Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool me Twice, Shame on Me.

The Vikings have done it again.

First, they traded Randy Moss, very possibly the most explosive WR ever, for Napolen Harris and a first-round pick, which turned out to be Troy Williamson. Now, they have traded Daunte Culpepper to the Miami Dolphins for a 2nd round pick.

You'd think the Vikings would have learned after the Randy Moss deal. Napoleon Harris was terrible the past year, and even though Troy Williamson showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie year, he will never be as good as Randy Moss.

Culpepper is arguably the team's most talented player, although in fairness to the Vikings, he did force their hand a little this time. But they shouldn't have pursued a trade for him in the first place. He's coming off a knee injury, he had a bad year last year, and he's in a little bit of legal trouble. But when healthy, in the right system (which I feel confident in Brad Childress for), Culpepper showed in 2004 what he's capable of.

When the Vikings traded Randy Moss, they claimed that he was a big distraction, and with him gone, the team would be more focused on winning, better team chemistry, etc. While I wasn't thrilled with this, more and more I started to believe it. The the Vikings started off terribly last year. This year, it looks like Brad Johnson will be at the helm, which isn't terrible, but it isn't really good. He's old. He probably won't have that much time left.

You may have fooled me once Minnesota, but you won't fool me again.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are clueless. This is the best thing to happen to the Vikes. Moss is far from the best ever and Culpepper fumbles every other play. Sit tight and watch Childress put together HIS team.

Anonymous said...

You are clueless. This is the best thing to happen to the Vikes. Moss is far from the best ever and Culpepper fumbles every other play. Sit tight and watch Childress put together HIS team.

Mike said...

The Vikes got as much for Moss as they possibly could. Moss is on the decline. Daunte is not a good fit in the West Coast offense and seemingly morphed into a problem-child in the last year.

www.readydownhuthuthut.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Considering the Vikes tossed Culpepper out like trash, why don't you think Brad Childress drove this decision?

Anonymous said...

I agree -- we're completely screwed. We just chased a guy who was a near-MVP qb just two years ago for a bag of crap -- and now we're starting a 38 year old who not that long ago lost his job to Brian Greise and Chris Simms.

Although I'm sure the redneck fans who hated Daunte will be thrilled that Gus Frerotte might be back on the market.

twins15 said...

Someone said Moss is not a good fit in the West Coast Offense, but I disagree. He's always been a very accurate quarterback. He's never been under 60%, he was over 69% in 2004, and even when everything went wrong last year, he completed 64% of his passes. This year, he would have probably had a better running game (Chester Taylor + if they get an RB in the draft), a better OL, and a much better offensive staff. If healthy, I think he would have thrived.

Now, we have one year of an old, immobile Brad Johnson. The best he's going to do is not lose games. That's putting a lot of pressure on the defense.

twins15 said...

And to the first Anon, the numbers Moss was putting up were comparable to the best ever. Last year, he did have some injury troubles, but mostly it was because he had Kerry Collins throwing to him. Daunte's fumbles were becoming less of a problem that they were earlier in his career until last year, when the line, particularly early in the year when Tice was shuffling guys around a ton, sucked. With the possible addition of Hutchinson, Birk back from injury, younger guys maturing, etc. it should be markedly better.

And I'm not sure that Childress didn't orchestrate the move, which is why I talked about the Vikings as a whole. I like Childress, I like what he's doing, but I just can't see how this trade can be a positive. The Vikings don't need the cap room.

Unknown said...

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