The Minor Flaws Of Culpepper

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

When God made Daunte Culpepper, he put in a couple of minor flaws to remind us that there is nothing perfect in this life. In terms of sheer size and talent, Culpepper is like a character in X-Men – it almost seems as if evolution lurched forward about 500 years for him – but as the Vikings’ 24-14 loss to the Bears demonstrated, Culpepper’s minor flaws seem to result in very big defeats.


At just under 6 feet, 5 inches tall, and slightly over 260 pounds, Culpepper is bigger than most NFL linebackers and nearly as big as many down linemen. He can accelerate faster than most running backs and outrun at least a few of them – his career average of 5.3 yards per rush is higher than that of most running backs. And he can throw, too: Going into yesterday’s game, Culpepper was second only to Peyton Manning with 8.37 yards per throw, and had completed four TD passes for every interception this season. Even after being sacked five times and intercepted three times by a mediocre Bears defense, Culpepper is the second highest rated quarterback in the NFL.


Most impressively, Culpepper has done this largely without Randy Moss, who missed three games with a partially torn hamstring and has caught just eight passes in the two weeks since his return. Moss, without apologies to Terrell Owens, is the most dangerous receiver in the league. But he’s also a spoiled whiner who hurts his team by complaining when he doesn’t get enough balls thrown his way.


NFL history has shown that great quarterbacks are great with or without great receivers. Joe Montana, for instance, had two Super Bowl rings before he met Jerry Rice; Tom Brady is on the verge of becoming the winningest quarterback at his age (27), and no one is touting his receivers for the Hall of Fame. Culpepper has been having his best season, while Moss has caught just 34 passes.


Culpepper has a terrible habit of forcing the ball to Moss too often in key situations, but Moss’s diminished role has forced him to work harder with his other receivers – particularly veteran tight end Jermaine Wiggins, who has caught more passes (51) so far this season than he did in his previous five (50). Against the Bears, though, Culpepper reverted to bad habits, trying to force the ball to Moss in two key first half situations where throwing the ball away would have served him better as both times the ball was intercepted.


Like many quarterbacks who have gotten by on their size and arm strength, Culpepper has never adequately learned the art of faking a handoff to freeze the linebackers or “looking off” a safety; he often drops back looking to precisely the man he intends to throw to. Yesterday, the Bears used a daring strategy of putting their linebackers in the crossing patterns of Minnesota’s wide receivers – daring because if the linebacker doesn’t do his job and disrupt the receiver, the quarterback can split the seam in the zone coverage for a big gain. But the Bears’ linebackers did their job and disrupted the Vikings wideouts – Moss, Marcus Robinson, and Nate Burleson – just enough.


On several occasions this resulted in incomplete passes when Culpepper threw the ball to where his wideouts should have been. And on three key situations inside Bears territory, it resulted in sacks when Culpepper, seeing guys with a “C” on their helmet too close to his receivers, held on to the ball too long.


The confusion and hesitation was fatal to the Vikings. They grossed 425 yards, but after a second-quarter 40-yard bomb from Culpepper to Robinson (a play on which Moss was used as a decoy under the coverage, a job he hates), they never again got inside the Bears’ 20-yard line. The Bears, meanwhile, got just enough offense from journeyman QB Chad Hutchinson, who threw three short TD passes, and a swarm of otherwise undistinguished running backs who looked like Gayle Sayers clones in digging out 144 rushing yards.


While the loss doesn’t mean the Vikings won’t make the playoffs, it’s a strong indication that they won’t contend for the NFC championship. The Vikes have two major weaknesses that will probably block their path to the Super Bowl no matter how well Culpepper plays. They don’t play well on the road in cold weather (since October 30, they have lost road games to the Giants, Packers, and now the Bears), and they have a terrible defense.


The temptation is to call them a mirror opposite of the Washington Redskins, who have one of the league’s best defenses and an ineffective offense, but that’s not entirely accurate. The Vikings, though they have gained the most yards of any team in the last two seasons, lose games like yesterday’s precisely because of their offense.


Daunte Culpepper is 27 and at his physical peak. On January 28, 2005, just before the Super Bowl, he will turn 28, the age at which most quarterbacks’ skills level off or begin to diminish. No one wants to say that the NFL’s greatest talent is facing a now-or-never stretch drive, but it’s beginning to look that way.


***


What exactly does Herman Edwards have against Santana Moss? Over the past four seasons, Moss has averaged more yards per catch (18.0) than Randy Moss (14.0). He is one of the most explosive receivers in the NFL – last year, he caught 10 TD passes despite being separated from Chad Pennington for half a season.


This season, the gap between what Moss averages per catch and what his teammates gain is the biggest in the NFL (Moss has averaged 22 yards on his 30 catches; all other Jets receivers average 19). Yet despite a sluggish offense that leaves the Jets much closer to their opponents than is necessary, Santana Moss spends about a third of each Jets game as a decoy or bench warmer. What’s going on?


Coming off the field at halftime in yesterday’s victory over Houston, the Jets were trailing 7-6. Someone stuck a mike in Edwards’s face and asked him what the Jets needed to do in the second half. “Open it up a little more on offense,” he smartly replied. The Jets did, sort of, scoring 23 points in the second half for a 29-7 win. But Moss, the obvious man to open up the attack, caught just one pass for 6 yards. Pennington did not complete a pass longer than 18 yards all afternoon.


The New York Sun

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