Culpepper Doubters Please Read

[PHAZINPHINZPHAN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daunte_Culpepper

In 2004, if not for Peyton Manning, Daunte would have likely been named NFL MVP. Culpepper enjoyed his best statistical season as a professional and, though they were only 8-8, the Vikings reached the playoffs for the second time with Culpepper. Passing for a league-leading 4,717 yards, a Viking-record 39 touchdowns, and only 11 interceptions, Culpepper was named to his third career Pro Bowl. Culpepper also broke Dan Marino's NFL record for combined passing and rushing yards, amassing 5,123 total yards. His 2,323 rushing yards from 2000-2004 also made him only the fourth quarterback in NFL history to run for more than 2,300 yards in a five-season period. (Michael Vick had 3,570 from 2002-2006; Randall Cunningham had 3,232 from 1986-1990; and Steve McNair had 2,387 from 1997-2001). Culpepper's career rushing average of 29.4 yards per game is fourth-best among quarterbacks in NFL history. Only Vick (52.1 yds/g), Cunningham (30.6 yds/g), and Bobby Douglass (29.8 yds/g) have averaged more rushing yards per game during their QB careers. After the 2004 season, Culpepper said the game had "slowed down" for him, saying "I feel like a Jedi Knight."

 

[RoninFin4]

So...all that was before he hurt his knee with a better offensive line. What's that got to do w/his current situation on the Dolphins? I'll admit I was an adament Culpepper supporter when he first got here, but I think Saban ruined him for good by playing him too soon. I still say we need to do whatever it takes to draft Brady Quinn.

 

[Dolphins54]

Its not his physical ability that worries me, cause we all know the sky is the limit for a "healthy" Daunte. Its what I've heard and read from his previous coaches that scares me. Both Tice and Saban have said, publically, that its not his physical ability that holds him back, its whats upstairs. And from a position, that is the most important position in all of sports to be smart in, that scares me to death. I am afraid that in the years in Minny, he could just air the ball out, and a healthy Moss could outjump anyone. We need a guy at that position that can read blitzes, different schemes, studies tape like no one else on the team. I just am having MAJOR doubt about if that guy can be Culpepper. Believe you me, I hope and pray every night that he is, just get scared. Please help me to not listen to my mind.

 

[Jaj]

Here's a way to help you. Go back and look at the stats from 2004 when Moss was out. Daunte's stats are pretty impressive even then. Also remember Moss was completely hobbled that year and yet Daunte continued to have his greatest season as opposed to 03 when Moss was eating people alive.

 

[testtubetimmy]

So what has he done for me lately?

That might seem like a harsh question, but I'm serious. After 2004, what has he done besides play like crap, get hurt, claim he was healed, get sacked a ridiculous amount of times, then claim he wasnt healed.

Ill tell you one thing about what I saw of Culpepper last year. It wasnt only his knee that was hurting him. It was his mind.

He made terrible decisions, panicked, and wasnt the same since 2004. So if you really want to go after all the "Culpepper Doubters", you dont have a leg to stand on until Culpepper actually wins us a couple games next season.

Which I pray he does.

 

[MoneyBrown]

So what has he done for me lately?

That might seem like a harsh question, but I'm serious. After 2004, what has he done besides play like crap, get hurt, claim he was healed, get sacked a ridiculous amount of times, then claim he wasnt healed.

Ill tell you one thing about what I saw of Culpepper last year. It wasnt only his knee that was hurting him. It was his mind.

He made terrible decisions, panicked, and wasnt the same since 2004. So if you really want to go after all the "Culpepper Doubters", you dont have a leg to stand on until Culpepper actually wins us a couple games next season.

Which I pray he does.

:yeahthat:

 

[marcodolphin]

all those great stats in 2004 and still they just won 8 games that team must have a bad defense or something somebody please explain if he had 4 thousand and something yards 39 td and only 11 int what was wrong with that team that they went 8-8

 

[7001]

So...all that was before he hurt his knee with a better offensive line. What's that got to do w/his current situation on the Dolphins? I'll admit I was an adament Culpepper supporter when he first got here, but I think Saban ruined him for good by playing him too soon. I still say we need to do whatever it takes to draft Brady Quinn.

I really don't see what everybody else sees in BQ. Dude has done nothing but choke in big game and look pretty doing it.

 

[jlfin]

Here's a way to help you. Go back and look at the stats from 2004 when Moss was out. Daunte's stats are pretty impressive even then. Also remember Moss was completely hobbled that year and yet Daunte continued to have his greatest season as opposed to 03 when Moss was eating people alive.

