Culpepper with a grain of salt

By Os Davis  |   Friday, June 15, 2007  |  Comments( 5 )

Jacksonville Jaguars
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"I'm fine," emailed Daunte Culpepper after his involvement in an auto accident, and Jacksonville Jaguars fans, high on speculation that the QB may be heading there soon, are relieved.

Why? Let us count the ways. They are three, and they have names.

Reason No. 1, Byron Leftwich. Seemingly still the penciled-in starter (and, boy, that pencil is down to a nub right about now), Leftwich has been performing his Hideo Nomo-like delivery in Jacksonville since 2003 when he was drafted in the first round and immediately christened starter. The results have been, we'll diplomatically say, so-so.

Here are some highlights from Leftwich's bio at Jaguars.com, with a few desperately needed reality checks inserted:

"...Has established himself as a bona fide star with a 21-17 career record as a starter (at 55 percent versus 52 percent, that's just marginally better than J-ville's all-time 102-90 mark) ... Made a heroic return for the Wild Card game at New England on Jan. 7 (in which the Jags were smoked 28-3 by a vastly superior team) ... Set career-best numbers with 15 touchdowns against only five interceptions for a 89.3 passer rating in 2005 ... "

You get the idea. The truth is that the Jaguars' offense has never been the same since the Tom Coughlin-led playoff teams of the late 1990s, bottoming out in 2004 to finish a lowly 29th in the league in points scored. You know who started that year.

Reason No. 2, David Garrard. Garrard was hailed as the savior by some and created an always loved "quarterback controversy" after his three-TD performance in the 37-7 blowout of the Tennessee Titans in Week 9. When your perpetual sub comes in to go 12-for-22 and you start questioning whether he should be the No. 1 guy, there's a problem at the helm.

From Jaguars.com, then, here's the semi-straight story in part from the official bio writer, applying all his powers of spin:

"Talented quarterback who enters his fourth-consecutive season as the backup to Byron Leftwich (actually, by this observer's count, it'll be Garrard's fifth as substitute Leftwich, and don't forget 2002, in which he backed up Mark Brunnell) ... Started a career-high five games in 2005 (his fifth in the league) ... Has a career record of 5-3 as a starter (hey, it's well better than Leftwich's) ... Battled back from offseason surgery in his fight against Crohn's disease in 2004 ... "

Finally, there's Culpepper himself. Surely a great addition to the Jaguars, right? A move upward from the subpar dudes occupying top positions on the depth chart right now, right? I mean, this is Daunte freakin' Culpepper.

Daunte freakin' Culpepper, indeed. J-villers, you're going to have to take a closer look before you get too excited.

Yes, Culpepper had a monster year in his last full season as a starter: 4,717 yards passing on a 69.2 percent completion rate with 39 TDs against just 11 interceptions. Yes, he's a three-time Pro Bowler. Yes, under Culpepper's direction, the Vikes' passing game was top five four times and twice No. 1 in the league.

But here are some more numbers for you. That last full, Pro Bowl season? That was 2004. Culpepper hasn't seen the playoffs since 2000, his rookie year and the sole time in his entire tenure with the Minnesota Vikings that the team was better than 9-7.

Beyond the stats, though, is the evidence of one's own eyes, which really should be trusted more often. The truth is that nasty knee ligament injury Culpepper suffered in 2005 may ultimately go down as the career-ender. Because YouTube has been going through some serious cleansing vis-à-vis football clips and the NFL's Web site refuses to show a bad play by the man, little proof of Culpepper's lack of mobility and ugly bounce-passing is readily available, but those who saw him in Miami last year know all too well that the man is damaged goods.

Put it this way: When your perpetual sub is named Joey Harrington and you start questioning whether he should be the No. 1 guy, there's a problem at the helm.

With or without Culpepper, then, this writer's betting the Jaguars will be dogged yet again by problems at the helm to turn in another mediocre limping through of 16 games.

And soon the sighs of relief in J-Ville will turn to "oohs" and "aahs" when Culpepper is signed. The moans, groans and muttering follow thereafter, ultimately leading to late-season questions like, "Hey, why didn't we take Brady Quinn at No. 21, anyway?"

Enjoying NFL quarterback controversies all year round at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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