KC Joyner from ESPN answered my Question about Culpepper

[deathdisco]

Anyways pretty neat, I was sitting at work and was checking ESPN to see anything new, and saw that McNair was traded to Balitmore for a 4th round pick and they had a Live Chat going so I decided to pop in.


Here is my question and answer below also the link to the chat.


http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=11945


Keith (New York): KC do you think Culpepper will be able to get Miami's passing game going again, like it used to be with Marino, they seem to have decent recievers and with Chambers coming off his best year yet.

SportsNation KC Joyner: (4:26 PM ET ) The big question for Culpepper is whether or not the Fins will be as vertical as they were last year. Miami finished in the top 5 in the league in deep pass attempts (20+ yds) last year but a large part of that may have been Scott Linehan's influence. Mike Mularkey isn't quite as vertically inclined, so they may not go deep as often as last year.

As far as Culpepper goes, assuming he's healthy he will be able to get things going again. I think he did poorly last year in Minnesota because they wanted to focus on a short pass game and he wasn't really behind that idea. I think Miami will have him throw deep more often than he did in Minnesota, so you'll see Daunte's performance improve.

 

[Joneal7]

cool !

 

[ckparrothead]

I'm worried that Mularkey's not on the same page with Linehan's offense. I think Linehan values the deep shots at a high premium not just in as much as they result in big gains, but actually more so in what they do to a defense to stretch the field and get the deep pass on their mind. Scott Linehan always has one of the most efficient short passing games in the NFL because of how often he shoots the ball deep.

Lately I've been hearing from coaches and players that they're not going to "throw it deep just to throw it deep" anymore and that they're going to be smart about it...indicates to me a reversion back to the idea that the deep ball is only valuable inasmuch as it getting completed.

That's not what Minnesota's offense was under Scott with Daunte Culpepper throwing the ball. Minnesota's offense made you think of the deep ball CONSTANTLY with Randy Moss. They wanted the safeties to be about 18 yards off the ball as Chris Mortenson once noted. With the safeties back that far, the underneath read stuff was easy pickings for Daunte.

I'd feel a heck of a lot more comfortable about all this if Scott were still here calling Daunte's plays...but I'll just hope for the best.

 

[jd13]

i think just having culpepper behind center will open things up for the short passing game and the running game...

 

[Duss]

I'm worried that Mularkey's not on the same page with Linehan's offense. I think Linehan values the deep shots at a high premium not just in as much as they result in big gains, but actually more so in what they do to a defense to stretch the field and get the deep pass on their mind. Scott Linehan always has one of the most efficient short passing games in the NFL because of how often he shoots the ball deep.

Lately I've been hearing from coaches and players that they're not going to "throw it deep just to throw it deep" anymore and that they're going to be smart about it...indicates to me a reversion back to the idea that the deep ball is only valuable inasmuch as it getting completed.

That's not what Minnesota's offense was under Scott with Daunte Culpepper throwing the ball. Minnesota's offense made you think of the deep ball CONSTANTLY with Randy Moss. They wanted the safeties to be about 18 yards off the ball as Chris Mortenson once noted. With the safeties back that far, the underneath read stuff was easy pickings for Daunte.

I'd feel a heck of a lot more comfortable about all this if Scott were still here calling Daunte's plays...but I'll just hope for the best.

I also remember a number of times when we went deep way too often and it was horrendous I think mularkey will provide more balance than Scott did.

We need to take shots every game but not on every other down

 

[DuderinoN703]

:wink: We're all looking forward to having a great season!

 

[Fruit RollRups]

I'm worried that Mularkey's not on the same page with Linehan's offense. I think Linehan values the deep shots at a high premium not just in as much as they result in big gains, but actually more so in what they do to a defense to stretch the field and get the deep pass on their mind. Scott Linehan always has one of the most efficient short passing games in the NFL because of how often he shoots the ball deep.

Lately I've been hearing from coaches and players that they're not going to "throw it deep just to throw it deep" anymore and that they're going to be smart about it...indicates to me a reversion back to the idea that the deep ball is only valuable inasmuch as it getting completed.

That's not what Minnesota's offense was under Scott with Daunte Culpepper throwing the ball. Minnesota's offense made you think of the deep ball CONSTANTLY with Randy Moss. They wanted the safeties to be about 18 yards off the ball as Chris Mortenson once noted. With the safeties back that far, the underneath read stuff was easy pickings for Daunte.

