Brees over Culpepper? How about a couple other "What Ifs" in Miami Dolphins history? | Page 6 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Brees over Culpepper? How about a couple other "What Ifs" in Miami Dolphins history?

Passing on Earl Thomas was awful.

I was angry. And I was watching the draft with one of my best friends, who's a Seahawks fan. When they drafted him, I turned to him and said, "you're gonna be so freaking happy with that pick."

For what it's worth, I texted another friend that this year when the Panthers drafted Derrick Brown.
 
I see nothing wrong with tossing around what ifs. It think we're all(or should be) mature enough to realize it won't change anything.
It's part of the whole sports debate, the great ifs.
How about: What if Theismann doesn't knock that ball out of Bokamper's hand?
What if we don't get stuffed for a safety vs the Chargers in the 1994 Divisional playoff round?
What if Buffalo doesn't come back from 35-3 to beat Houston in 1992?
What if Kellen Winslow doesn't get his paw on that FG attempt?


Regarding the Winslow play, the Dolpins still would not have gone to the Super Bowl that year. I don't see any way they would have survived the Freezer Bowl in Cincinnati a week later (Cincy was 1/2 game better than Miami for home field in that game).
 
I see nothing wrong with tossing around what ifs. It think we're all(or should be) mature enough to realize it won't change anything.
It's part of the whole sports debate, the great ifs.
How about: What if Theismann doesn't knock that ball out of Bokamper's hand?
What if we don't get stuffed for a safety vs the Chargers in the 1994 Divisional playoff round?
What if Buffalo doesn't come back from 35-3 to beat Houston in 1992?
What if Kellen Winslow doesn't get his paw on that FG attempt?


The Theismann play is a great "what if". The San Diego playoff game in 1994 was the toughest for me to take. i was in 9th grade and took the Dolphins way too seriously then (my priorities are much better now). I still think Miami would have defeated Pittsburgh the following week. That SD loss was just a total meltdown. The team went to sleep in the second half (save for the final minute). I rewatched that game recently and we missed a big play at the end of the game (it was an incomplete pass to a receiver I do not recall at the moment). It would have set Stoyo up for a relatively short kick. The irony of the miss was I had absolute confidence in Stoyo on everything inside 60 yards--and maybe a little longer (let alone a 48 yarder). I honestly thought he was going to break Dempsey's record long before Elam tied it in 1998I.
 
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Stop it already. Yes Culpepper had some better stats at the time than Brees. And NO no one actually knew what Brees would eventually become. However, Bree’s was the CLEAR choice at the time and was the #1 choice for the fins. EVERYONE knew this! Culpepper was not viewed as a long term franchise QB, more one who had some athletic ability and threw the ball well deep. Other than those, the consensus of the NFL was he didn’t have much else to offer. Brees was well regarded as a long term starter and possibly a franchise type QB. The only thing was the injury.


This is revisionist nonsense. If Brees was such an obvious clear choice, why did the Saints wait until after Miami acquired Culpepper to get Brees. It seems as though the Saints settled for Brees and it paid off for them. The whole thing was serendipity for the Saints. If Brees was such an obvious front runner, he would have been signed immediately upon hitting Free Agency. Free Agency began March 11, 2006. Brees signed March 14.
 
I mean, I never liked the Culpecker pickup, I was really leery of his knee, and he hadn’t played at a high level before he shredded, what was it, 3 tendons? That scared me.

That being said though, even if we’d have gotten Brees, who is to say that we’d have put him in a similar position to succeed like Sean Payton did?We had...Mike Mularkey, not really in the same league.

As much as I hated the Culpecker pickup, I hated the Oatmeal Brains Green pickup the year after.
 
This is revisionist nonsense. If Brees was such an obvious clear choice, why did the Saints wait until after Miami acquired Culpepper to get Brees. It seems as though the Saints settled for Brees and it paid off for them. The whole thing was serendipity for the Saints. If Brees was such an obvious front runner, he would have been signed immediately upon hitting Free Agency. Free Agency began March 11, 2006. Brees signed March 14.

Well, Apparently you didn’t follow this when it actually happened, for if you had, you definitely wouldn’t call it nonsense!

First...Brees wanted to sign with Miami, BADLY!!!
Second...Miami wanted Brees BADLY!!!
Third...Miami chose not to sign him ONLY because he failed OUR team doctors physical.
Fourth...The Saints wanted him the entire time, but it was almost a foregone conclusion he was going to sign with Miami. Therefore when we didn’t sign him, the Saints gladly jumped in and snatched him up!!

