FAIRCHILD: Same Old Story, Different Quarterback
Or is it? Since Dan Marino retired, the Dolphins have unwearyingly tried to find a suitable replacement at quarterback. After 7 years, Dol-fans had hoped to put the names of Huard, Fiedler, Lucas, Feeley, and Frerotte long out of our memories. While each of these had clear physical limitations, it was not supposed that the Dolphins new source of hope would be hampered by much less than his unusually small hands.
Daunte Culpepper’s knee is fine, his hands aren’t really that small, and from all angles appeared ready to catapult himself back into the ranks of the NFL elite, the Dolphins back into the playoffs and in the championship mix. Many prognosticators picked the Fins to supplant New England as division champs, but (insert sound of car screeching to a halt)…as ESPN’s Chris Berman says, “That’s why they play the games!”
Through all the projections, predictions, and probabilities, many people have forgotten that the last 7 times Daunte strapped it up before this year he had thrown only 6 TDs to 12 interceptions, a ratio even A.J. Feeley would be embarrassed of. What was it that caused the former All-Pro to all of the sudden become a terrible decision maker?
I would like to attribute it to what I call the “Vick” syndrome. In Michael Vick’s first full season as a starter, he caught the league by storm and led his team to a playoff victory at Lambeau field, a feat that had never before been accomplished by any team. That Mike Vick was a crazy man, flying around the field when he couldn’t find open receivers, and rushed for nearly 800 yards. He played HIS game and the falcons were projected to be big time contenders not only the next year, but for years to come.
A strange thing has happened to them though as Vick has began to evolve as a quarterback. We all know his coaching staff has worked feverishly to make him more of a pocket passer and his performances have been inconsistent at best. You will notice that in each of his NFL seasons in which he has rushed for more than 600 yards, the falcons have made the playoffs. In those that he hasn’t, they haven’t.
What does this have to do with Daunte Culpepper? Although he weighs about 65 pounds too much to move like Vick does, his success is related largely to his ability not only created by moving his feet, but also by running to move the chains. It may be no coincidence that in Culpepper’s rookie year, he had the second most rushing yards of his career in addition to his 33 touchdown passes. That combination is what will make him a success in Miami.
So far this year, he has been tentative not only in his throws, but has also been hesitant to leave the pocket. He held onto the ball way too long in Sunday’s game at Buffalo and although I haven’t seen the coaching tapes, it is too hard to believe that the Bills defensive backs had our receivers completely blanketed for so much of the game. Even if this were the case, a young Daunte Culpepper would have had more success than the one we saw on the field this week. Even if the coverage had been tight, he would have worked through his progressions, and taken off when nothing was there.
We all realize the value of that knee. We all understand why he would want to protect it, but if he is going to make a splash in South Florida this year, he is going to have to jump in feet first. Through 3 and a half quarters Daunte was beaten up, sacked 7 times and when he eluded the rush, ran out of bounds, but late in the 4th quarter, he got out of the pocket, ran up-field and took on a Buffalo defender head to head. It was no surprise to me that shortly thereafter he lead the team down the field to its only touchdown and threw a beautiful pass over 2 defenders to Chris Chambers in the end zone.
Same old story? Na, I won’t say so yet. This quarterback has all the physical skills to take the Dolphins to the next level, but if he’s going to do so, he’ll have to use them.
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