Fantasy football press release

ESPN.com News Services. Last updated: Monday, September 19, 2005 at 12:30 P.M.

Vote for Pedro General Manager and Head Coach Jessica Bailey isn’t happy with Daunte Culpepper, and she’s not keeping it a secret either.

“In one word, how do I feel about Daunte this season? Disappointed”. Bailey reported, in her Monday morning meeting with the press. “Daunte’s really been struggling, I think we all saw that in Week 1. However, I didn’t think it could get much worse, but somehow it did.”

Culpepper had a rough outing in the regular season opener against Rhesus Pieces, passing for 233 yards, but fumbling twice and throwing 3 picks. Yesterday, he threw 5 interceptions, fumbled twice and scored an abysmal 4 points.

“We went with Daunte because Ben still wasn’t at 100%,” Bailey stated, referring to backup quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who has been dealing with a knee injury. “Boy, what a mistake that was.” Bailey continued her comments, expressing extreme disappointment in Culpepper’s sub-par performance. “If you’re dealing with a 3rd round draft pick, you expect someone who’s actually going to go out and win. If I wanted these kinds of numbers, I would have drafted Joey Harrington.”

As for next week’s home game against Furry Tractor, Bailey said there would be some serious changes. “No one’s safe right now. We’re evaluating the match-up and will be making some big changes with respect to who’s playing and who’s not.”

The first of those changes involves naming Ben Roethlisberger as starting QB. “Ben will go for us, injury or not. We were able to pick up Kurt (Warner) on waivers last week, so he’ll be our Number 2”. Vote for Pedro’s former third QB, Kyle Boller, was dropped last Friday and is facing surgery after a toe injury in Week 1.

When asked if that made Culpepper Vote for Pedro’s third in command, Bailey slammed down her coffee cup on the podium. “No. Hell no. No (expletive) way Culpepper sees the field anytime soon. If we need to go to a third option at QB, we’ll be playing Drew (Bennett).”

Vote for Pedro’s starting Wide Receiver has QB experience and should be a much better option for Bailey. “Right now, we’re just trying to get back on track. We had some key losses from last year’s team, but the season’s still young. We expect to be playing in the playoffs again this year.”


Drew Bennett’s QB experience:

• At UCLA, Bennett started three of first four games of his junior season at quarterback, finishing the season with 641 yards on 49-of-89 passing and four touchdowns. He appeared in six games at quarterback

• Bennett also lettered in football two seasons at Miramonte (Orinda, Calif.) H.S. As a senior, he passed for 2,308 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for six additional scores, earning first-team all-league and second-team All-Bay Area acclaim.

Information from the Associated Press has been used in this report.