The Saints affection at the time for Brees was almost comical. They were doing everything they could to lure Brees there. Your whole scenario makes zero sense and you conclude that if a player is great, he is snatched up immediately, I.e. the first day of FA!! Well, 3 days after the start of FA is still very quick by any standard. Again, as I have said tho, Miami was supposed to be the one he was singning with. The fact he was going to sign here and then 3 days after start of FA was snatched up by another team shows his true worth at the time.
 
In all fairness, I didn't follow it super closely at the time as I had more important matters to care for (my wife was going through a very difficult pregnancy at the time). But I did follow it.

The part I was claiming nonsense on was that Brees was the "clear" frontrunner. I should not have use dthe word "nonsense", and for that I am sorry. I do feel part of your argument was revisionist in nature. To say that Brees was the clear frontrunner was not the consensus around the NFL. There was much debate regarding the shoulder injury vs knee injury. True, Saban preferred Brees but Brees's contract demands at the time scared off Miami somewhat. I still feel if he had moved off his initial contract demands, Miami may have still taken a chance on him. The physical coupled with his contract demands doomed him. I know it was our team doctor that failed him (they agve him a 25% chance of recovery), but if had so clearly been the choice, it wouldn't have mattered. Players signing with other teams after failed physicals isn't unique. It's jut the Brees situation is higher profile than most of these transactions.
 
In all fairness, I didn't follow it super closely at the time as I had more important matters to care for (my wife was going through a very difficult pregnancy at the time). But I did follow it.

The part I was claiming nonsense on was that Brees was the "clear" frontrunner. I should not have use dthe word "nonsense", and for that I am sorry. I do feel part of your argument was revisionist in nature. To say that Brees was the clear frontrunner was not the consensus around the NFL. There was much debate regarding the shoulder injury vs knee injury. True, Saban preferred Brees but Brees's contract demands at the time scared off Miami somewhat. I still feel if he had moved off his initial contract demands, Miami may have still taken a chance on him. The physical coupled with his contract demands doomed him. I know it was our team doctor that failed him (they agve him a 25% chance of recovery), but if had so clearly been the choice, it wouldn't have mattered. Players signing with other teams after failed physicals isn't unique. It's jut the Brees situation is higher profile than most of these transactions.

Fair enough, and I appreciate the correction on your part. Not many can do that, so kudos! ??
As far as the argument of him being the “clear” choice. Sure, it’s easy to have 20/20 vision now after the great career he’s had, I get that part of your argument. I actually acknowledged that in one of my earlier posts. It’s hard to argue the perception of that as well, so I do get that point of view. I just happen to recall it a little differently than some I guess. I followed it VERY closely as I was extremely high on Brees, although he had not yet arrived, he clearly in my view as well as others, was well on his way. His intangibles and the other traits he had shown were what made him so attractive. He was thought of in that regard by many other than just Miami. I will always believe, and Saban has also said it numerous times, the only thing that kept Brees from signing was the doctors failed physical. So sad!! To your point, you are SOOO right, many teams have signed players that fail a physical. Many!!
 
I wouldn't say he sucked. He was not great but was not awful. The 2002 team clearly was not the same without him and his injury cost them a playoff spot.

He blew most of his big games...midnight miracle was a classic example...we don’t win the one playoff game we did withOut 200+ yards from Lamar Smith And a solid defensive effort!
 
Regarding the Winslow play, the Dolpins still would not have gone to the Super Bowl that year. I don't see any way they would have survived the Freezer Bowl in Cincinnati a week later (Cincy was 1/2 game better than Miami for home field in that game).
I agree, we probably don't beat Cincinnati the following week.
But I sure would like to have seen the attempt.
 
Here we are talking about Culpepper over Brees while we gloss over decisions like Cleo Lemon over AJ Feeley for some reason.
 
I agree, we probably don't beat Cincinnati the following week.
But I sure would like to have seen the attempt.


I guarantee Strock would have played at some point. LOL I'm picturing Bokamper with his face wrapped up and just his moustache sticking out of his headgear with steam rising off him.

if we defeated San Diego and played Cincy the following week, that would have made two straight AFC Championship games (looking back). That's great but one fact would have made it totally bizarre and trivia worthy--the 1981 and 1982 AFC Championship games (the Frezer Bowl in Cincy and the monsoon game in the Orange Bowl after the 1982 season) were two of the most notorious bad weather games in NFL history. And, the Dolphins would have played in both in back-to-back seasons.
 
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