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Culpepper showing performance is there
By Stefani Rebekah Black October 4, 2007 |
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A lot of media in the Bay Area said that when the Raiders first acquired Daunte Culpepper, he would not be the quarterback that he once was. Also when he left Minnesota that Culpepper would never be the same and even that's probably true none of us are the same today as we were three or four years ago. Culpepper is older but he's proving that he's able to perform and able to win games, and with five touchdowns is a lot for somebody was under a lot of scrutiny. It was a indication for Culpepper to say he was able to do it and that he was able to do it with grace and with the Raiders style of play by taking the ball team. Despite the Dolphins being a 0-3 team going in the play, did come together for the Raiders they're was a Raider team that was 0-2 at one point this season. The Raiders didn't really know if they were gong to win a ball game so they were still coming together and dealing with the scrutiny from coach Lane Kiffin who wants to win so badly after coming off of that 2-14 season last year. So this was about believing in that process and Culpepper certainly was instrumental in making the winning combination come true as well as the coaching. Kiffin and Greg Knapp who is the offensive coordinator for the Raiders on the sidelines as well as the defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and then the offensive lineman coach Tom Hagle your starting to see the effects of their work. The Raiders have gone into these games and the games have been close but remember in the course of those games they were close there was still the possibility of a win there. In the first two games the Raiders weren't able to make things click but this time it finally clicked and luckily the game was moving into Kiffin's second win of the season to take the Raiders 2-2 and it puts them into position to be able to compete and get a shot at first place in the AFC West. That's the ultimate goal for Oakland is to win and you can see that in the mentality of that game last Sunday with the coach's plan they way they put it together. The defense blitz and the offense were able to score touchdowns. On the bye coming up: The Raiders will be relying on their youth coming into the bye this weekend and they have a younger team than they were last year. Having a bye this early is not necessarily a bad thing going into the second quarter of football fresh and are able to really to finish out the season and really getting on a roll. The Raiders need to be able to look back and reflect on these four past games, and be able to see some growth out of the last two wins. They can also see where the team struggled in the beginning and how to make sure you can bounce back more effectively and who can step into Lane Kiffin's system or Rob Ryan's system. This also gives them an opportunity for the team to heal while the team might have some injuries right now and prepare to go into San Diego on the 14th another divisional rival and keep that heat going and keep that intensity going and Raiders seasons are always competitive so this will be no different. So whether the bye comes at the beginning of the season or at the end this will really be a test by this being at the beginning and could the youth stand up and tenacious enough to pursue the post season. Stefani Rebekah Black covers Raiders football with commentary each week with Jeremy Harness and Jeremy Kahn with game day coverage. |
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