Yayo's Take 9.20.06: The 'Why Roy Williams Isn't Chad Johnson' Edition
Posted by J. Yayo Hernandez on 09.20.2006
Daunte is bad meaning bad... not bad meaning good.
1. Daunte Culpepper… is he really this bad?
Troy Vincent, who was put on injured reserve last week studied the Dolphins with his teammates and had this to say: "Daunte's nowhere near as mobile as he used to be", also adding "he's staring down his receivers. He gets a quick read, then he locks onto his guy. We knew if we could get to him consistently, he wouldn't be able to make the plays he wanted to.''* Is Daunte Culpepper a bad quarterback or is he back to early from his injury? I have never been a fan of Culpepper or Randy Moss (having penned "Why Randy Moss and the Raiders Won't Work" when he was traded to Oakland), but I don't know if Daunte is setting himself up to be anything but a villain. During the first Dolphins offensive series Culpepper mishandled the ball and was sacked. twice. In the first 15 plays Culpepper was sacked five times. For the most part Culpepper looked apprehensive, locking on to targets and ignoring wide open options and holding the ball entirely to long. On those occasions when Culpepper decided he didn't see anything he liked he tried to tuck the ball and run and was almost entirely unsuccessful. Against a team starting four rookies this shouldn't be the case. Worst of all, the Dolphins still run the offense the Vikings ran under Scott Linehan in Minnesota when both were there (Linehan was the Dolphins offensive coordinator in 2005 leaving to head coach the Rams; new offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey has kept the same offensive playbook and terminology).
The decision is then should they let Joey Harrington start in place of Culpepper until he is healthy or should Culpepper play himself into shape. Part of the Culpepper dilemma is his penchant for the deep pass. If the sacks he took were all because of coverage then you could understand the Dolphins decision to move in the latter direction, as Culpepper has no control over the receivers getting open. But Culpepper ‘s problems boil down to trying to make the big play instead of the play in front of him. ESPN Football Scientist K.C. Joyner noted that "Culpepper has proven he can be a patient quarterback. When Randy Moss was injured in the 2004 season, the Vikings changed their offensive game plan and had Culpepper throw more short passes. Culpepper ended the season with the most short pass attempts in the NFL, but also had the best passing statistics of his entire career with 39 touchdown passes and a 110 passer rating." In the Pittsburgh game up until the Steelers took the lead 21-17 Culpepper had thrown 19 short, eight medium and two long passes. After that he pressed and threw one short, two medium and two long passes. If Culpepper continues to press he will have to be benched or the Dolphins will have no chance to succeed.
2. Should the Titans have traded away Billy Volek for so little?
The San Diego Chargers have agreed to send an undisclosed draft pick to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for quarterback Billy Volek, ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting. ESPN.com's John Clayton reported that the Chargers had offered a sixth-round choice; the Titans were asking for a fifth-rounder in exchange for Volek. Volek had shown glimpses in 2004 of being the future in Music City tallying a 61.1% completion rate, 2,486 yards, 18 touchdowns to 10 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 87.1. But with the acquisition of Vince Young in the draft and Kerry Collins in free agency, Volek had been relegated to the doghouse. But are the Titans trading away Volek to cheaply? Even though he was unimpressive last season (77.6 quarterback rating in six games) if the Eagles received a second rounder for A.J. Feeley you would imagine the Titans could request at least a fourth round choice. The Titans are trading away Volek to cheaply and later this year when Collins is benched due to poor play and Young is thrown to the wolves the Tennessee brass will have wished they had kept Volek to help or at least gotten more than a fifth round pick.
3. Has Roy Williams lost his mind?
After the Lions' Roy Williams was seen celebrating a first down in the first quarter, while his team was trailing, Mitch Albom decided to take him to task. When asked why he was celebrating Williams responded: "I celebrate first downs all the time. I'm not gonna stop that. I'm an exciting player. If I do something exciting, I'm gonna show my actions." Albom rightly responded, "But you were losing, 10-0." And then the true mind of Williams came to light: "What does that mean? ... That means nothing to me. The score means nothing," Williams told Albom. Wow! The score means nothing… especially troubling because the week before after the Lions had scored six points Williams had lamented how close they had come to scoring 40. During that delusional tirade Williams had also guaranteed a victory against the Bears that never happened. But Roy "I need attention" Williams wasn't done yet with Albom. After their 34-7 obliteration by the Bears Williams said he didn't regret making the guarantee, saying "[n]o, because everyone believes what I said". And then Williams finally went off the deep end making another guarantee!!! "You can all run with this: We will win the [next] game," he told reporters. "I don't care who it's against. We will win the game as long as we do what we're supposed to do. That's my comment for the whole week." Since that time Williams has been kept away from all media for fear of his footinmouth disease spreading on the team. 411 has gotten an exclusive photo of Williams at the Lions facility:
4. Things may not be as rosy in Arizona as we are led to believe…
Rumors are bubbling that there an underlying tension between Cardinals head coach Dennis Green and the team's personnel department. This has been fueled Green who recently complimented the Seattle Seahawks on their penchant for making "any kind of move they want to make" following Seattle's trade for Deion Branch. This is another of numerous complaints Green has made regarding Arizona's lack of depth. This has to be especially frustrating for Green because the Cardinals are somewhere between $8 million and $10 million under the salary-cap. With Arizona going out of it's way to rebuild their franchise (e.g. signing Edgerrin James, drafting Matt Leinart, the opening of their beautiful new stadium, etc.) you would hope they don't scare away the man that has spearheaded their renaissance in most football fans eyes. But knowing owner Bill Bidwell the Cardinals will be competitive for a few seasons and then the dismantling will begin once player salaries begin to cut into his profits.
The Hook and Lateral
Sorry for last week and all the HTML running together… I'll try and do better this time.
I wouldn't mind doubling up on a couple of players in women's tennis.