These issues have been debated ad nauseum. Stats don't tell the whole story. I put more stock in the concerns expressed by his former coaches who see this guy in practice every day.
Even when fully healthy he makes questionable decisions and he is careless with the football (fumbles).

 

[LarryFinFan]

Phazin...this is really old news. This was the arguments that folks used when we were deciding between Brees and DC last year.

The fact was that he wasn't going to be ready to go at the beginning of the season and he (and trainers and Saban) forced it too much and wasn't ready after all. I still think had we held him out 4-6 games, his recovery would have been successful last year. I said that when we signed him, I said it in August and still say it.

Still, what he is capable of is just as that article says. Whether or not he'll ever get back to that point is another story. There's more to winning than just a QB who can throw the ball. He has to have the right supporting cast, the right defense (to point out, as others have that the year he was so great they only had an 8-8 record), the right D, etc.

As to whether his head is good enough to get back there...well, he got there once. So I guess he was 'smart' enough then so the jury is still out on that phase of his game. We can only hope that he will be healthy in his body and his mind (meaning he'll have a short enough memory to not worry about the knee when he comes back).

 

[jlfin]

I really don't see what everybody else sees in BQ. Dude has done nothing but choke in big game and look pretty doing it.

That is an ignorant statement. In most of those so called big games he was the only bright spot on his team. That's why he has looked "pretty" doing it.
BTW, I have said this many times, keeping DC and drafting BQ are not mutually exclusive.
DQ, at best, is a 1-2 yr starter for this team. If Cameron turns the team around to respectability they will likely be drafting in the lower half of the 1st round for the next several yrs. It is not often that a team gets an opportunity to pick up a young, potential franchise QB. If the opportunity presents itself this April, the Phins better take advantage of it, because there is no telling when they will get that opportunity again.

 

[Phinman]

Who cares, what have you done for the PHins lately? Nothing!

 

[Lester]

Hopefully he can regain that form of play.

Remember though, a few years ago David Boston was the best reciever in the game as far as stats and Drew Brees was sort of a bust.


You just never can count on past stats.

 

[RoninFin4]

I really don't see what everybody else sees in BQ. Dude has done nothing but choke in big game and look pretty doing it.

Big games as in USC, Michigan, Ohio State and LSU? He didn't play the greatest in those games, the closest one being when they played USC at home two seasons ago, but lost on the "Bush Push" or whatever they call it in South Bend.

I look at it this way...the overall talent level of USC, Michigan, Ohio State, and LSU is a lot better than the overall talent at Notre Dame. Sure he didn't play his best, but they were playing from behind in all of the games except vs. USC two seasons ago.

The biggest thing I look at with Brady Quinn is if Cam Cameron can work with Drew Brees and Philip Rivers and make them Pro Bowlers, what's he going to do with a QB who has already learned a pro offense for two seasons? Sure maybe he sits behind Daunte/Cleo/Joey for a year and learns the ropes, or maybe we throw him into the fire like Peyton Manning. But clearly, what players do we have on this team that haven't choked in a big-game during their tenure here? Jason and Zach were victimized by that downfall plenty of times during JJ and Wanny's tenures. On our miracle try this year we got pounded by Jacksonville when we had the chance to get back in it, we got blanked by Buffalo, and Daunte even choked in the 4th quarter up in Pittsburgh - I'll give some of that to Mularkey for panicing after the Heath Miller TD, but 2 INT's in the last 3 minutes isn't exactly what you look for.

And with Cameron coming in, it only makes sense to me to rectify 7 years of not properly addressing the Quarterback position. All the good ones in the game today, minus Brady coming out of the 6th round, but let's see, Palmer, Manning, Peyton that is, Rivers, McNabb, and young stars on the rise like Young, Leinart and Cutler were all DRAFTED. Why didn't the front office get that memo the last 7 years? This is the year they can finally nab a great prospect in the mold of a Franchise QB and rectify those mistakes. Let's also not forget Carson Palmer struggled early at USC before his Heisman campaign, so I really don't see what's not to like about Quinn given he's the most prolific passer to come out of Notre Dame.

 

[RoninFin4]

That is an ignorant statement. In most of those so called big games he was the only bright spot on his team. That's why he has looked "pretty" doing it.
BTW, I have said this many times, keeping DC and drafting BQ are not mutually exclusive.
DQ, at best, is a 1-2 yr starter for this team. If Cameron turns the team around to respectability they will likely be drafting in the lower half of the 1st round for the next several yrs. It is not often that a team gets an opportunity to pick up a young, potential franchise QB. If the opportunity presents itself this April, the Phins better take advantage of it, because there is no telling when they will get that opportunity again.

Right on.