Quote:
Originally Posted by KINGZZKEITH
I would have to say, though, that Brad probably won more games than what we would have ended up winning w/ Daunte. That was my point. He managed us to end up having a respectable season. Daunte just did not have it for the games he played in last season.
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I would disagree. Lots more changed than just Johnson at QB when we started winning.
1) We actually ran the ball more than 5 times per game
2) The defense started to do it's job
3) We shuffled the offensive line (Fowler in for Withrow; Johnson out to RT)
4) James was activated for games
5) We played non-play-off caliber teams
Daunte had some impressive games last year (NO, GB), but they were forgotten compared to his miserable performances in other games. There are a couple games where Daunte gets an undue share of the blame as well (Bengals when the Defense does show up; TB when players bubble TD passes into INTs and we can't stop Cadillac from breaking off a huge run late in the fourth). By my count, Daunte had 2 great performances, 2 bad performances, 2 games he was hung out to dry and one incomplete.
Put Johnson in for Daunte and I don't think our W-L changes. Only exception is perhaps the Bear's game, but that was the week of the Love Boat so who knows.
The games Johnson won last year were against weakling opponents: Green Bay, Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, B-Team Bears and the Giants. Dautne shredded the weakling opponents he faced, I see no reason to think he wouldn't do the same against the others. The Giants game was a record-setting fluke in which the offense contributed virtually nothing for the win. All three TDs were special teams or defense.
Had Johnson started all year for us last season, I doubt we have any more wins. Honestly, we may have less because Daunte was the reason we won against the Saints and Packers. I very much doubt Johnson could have replicated Culpepper's performance in those games.