I'd feel a heck of a lot more comfortable about all this if Scott were still here calling Daunte's plays...but I'll just hope for the best.

Agreed

 

[ralexand]

Yeah, if Linehan was still here that would have been amazing but Malarkey did great things with Kordell so he has some tricks up his sleave also.

 

[Superself]

I also remember a number of times when we went deep way too often and it was horrendous I think mularkey will provide more balance than Scott did.

We need to take shots every game but not on every other down

Above all else, that is my wish too.

I would like to see Miami lean more on Ronnie in the red zone.

 

[feelthepain]

One thing I remember reading in the CC interview was what he said about Saban aking the leaders of the team what they think and using that information to imoprove the tem. I think Daunte will want to throw the ball deep and if we struggle early on I see Saban making a few changes to accommodate the players. I was impressed when I read it.

Heres the snippet from the interview:

PFW:

What impresses you most about Coach Saban? Why do you think he is the coach to lead the Dolphins to the Super Bowl?

Chambers:

He is intense and demanding, but at the same time, we like playing for him. We trust in him and know he will do anything to give us a chance to be the best players we can be. He talks to the leaders and veterans a lot and wants our input. We tell him things that we feel would help our team, and he takes that into consideration. He has us playing as a team and motivates us to keep getting better every day and every game.

 

[Ohiophinphan]

Good thread. The points made are ones I have often thought. While you must complete the long pass often enough to have teams respect the possibility (a major problem for us in the JJ?Wanny era), a big part of the vertical passing game is to open up the field for everything else. Having safties playing deep out of fear/respect makes everything else work better. How many more yards would Ricky have gained in '03 if he hadn't had to run against 8 and 9 in the box?

 

[ckparrothead]

Good thread. The points made are ones I have often thought. While you must complete the long pass often enough to have teams respect the possibility (a major problem for us in the JJ?Wanny era), a big part of the vertical passing game is to open up the field for everything else. Having safties playing deep out of fear/respect makes everything else work better. How many more yards would Ricky have gained in '03 if he hadn't had to run against 8 and 9 in the box?

I would even argue that you really don't need to complete them at all, so long as you have a strong-armed quarterback and a fast receiver or two.

Players respond to talent and speed...and when they know a QB can loft up a 70 yarder and a WR can beat them in a foot race, they'll play back a bit.

 

[cnc66]

I would even argue that you really don't need to complete them at all, so long as you have a strong-armed quarterback and a fast receiver or two.

Players respond to talent and speed...and when they know a QB can loft up a 70 yarder and a WR can beat them in a foot race, they'll play back a bit.

and I would agree with you

 

[taaff]

I would even argue that you really don't need to complete them at all, so long as you have a strong-armed quarterback and a fast receiver or two.

Players respond to talent and speed...and when they know a QB can loft up a 70 yarder and a WR can beat them in a foot race, they'll play back a bit.

I would love to see our very first play in the Steelers opener be a long bomb from Culpepper to any fast receiver. Caught or not, it would help our short passing game AND our running game for at least the rest of the half. Two or three of those a game would help both other phases of our game tremendously, I think. Catching thoses bombs for long gains would just be the icing on the cake.

 

[fishfan34]

I too hope that Mularkey brings more of a balance than Linehan did. I think Linehan fell in love with the pass way too often and it really hurt us. Major game in point is the Atlanta game last season. That was the game that really turned my opinion of Linehan sour. With Ronnie and Ricky pretty much running at will against that defense and even more so, in that final drive, he calls a pass play on 3rd and 2? I think Mularkey is more prone to attacking a teams weakness and making them make the adjustment to stop us. Whereas Linehan just threw the ball to throw it sometimes or "THINKING" it would surprise the defense and it backfired in his face. Mularkey knew our defensive secondary was a liability last season and he attacked it i the game here in Miami with Losman going deep to Evans on a couple of long Touchdowns. Sure, he was conservative at the end of the game and that cost them ultimately, but, that was as head coach and Saban's philosophy of, don't look at the score board, just play until the clock reads all zero's will remedy that problem. Our personnel are going to cause D-Coordinators to choose their poison. Stack the box and make Daunte, Chambers, Booker, and McMichael beat you? Or drop into coverage and let Ronnie run up and down the field on you?