What do you think of the Culpepper deal?

[Pats2006]

Dam I couldn't get TDMMC at work today!! 

If I were you Phin Fans I would be happy. You guys have somthing to look foward to this year. Miami might be a team to beat this year!!

The way the Pats are letting some guys go!

Good luck guys!

[YoFuggedaboutit]

I am just completely estatic!!!!!  Let me tell you what the Dolphins got in this deal.  They got a QB who is built like a tank, hard to bring down, has a bazooka for an arm, and can take off when the going gets tough.  He can damage opposing defenses with his arm AND his feet.

The 2005 season was an aberration for him.  I honestly believe he will regain the form that got him into the Pro Bowl three times.

While Drew Brees would've cost us only money, not draft picks, the contract demands were WAY too steep for someone who is coming off shoulder surgery.  Plus, look at the recent trend here regarding shoulder injuries vs knee injuries.  My best examples are Chad Pennington as opposed to Willis McGahee.  Pennington may never throw another pass in this league, while McGahee is going to be the Bills starting RB for years to come.  Plus, if Daunte can't run like he used to, he'll still be able to sling it. 

Excellent, excellent pickup, my fellow Fins fans!!!!!

[DolFan619]

 I first heard about this trade when I pulled into work, while listening to the Dan Patrick Show and Dan had broke the news that he received from "Fat Fuck" Lenny.  At first I was like "oh crap", then after mulling it over for a few hours, I thought: "this may work out really well."  During work I pretty much weighed the Pros and Cons of Daunte Culpepper.  Let's start with the positives.

PROS

- He's 6'4, 264 lbs.  He's a freak of nature for a QB, rarely do you see QB's of this size.

- He's got a rocket launcher for an arm.  No one has ever questioned Daunte's arm strength, Coach Saban emphasizes the "deep passing game"  Culpepper can definently heave it down the field.

- Due to his large frame, he's hard to bring down.

- Daunte Culpepper has been to three Pro Bowls, and damn near won NFL MVP in 2004.  Between Fiedler, Feeley, Frerotte, Huard, Lucas, Rosenfels, and Griese.  Only two out of the seven mentioned QB's have gone to a Pro Bowl.  Neither of those appearences were in a Dolphins uniform.

CONS

- That knee of his.  How ready will it be when training camp comes around?  Culpepper tore his MCL, ACL, and PCL.  At one point and time the inside of that knee looked like linguini.  So many questions about that knee.  Culpepper going to miss some growing time with Chambers, McMichael, Booker, and company.

- Baggage, big time legal baggage.  We still don't know what's going to come about from the incident on Lake Minnetonka.

- His ability to hold onto the ball has always been a problem

- He tries for the homerun play too often, when he should just throw it away

  With all those things in mind, I tried to figure out whether Daunte would really succeed in Miami or not.  Then I came to the conclusion that I think he'll be just fine here.  Here's why.

Why Daunte Will Succeed

- Guys, we talked about how Coach Saban and his staff really improved the team by just bringing back good ol' fashioned solid "coaching."  Well I look at like this, if a guy as sorry as Reggie Howard can improve, then why not Daunte Culpepper?  Coach Saban has a large staff on both sides of the ball in order to promote good ideas and positive growth development from different perspectives.  Maybe Jason Garrett has a way for  Daunte to hold onto the ball in order to keep him from fumbling.  Maybe Mike Mularkey can better point out when to go for the homerun and when to throw it away.  Maybe Daunte just needs to be kicked square in the ass when he fucks up, Coach Saban isn't afraid to take players to the woodshed.  Daunte has spent his entire career around "players" coaches.  Coach Saban will hold Daunte to a whole new level of accountability.  This will truly test Daunte's will to win and I know he can answer the call.

- The biggest knock against Daunte last year was that you didn't have a clear cut number one receiver for him.  Well, now he's got one in Chris Chambers and a solid number two receiver in Marty Booker.  Both of these men are light years ahead of Nate Burleson and Kelly Campbell.  Also don't forget about Wes Welker in the slot.  Randy McMichael is also a better pass catching tight end than Jermaine Wiggins.

-  Daunte won't have to win with just his arm anymore.  In Minnesota, Daunte and Randy Moss carried that team.  The running game was little or no help.  In Miami, Daunte will have the luxuary in Ronnie "The Franchise" Brown and possibly Ricky Williams.  Sammy Morris will be okay, if Ricky's not available, but I prefer a little R&R.

- Daunte's offensive line will be better.  Daunte had some good lines in Minnesota, but they weren't Hudson Houck coached lines either.  In Minnesota last year, their Center, Matt Birk was the key cog in that entire line.  When Birk went down in the off-season for hip surgery, that line was pretty much screwed and Daunte had no other alternative than to go out on the run and try to make a play.  Daunte will have better protection here, which will give him more time in the pocket, and he'll be able to make the sound decisions that Coach Saban expects, or rather demands from his quarterback.

