Saban said.
New England's defense would destroy Daunte, and his unquestionably fragile ego, giving him less chance of ever coming back. They're gonna lose anyway, so why not chance it with Harrington?
When you:
1)can't even beat a team (Houston) that gave up 98 points in their first 3 games and averaged about 480 yards per game given up until that point
2)have a 1-3 record while your first four opponents have a combined 4-11 record (3 of those wins coming from your own defeats)
3)Are playing a team that beat Buffalo (who already beat Miami), the Jets (who beat Buffalo), and Cincinatti (a great team)
4)are trying to get your "savior" QB out of a slump
...you play the backup instead.
Let the backup become the sacrificial lamb if you have any hope of rehabilitating your starting QB. However, Daunte may never rehabilitate into what they want him to be. In his six year career, three of those season were arguably a bust ('01, '02, and '05).
Daunte had a couple of really good seasons also, but so did Kurt Warner at one time (Warner's '99 and '01 seasons were similar to Daunte's '04 season), then Warner was cut and traded off twice and today rides the bench.
Cunningham, George, Frerotte, and Bouman all had higher passer ratings with the MN system in those years than Culpepper's career rating in that system was- which proved the system and surrounding players made Daunte much more than he made the system and surrounding players. Carter and Moss made arguably the best receiver duo of all time and our O Line was great in many of those years too.
If Culpepper plays against the Patriots Sunday, expect him to get slaughtered. Then he'll get slaughtered against the Jets next weekend, maybe have some luck against Green Bay the weekend after that, but then have to play two of the top five defenses in the NFl (Chicago and Kansas City) after that.
In other words, if Daunte isn't given time to recover and get his act together, he'll be pulled for the rest of the season by week 10 and probably never come back. There's just too much in his path. Saban has to be able to see this coming. As Saban said himself: "Could be a boxer somewhere that has five concussions and maybe it's time to ... wait a while until you box again"
It's sad to say but i think Pep is done. It's no mystery to me that the problem last year wasn't that he missed moss, or linehan, or birk, or having a QB coach or even having a competent offensive coordinator. He just wasn't able to avoid the rush like he could in previous years. At one time, he had a Free First Down Card he could play at virtually any time. Without that, he has to rely on his pocket passing instincts to succeed. i too wish him the best, but i'm afraid his best days are long gone.
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