Sal Lisitano said:
Do you guys n gals think that Saban and CPEP can communicate and not let this become a problem? You could tell that CPEP is really pissed off right now. I hope that they can get this "problem" under control. I really feel that the reason why Saban has benched CPEP is becase CPEP isn't health enough and because he wants to avoid further injury because he is Miami's QB of the future...like Saban said...it's a long term relationship. I think that CPEP is being a little selfish though.
Go Fins!!!
Culpepper is clearly upset. He's got a long and distinguished career of making plays, including some marks that stack up favorably with league history, and this is really the first time he's ever sat the bench while technically healthy enough to play probably going all the way back to high school.
However there are people that seem to feel that Daunte just stayed visibly upset the entire game the other day and never talked to anyone including Joey Harrington. That just isn't true. I saw on numerous occasions where he was talking to Joey and others on the sidelines about plays. And, if at the end of the game, the team is losing by 10 points with 10 minutes to play, and Daunte is on the sidelines with his arms crossed because he's raging hot that he isn't out there and able to do something to bring this team back...like Saban said, that's a good thing not a bad thing.
If this were Minnesota, Daunte would be in serious danger of packing it in...playing his own version of Commander Chaos and acting like he's not long for the city anymore and needs a new start.
But, in Miami he doesn't have that option for a number of reasons.
For one thing, he's already switched teams. This is his new start and he's been treating it as this magically renewing experience...the second half of his career as he says. That's a lot of investment to just turn your back now and say ok I'm going Commander Chaos and trying to get traded.
For another, he'll lose a LOT of money if he does that. I'm not trying to say he's all about the money but he would lose tens of millions of dollars. You don't just do something stupid that will lose you that much cash. Going from washing out with just the Vikings to washing out with the Vikings and then washing out after only one season with the Fins? Yeah, a LOT of money. That would be enough to make him want to slap himself for even thinking about it.
The last reason is he's home. This is where he wanted to be, FL. He's not ready to ruin that just cuz the coach put him on the bench so that he can focus on a strength and conditioning regimen aimed at making him the player he use to be with the Vikings. How many other FL options are out there? The Jags have Byron Leftwich and seem pretty happy there. He could try and pull some kind of move and go to the Bucs, but I just don't think Jon Gruden considers him to be the kind of QB he likes...they're all on the Bruce Gradkowsky wagon now (formerly the Chris Simms wagon).
And the other thing to note is that Daunte has really been a model citizen with us since he arrived...so there's no reason to think he wants to mail it in or be a jerk or something along those lines. He's been a team leader, and as Saban said nobody works harder than the guy. Saban said that if he had a top 5 of guys that want to win the most, that are willing to DO the most to win, Daunte would be right up on that list (with guys like Zach and JT no doubt).
The reality of this move is that Daunte has extremely powerful focus and concentration but he's always had a pretty one-track mind. You can't get the guy to focus on some whacky strength and explosiveness training while the guy is 100% focused on New England.
So Saban took him
off that track. He decided things were not necessarily going to get better for him physically or mentally unless he did take him off the track, and that in the meantime the next hit could be his last (torn rotator cuff...a QB-killing injury).
So now Daunte will need to focus on the new training, and I expect that he will approach it with the vigor and intensity that he approached his knee rehab, which really did progress at a rather impressive pace. He can't be focused on the next opponent anymore, because now he is third string.
The problem was that Daunte may not have been convinced that there was anything wrong with him. He was limping noticeably and had no ability to move laterally and get out of the way but he still thought, he's tough and he can still wing it so it's cool. This is a pretty dramatic way to show him, no it's not cool. Either get with the program or don't play anymore.
It's something that not a lot of head coaches would feel strong enough to do...and really, I have to wonder if Saban didn't come to this conclusion after watching the tape of Cincinnati get pasted by New England, and seeing the exact same things in Carson Palmer...and saying to himself, we really need to get these guys out of the game and focused on getting their knees healthy...because they can still throw the ball with the best of them but they are sitting ducks in pass rush.