- The defensive side of the ball is taken care of.  All of Daunte's career in Minnesota their defense was absolutely terrible, just awful.  No wonder Daunte had to keep throwing.  Here, Daunte has the luxuary of being on a team that has defensive leaders like Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Keith Traylor, Vonnie Holliday, and Kevin Carter.  As well as young up and comers like Channing Crowder, Matt Roth, Travis Daniels, Derrick Pope, Manny Wright, Kevin Vickerson, Shirdonya Mitchell, and Will Poole.

- Finally, Daunte will be home.  Miami is only a short drive from Orlando.  Where Daunte lives, and played his college ball at UCF.  Daunte is probably thrilled at the fact he finally gets to come home to the Sunshine State, after spending most of his career in the year around "Ice Age" that is the land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota.  This truly is a fresh start for Daunte Culpepper, this could very well be his "renaissance."  By the way, that dance he does is called "Get Your Roll On", which I personally like.  However, time will tell whether Daunte will regain his "roll." 

  In the end this was probably one of the better trades that this franchise has made in recent years.  Two years ago we gave up a second rounder for A.J. Blowme.  Now, two years later we get a three time Pro Bowler, and a NFL MVP runner up for a second round draft pick.  If that isn't a steal, I have no idea what is.  The only thing that could top that is trading a seventh rounder and bag of peanuts for Peyton Manning.  Too bad Wanny and Spielman aren't running the Colts, or that could be a realistic possibility.  Anyways, point is we all wanted Brees, but this is just as good a deal if not better.  I think Brian Fein stated that "Trading a second rounder for Feeley was ballsy."  No, my friend, that is just stupidity.  This trade is ballsy.  It's the "high risk/high reward trade that Coach Saban likes.  Coach Saban said he was going to be aggressive in free agency and this proves it.

  Whether you agree with the deal or not, the 2006 Miami Dolphins aren't going to be boring, that I can gurantee you!

[Brian Fein]

Great post, 619!

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Enjoyed the read DolFan619.  Great post!!!

[Philly Fin Fan]

Good perspective Dolfan619.

[dolfan13]

came across this, thought it was a pretty strong statement:

At the time, Marino said, "When you understand the offense the way Daunte does and you have guys who can make plays, and you can flat-out sling it 60 yards on a rope like Daunte, you feel like you're kind of unstoppable. I'm sure that's how Daunte feels right now."

man, 29 years old, he can recover the knee good enough. the only thing that could be better than this would be to have t.o. flying down on the other side. with that kinda firepower, this offense can line up and put the serious beat down on other teams.

[fyo]

- Baggage, big time legal baggage.  We still don't know what's going to come about from the incident on Lake Minnetonka.

I thought they decided to prosecute it as a misdemeanor. So no problem there.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

These words come from Bob Flanders at DolphinBlog.com:

In the past and even today, I read that Daunte Culpeppers successful career is just a mirage and without Randy Moss, the vision of Duante's greatness goes up in smoke.

Bullshit!

Allow me to dissect Dauntes' best season.

In 2004, Daunte had a 110.9 QB rating, 4717 passing yards, 69.2 completion percentage, 294.8 average yards per game, 39 touchdowns, and he rushed for 406 yards.

Here's one more stat that gets overlooked for that season. He was sacked 46 times. (I'll come back to that stat in a moment)

Now let's look at the season Randy Moss had in 2004. Moss had a total of 767 yards and was ranked 44th in the league in receiving.

Let me reemphasize that--- Randy Moss in 2004, had a total of 767 total receiving yards.

Chris Chambers, who had quarterback greats, AJ Feeley and Jay Fiedler delivering him the football, had 898 yards.

Quick math: 4717 minus 767 equals 3950.

Now some may say that Randy Moss was a decoy and that allowed the other Viking receivers to pop open throughout the secondary....... OK... maybe to some degree? But do you really think that decoy Randy, decoyed enough for the extra 3950 that Daunte put up that season? Come on!

In 2004, Minnesota was ranked 18th in total rushing with 1823 yards. Daunte accounted for 406 yards of that rushing total. Without those yards, the Vikes would have been ranked at the bottom of the NFL.

So--- we can pretty much say that the Vikes had a lousy running game in 2004. Bad running game, bad offensive line...... bad offensive line--- 46 sacks.

Let's pull all this together shall we.

Duante Culpeppers 2004 season is simply one of the best statistical seasons in the history of the NFL by a QB. Just the mere fact that the dude threw for 4717 yards with only 11 picks is fricking amazing.

Some are saying that he couldn't have had that type of season without Randy Moss. I'm just scratching my head on that one. When I first thought of writing this piece, the first thing I did was to check Randy's stats for the 2004 season.

When I discovered the dude had only 767 yards in 2004, I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I wasn't misreading the stat. I then went on to other sites containing NFL stats and double and tripled checked to make sure it wasn't a typo. It's not---the dude had a pretty lousy season.

Facts:

Randy Moss had minimal involvement in Daunte's great 2004 season.

