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MIA QB hypothetical


Bronco Billy
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Last year we saw MIN start 2-5 under Culpepper, then Culpepper got hurt & Brad Johnson took the same MIN team & went 7-2 the rest of the way. Culpepper's performance was so underwhelming that MIN traded their "franchise" QB away to MIA and let JOhnson take the helm for this season.

 

Now we have Culpepper starting this season much the way he played last season, with MIA losing a very winnable game vs PIT when Culpepper wasn't throwing very well a large part of the time & had the wheels come completely off his cart in the 4th quarter of a game MIA was actually winning at the time of his self-destruction.

 

In the meantime, MIA has Harrington playing pretty well in their offense - not making huge plays but running the O efficiently while not making mistakes in the preseason for MIA. Given MIA's D & running game, that is pretty much all they need to ask of their QB to do.

 

MIA is supposed to be ready to unseat NE for the AFC East title and seems to have all the pieces in place to do so. If Culpepper continues to play poorly, how short do you think his leash is? Does Harrington have any reasonable chance to replace Culpepper in the event of continued poor play, or will Saban overlook that?

 

Again, this is all hypothetical. If Culpepper turns himself around, this point will be completely moot. Also, remember that a lot of Harrington's woes may date back to the Mariucci regime in DET, when nothing seemingly functioned well. Harrington might be a good fit in Saban's O.

 

Thoughts?

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MIA is supposed to be ready to unseat NE for the AFC East title and seems to have all the pieces in place to do so. If Culpepper continues to play poorly, how short do you think his leash is? Does Harrington have any reasonable chance to replace Culpepper in the event of continued poor play, or will Saban overlook that?

 

 

 

First of all, I don't think Miami is unseating anybody. They aren't good enough.

 

Miami's bye week in week 8. Before then, they play the Bills, TEN, HOU, NE, NYJ and GB. If they don't have at least 4 wins by the bye week, I think Culpepper's starting job will be in jeopardy.

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First of all, I don't think Miami is unseating anybody. They aren't good enough.

 

 

 

Wait a minute. This is a MIA team that had the defending world champs on the ropes on a night when everything was against them. MIA had a lead and was playing PIT damn tough despite not running the ball effectively at all - on a Thursday opening night when PIT was honoring Bettis & hanging the championship banner.

 

That is, until Culpepper literally thew the game away. I wouldn't be so quick to start shoveling dirt on MIA. They have the parts on their team to be reckoned with, unless you are also completely discounting PIT as an also-ran too.

Edited by Bronco Billy
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I personally think that Culpepper's woes last year were due to him trying to do to much. He did his best Brett Favre impersonation last year. Throw the ball up for grabs just hoping he could complete it. The reason BJohnson performed better (They did go 7-2 under him, but they only beat one team with a winning record) is that he didn't try and do too much. He played a ball control type of offense and leaned on the D more. Culpepper just wasn't ready to do that. The change in philosophy was just too abrupt for Culpepper to digest.

 

I agree that Culpepper didn't look that good last night, but I think Miami made too much of an investment to bench him, unless he plays far worse than he did last night. It was his first game back after shredding his knee. He has new players to learn and a somewhat new system taboot.

 

I don't think any pro athlete has ever fallen from grace faster than Culpepper. The man used to be one of the most confident players in the game. I feel he relight's on the confidence more than most. When his confidence is shaken, and most QB's for that matter, it can make the difference between a beautiful deep TD pass and an INT that makes everyone watching shrug their shoulders in wonder. I say Culpepper has at least until Midseason. If by that point he hasn't shown a glimpse of the QB he once was they may give Harrington a shot.

Edited by Capt. Stanky
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Harrington under pressure has made some of the worst throws in the history of the NFL. I think Culpepper will get it together. I agree that the game was winnable, but that is a nasty place to play. There were some dropped passes last night along with a really stupid penalty that kept a Pittburgh drive alive. The Miami defense gave up way too much against Charlie batch. They could not run the ball, which is not surprising against that defense. Asking Culpepper to win a game like that would be tough, but I like his chances better than Harrington.

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If Culpepper continued to struggle especially with turnovers, Harrington could appear but I would be very surprised. C-Pep is our franchise QB for years to come. Plus if Harrington did get a start or two he would just reconfirm how much of a scrub he's always been. How come guys like Harrington, Carr, Couch, etc. (top 5 picks) always get passes and tons of excuses for their failures? Meanwhile, a guy like C-Pep is a pro-bowler and won countless fantasy leagues for owners now is "terrible" afer a tough loss to the world champs on the road after ONE measly game? Give me a break. Start C-Pep with confidence moving forward. The Fish schedule is cake!

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Culpepper is coming off a serious knee injury and didn't look 100% to me. Some of the awfulness we saw last night is probably due to that and he will get stronger as the year progresses.

 

The fly in the ointment was that he was pretty bad last year before getting injured. I agree with Stanky's diagnosis of his difficulties from last year. However, the overall situation is better in Miami than Minnesota was at the start of the 2005 season and the opportunity is there for Culpepper to be successful without being a hero every week. It will be interesting to see if he makes that transition.

 

It's hard to imagine Harrington moving ahead of him for any reason other than injury, but that's just my opinion.

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Miami did also just play last years Super Bowl winners. The team they played last night could be one of the better teams they will have to face all year (in the sense of defense at least). Culpepper will more than likely adjust pretty well and get into a positive routine in the next couple of weeks.

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Ive said it before, and Ill say it again. Miami is overrated. They will do like the Bills did last year. If you recall, they won like 7 out of 8 the year before last, and finished 9-7, just like Miami last year.

 

Then, last year, they did a 180. I see it to be the same direction Miami will go in as they are resting their hopes on a QB that was washed up last year BEFORE THE INJURY!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bumping this up for some more opinion after week 2. The hypothetical is starting to look like reality.

 

 

Ummm... no. As bad as Culpepper was last night, his backup is still Joey Harrington. Daunte would have to lose a leg before they replace him with Harrington.

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I'm a big fan of Culpepper so call me biased but I give the guy another TWO games to prove himself. He is their franchise QB of the future not Joey Harrington. He's more like insurance. The same goes for Bledsoe and Plummer. You just can't panic after two games and make silly changes.

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One thing you do have to say for Harrington is that he saw the hand writing on the wall to know that Culpepper would stink and he'd have a chance to play on a playoff-caliber team ... something he wouldn't have had in (say) Oakland.

 

Joey Harrington, GM of a team near you in about 20yrs?

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After watching yesterday's game a little, it seems clear to me that Culpepper has some serious weaknesses that need to be dealt with by the O-coordinator. I read somewhere (maybe here) that Cpep struggles with multiple reads and that the reason why he did so well in Minn was because they limited his reads. After watching a couple of plays in the 2nd half, it became very apparent that this is indeed the case.

 

He focuses on single receivers all day and just can't seem to look to his other options. I can understand a QB losing a WR in a 4 WR set, or when they have pressure on them, but Cpep just struggled. He had open receivers, he just wasn't looking for them. Probably half of those sacks were because he's not making his progressions in a timely manner and held onto the ball to long.

 

Just my take on Cpep.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Any new opinions after a loss to HOU? I would find it hard to believe that MIA isn't examining other options after an embarrassing loss & a horrible start to the season.

 

 

 

The Dolphins O-LINE is not helping anyone out. but Culpepper looks this season like he has looked in the 4th quarter his whole career. problem is he is now starting off the 1st quarter like that.

 

I think Culpepper is close to being benched. if he could not produce solidly against that Texan secondary I don't see him producing against solidly against any secondary.

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