Detroit Lions Weblog

Lions QB Situation, Is a Culpepper Signing Imminent?

After reviewing the recent Lions/Redskins game, and taking a holistic view of Dan Orlovsky’s, aka “The Polish Pop Gun”, body of work as a starting QB, I believe it is safe to assume that Orlovsky will never be more than the competent, turnover-free, game manager that he has been thus far.

The Lions offense is severely hamstrung by having Orlovsky at the helm, however.  He has a penchant for the “check down”, or exhibiting compulsive audible syndrome (CAS) when facing an oncoming blitz, much like one of his predecessors, “Joey Checkdown”.

Orlovsky essentially plays the game so close to the vest that the only good thing that you can say about his performance is that he doesn’t make too many mistakes.

Meanwhile, the Lions under-utilize, or downright ignore, their only chance to attack opposing defense’s (Calvin Johnson, Kevin Smith) when Orlovsky is at the helm.  When you feature a defense as bad as the Lions currently possess, well, you kinda can see the results.

So that brings us to our favorite stage of the season, If Orlovsky isn’t the convenient panacea for the Lions ills, now what?  The Lions have looked at both Tim Rattay and Daunte Culpepper, with Culpepper appearing to be the Lions preference, at this point.

Culpepper, who has to ask himself why he has to now play for one of the few teams he could actually defeat with relative ease, is a lumbering shell of his former self, at this point.

With Culpepper’s large frame and shredded knees, both contributing to a noticeable lack of mobility, one has to wonder how desperate he ACTUALLY is to return to the NFL.  He has cannon of an arm, but he has never proven to be a particularly quick-reader of opposing defenses or astute decision-maker, either.

With the bumbling tandem of the spinning-turnstile Lions offensive line and the Lions receivers continued blown routes and dropped passes, Culpepper will be facing a Sisyphean uphill struggle, given his own obvious deficiencies.

Which leads to the obvious question, why was Jon Kitna placed on IR, again?  Or If Culpepper was a potential signee, and the Lions could have signed him entering the season as a backup for Kitna, why didn’t they follow that path?   The Lions could have vetted Culpepper for this very moment, rather than potentially thrusting him into their current disastrous milieu.

In regards to Kitna, the Lions placing him upon injured reserve seems more and more vengeful each day, rather than based on the actual severity of his injuries.

It is not debatable that Kitna was truly awful this season, and there is a distinct possibility that a Culpepper-to-Johnson combo could rival the success Culpepper-to-Moss, but I highly doubt it.

That being said, the Lions are now in a position, without Kitna, where they have to give Culpepper a multi-year deal, something that is both irresponsible and patently unfair to the new, incoming front office.  If Kitna were now available, couldn’t he return to the starting lineup,  and continue to buy the plucky Mike McMah–er, I mean Drew Stanton, the time necessary for him to eventually get his shot?

The Lions are quite likely going to seriously consider drafting a franchise QB in the ‘09 draft, too.  With that in mind, maybe the best answer is, to cut Drew Stanton, bid adieu to Jon Kitna, bypass signing Culpepper and allow “The Polish Pop Gun” to ride off into the sunset, meanwhile, standing pat with their current situation in the interim?

Then the Lions can completely start anew, with a new front office staff, coaching staff, and a talented, young, untainted QB much like the Atlanta Falcons did this season, with a couple of convenient stop-gap measures (ala Orlovsky, et al.) put in place, too.