Daunte had no running game.

Daunte had no offensive line to protect his back.

The dude was sacked 46 times and still managed to have one of the best seasons ever by an NFL QB. Compare that to the guy who had an equally sensational 2004 season, Peyton Manning: Peyton was only sacked 13 times.

Daunte's top receiver wasn't Randy Moss in 2004, it was Nate Burleson who had 1006 yards.

By the way Phin fans. This was just 2 seasons ago. Do you think that Daunte lost all his skills in 2005? Ha Ha

Many try to point to Dauntes 2005 Moss'less season as proof that Daunte can't do it without Randy. Quite frankly, I think those who spout that shit our ignorant and should stay away from opinionating about the game of football.

Me-thinks the biggest reason Daunte struggled is that he lost Scott Linehen. Scott was so good he came close to making Gus Frerotte look good. To lose a guy like Scott had to be a major jolt for Daunte and if you top that with being coached by Dave Wanntedts twin brother, Mike Tice, you can see why Daunte had a bad 2005 season.

Fortunately from what I am reading, Miami's new offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey is embracing Coach Linehans offensive philosophy and will continue to use it for the upcoming season.

In the 7 games that Daunte played before he was injured last season, he was sacked 31 times. 31--- Imagine that? If he stayed healthy he was on his way to a 70 sack season. WTF?

In 2005, the Vikes ranked 27th in rushing.

In a 2005 nutshell: The Vikes sucked and sucked big time.

In closing:

Number one--- In Horse Racing, if a great horse has a bad race, we say, 'throw the race out". Why? Cause shit happens even to the best.

My strong advice to those worried about Daunte's 2005 season: Throw it out.

Number two----My advice to those who are worried about Daunte's moral fiber because of the errr Love Boat incident. Give me a break. First off, the dude says he innocent. So let that play out and lets see if he is. Second: He got a fucking lap dance. BFD! Ya ever been to Tootsies in Miramar? I have--so I guess I'm going to hell. But then again, as Billy Joel says: I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the Saints.

Don't worry about Daunte's character. He's a good dude.

Number three--- His knee? uhhh--Willis McGahee... Nuff Said.

In the next couple of days you will see a thousand different opinions about Daunte Culpepper. Mostly good, but some bad. Some of the bad will be legitimate critiques and that's OK. The guy aint perfect. But a majority of the bad will come form the typical football observers who observe what they see on the surface. They're either completely ignorant about what they're talking about or just to damn lazy to do a little research. I gotta tell you--- I can't stand these type of people. But I think you already know that.

[Sunstroke]

Is it really necessary to post all the Flanders shit on this site, Tommy?  I'm sure Bob is a decent enough fella, but if I really want to read his blog, I'll go to his site and read it.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Is it really necessary to post all the Flanders shit on this site, Tommy?  I'm sure Bob is a decent enough fella, but if I really want to read his blog, I'll go to his site and read it.

I don't post "all his shit".  If I think something's a good read, I post it. 

[MixLovesThemPhins]

he is correct on what he said except that Tootsies is in Miramar

It's in Dade and has been in Dade since i can remember and Miramar is in Broward

so once he learns his geography he'll be set

[NoFish]

Is it really necessary to post all the Flanders shit on this site, Tommy?  I'm sure Bob is a decent enough fella, but if I really want to read his blog, I'll go to his site and read it.

Amen to that Sunstroke!!

[JVides]

Put me in with Thundergod and Tommy.  I am Ecstatic, elated, over the top happy.  You want to see what Chambers can do with a QB that throws a beautiful deep ball?  Hold your breath, folks, 'cuz it's bombs away.  Do you think Culpepper might fumble just a little less now that his offensive line won't be allowing 40 sacks per season? (What did Miami's O-line give up last year, 26 sacks?)  He won't have to provide the team with 1/4 of its rushing stats, either.  He's got a stud running back (maybe still two) to get that job done.  

Folks, he's accurate.  He averages somewhere near a 64% completion percentage.  His arm is remarkably strong.  He has the ability to run away from defenders on busted plays.  He's so big, defensive backs don't like tackling him, and he's faster than at least half the linemen in the league.  People complain about turnovers, but he still has 135 TDs to 86 INTs and 34 fumbles.  

I don't understand all the Brees wet dreams.  Yes, he appears to be a good quarterback, but just as Culpepper suffered after Moss and Linehan left, Brees may find himself just as lost without Tomlinson and Gates.  (Deuce McAllister's coming off a knee injury...) If you want to compare the two guys, compare their good seasons, when both had offensive talent around them.  Comparing Culpepper's worst season, when he had no support, to Brees' last two seasons, when he had the best running back and tight end in the league, is like comparing Montana's Rice-Taylor-Craig-Jones years to Marino's Lamar Thomas-Charles Jordan-Troy Drayton-Karim Abdul Jabbar years.  It's an unfair comparison, no?

Give it time, fellas.  You'll see.  This is a fantastic move.