Thread: Culpepper: 'It's tough'

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Culpepper: It's Tough"

"The Vikings' offensive leader admitted he might have been guilty of pressing at times, but he insists his struggles have nothing to do with the offseason departures of wide receiver Randy Moss (to Oakland) and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan (to Miami).

"The thing is, they're not here," Culpepper said. "If we played like we played today, if we had coach Linehan and Moss, the same thing would have happened. There's no magic solution to it. If you play like we played, you're going to lose, no matter who you have on the field."

Culpepper wasn't the only culprit for the Vikings, who lost the ball twice on Michael Bennett fumbles and allowed the Bengals to pile up 504 yards of total offense, including 337 yards passing and three touchdowns by Carson Palmer.

Culpepper suffered a bruised right middle finger in the fourth quarter but said it will be fine, and the Vikings said the same goes for their star quarterback.

"We know what type of quarterback he is," wide receiver Nate Burleson said. "He's our leader. We're just going to keep believing in him and keep working."

Cornerback Fred Smoot took that a step further.

"Believe me, Daunte is such a competitor, you'll never see him play like that again," Smoot said. "That's a promise. I know him. He's going to regroup, and he won't let what people have to say bring him down. I'm with him 100 percent � best quarterback in the league."

We will see in week 3. Somehow Dante's going to have to get his confidence back. Why wasn't he scanning the field? He seemed to focus on one target until late in the game. He didn't see a lot of open receivers. Perhaps this is what MM was yelling at him for. MM was wide open over the middle when he threw one of those interception. What happened to the game plan of short passes to build his confidence back & get him into rythm?

"singersp" wrote:

you'll never see him play like that again

I remember thinking that to myself after the Bucs game :roll:

New tactic. [Reverse Psychology]Daunte WIll play like that again, he'll stink up the place on Sunday and throw double digit INTs[/Reverse Psychology]

There if that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas :???:

"ElBarto" wrote:

"singersp" wrote:

you'll never see him play like that again

I remember thinking that to myself after the Bucs game :roll:

New tactic. [Reverse Psychology]Daunte WIll play like that again, he'll stink up the place on Sunday and throw double digit INTs[/Reverse Psychology]

There if that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas :???:

Just to be clear, that's not my quote, that's Smoot's quote. We went thru this same thing when Bubba Brister was let go & Ferotte came in. Are we seeing it again because Ferotte is gone & Johnson is in? Food for thought.

Problem Pep has is that he tries to take everything on himself when things aren't going well - instead of letting the coaching staff try to work it out ....... then again maybe he realises that the current coaching staff won't be able to do that.
Consequently he overtries and ends up making matters worse. After either the first or second drive that the Vikes had in the second half, both of which were INTs, then the coaching staff should have pulled him and put Johnson in. I say that not as a punishement - unlike butterfingers Bennett who deserved his pine ride - but to let him step back and calm down. After those two ints then there was no way that he was in a fit state to lead the offense in that second half

"AngloVike" wrote:

Problem Pep has is that he tries to take everything on himself when things aren't going well - instead of letting the coaching staff try to work it out ....... then again maybe he realises that the current coaching staff won't be able to do that.
Consequently he overtries and ends up making matters worse. After either the first or second drive that the Vikes had in the second half, both of which were INTs, then the coaching staff should have pulled him and put Johnson in. I say that not as a punishement - unlike butterfingers Bennett who deserved his pine ride - but to let him step back and calm down. After those two ints then there was no way that he was in a fit state to lead the offense in that second half

Great observation !!! But is just another reason why the coaching staff must go .... if the players don't either believe in or trust them , it's not going to be good.

I don't understand how this team when something goes wrong right out of the gate, just EXPLODES and every aspect of the team goes downhill. Seriously, the "D" gives up a big play, Bennett fumbles, CPep throws an int and it just continues and continues ..... the coaching staff needs to step in and call come basic plays to settle the team down and continue from there .... It just boggles me though to see how bad it has gotten and Wilfi "HAS TO BE PISSED" as I know he will NOT tolerate this as he will NOT allow his name and/or families name to be associated with a loosing team, not to mention an undisiplined one.

"ElBarto" wrote:

"singersp" wrote:

you'll never see him play like that again

I remember thinking that to myself after the Bucs game :roll:

I thought it was a one time thing as well. Two games in a row and I think Daunte might of played worse this game is a very bad thing.

No Randy has messed up the coverages he sees.

Problem Pep has is HE IS NOT THAT GREAT OF A QB! He has had this turnover problem since college! He has TINY hands for a guy his size thats why he was passed by by the other teams that took qbs before us! Don't get me wrong i'm not saying Pep is a bad qb I just think the only reason he has had such a great run is because of Moss! Pep needs to go back running the ball when its open! He was way more of a threat when he would run! At least when nothing was open he would tuck it and run instead of throwing pick after pick after pick! I think we should give Johnson a try just so Pep realizes that his job is not gauranteed!

All I gotta say to Daunte is, RUN THE D@MN BALL! There were a couple of times that he threw picks when he should have just run the ball for a small gain! He's pressing too much and he's obviously trying to force balls into areas that nobody would be able to!

This terrible start will make for a nice fox story late in the season leading into our playoff game, they'll interview Culpepper, and he'll talk about how it was so tough, he knew things couldn't get any worse. The offense regrouped in week 3 at home against New Orleans, handing 'America's team' their first defeat. They followed it up with a tough overtime upset of Atlanta. They then went into the bye week 2-2 and came out on fire, winning 10 of their final 12 games and storming into the playoffs, as teams like Dallas, Phila, St Louis, Atlanta, and Carolina played well, but couldn't keep pace with the red hot Vikings, with the #1 seed, and the homefield advantage that goes along with it. Culpepper rebounded after starting the season w/ 0 TD's and 8 INT's in the first 2 games, by throwing 31 TD's compared to just 6 INT's through the next 14 games. Finishing the season with 31 TD's 14 INT's and another 5 TD's rushing. He would also top the 4000 yard passing mark for the second straight season.

Call me optimistic.

What is cpeps passer rating right now?