A great season over-shadowed

-- L. Maurice Draine

Daunte Culpepper has had his best season ever. But no one is talking about it. Here are a few reasons why:

First off, star wide-receiver Randy Moss went down with a hamstring pull; Moss was rushed back from his injury by Coach Mike Tice, played in two games and re-aggravated his hamstring. Moss would go on to miss the next four games. When Moss finally came back, he was only 80 percent healed. And the offensive never really was the same the rest of the regular season.

Next, the Vikings struggled in the second half of the regular season. They only won three out of their last 10 games, and finished up the season with an 8-8 record after starting out 5-1. The three games they did manage to win were against non-playoff teams—the Detroit Lions twice and the Jacksonville Jaguars once.

Then, the National Football Conference (NFC) had a down year, and even though the Vikings’ 500 percent record was good enough to qualify them for the playoffs, it eventually worked against them with the media. Negative opinions from sports writers, radio personalities and even NFL analysts all kept reinforcing that Culpepper and the Vikings backed their way into the playoffs and didn’t deserve to be there. The more people heard this, the more people overlooked what Culpepper had done individually and for his team all year long. Had it not been for Culpepper’s amazing season, the Vikings would have only won five or six games all year.

I guess a person could make a very good argument for why Culpepper and the Vikes shouldn’t have made it to the playoffs, or maybe that the Carolina Panthers deserved it more. But the point is, making a good argument does not change the fact that the Panthers didn’t win enough games and the Vikings did. There were 20 other teams sitting at home watching the playoffs; they would have killed to be in the Vikings’ position.

Last, but not least, is reason number four: Quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning won the league’s Most Valuable Player award for the second consecutive year. His team also finished up the regular season with a 12-4 record and didn’t need any help making the playoffs, unlike Culpepper and the Vikings. Some say he is the best quarterback ever. Manning is number one in the NFL with a quarterback rating of 121.1. He’s third with 4,557 passing yards, first in the league with an eye-popping 49 touchdown passes—breaking the previous mark of 48 in a season hailed by NFL great, Dan Marino. And Manning has only thrown 10 interceptions this year. Manning had such a great season, everyone forgot about Culpepper’s success.

But Culpepper’s stats are just as impressive and are right up there with the so-called best quarterback ever. Culpepper has the second highest quarterback rating in the NFL this season with 110.9. In fact, he and Manning are almost neck and neck in every single passing category.

That should open your eyes to the kind of season Culpepper had this year. He is first in the NFL with 4,717 passing yards, second in touchdown passes with 39, and threw just one more interception than Manning for a total of 11.

One thing that Culpepper will always brings to the table that Manning never will, is his ability to run. This year when defenses broke down and everyone forgot about Culpepper, he racked up a total of 406 rushing yards and added a pair of rushing touchdowns for a combined total of 41 touchdowns.

What an amazing season over-shadowed. Anyone who sees it differently just doesn‘t know the game of football.

If you have comments about the sports column or sports in general, send them to drainele@go.metrostate.edu.

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