Daunte Culpepper’s return to Orlando along with the Tuskers offensive struggles, are the two stories stealing the headlines of the week 6 matchup against the visiting Sacramento Mountain Lions.
“We struggled as an offense, not just at the quarterback position”, Tuskers head coach Jay Gruden said.
The Tuskers offense, for the entire game, moved the ball for 179 yards and only held time of possession for 21:50.
The struggles started early with a first quarter interception by Tusker quarterback Brooks Bollinger.
The Tuskers were driving down the field when Bollinger floated a pass over the middle and threw the interception at the Sacramento 1-yardline.
The turnover didn’t lead to a Sacramento score, but killed the drive and momentum the offense could have used to get rolling in the 1st quarter.
At the end of the first half, the score was 10-7, but the Lions surely took the momentum into the locker room.
The 3rd quarter saw little scoring action, but the Lions were able to force a safety to keep that first half momentum rolling.
In the 4th quarter, Bollinger was benched in favor of backup signal caller, Chris Greisen.
Even after giving up 12 points in the 4th quarter, the Tuskers were still in position to win the game with their final possession.
Greisen who is considered by many as the best arena quarterback, struggled while taking over the Tuskers offense.
While completing 2 passes in his 5 attempts the offensive line didn’t make things easy. Dealing with pressure from the defense and pressure from the lack of time remaining on the clock, Greisen was forced to make a throw he normally wouldn’t make and turned the ball over.
The final score was 21-17 Sacramento.
Culpepper played with high energy as he led his Mountain Lions to victory.
“All week I had a lot of flashbacks, a lot of memories of playing here” Culpepper said. “If you don’t pay attention to it, distractions can get the best of you, but being with coach [Dennis] Green and coach [Mike] Kruczek, they are on me double hard, and double time, so you can keep your emotions at bay, so you can go out and be the best player you can be.”
With the tough loss, and a record of 2-3, coach Gruden said, “it is important to get better as a team and win out the next 3 games.”
