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| Joey Harrington will start for the Dolphins against the Patriots on Sunday, ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting. Daunte Culpepper, who started the Dolphins' first four games, has a bruised shoulder and was limited in practice this week. Culpepper missed a portion of the Dolphins' practice Thursday because of the shoulder problem, which coach Nick Saban said is a cumulative effect of being sacked 21 times through the season's first four games. Culpepper practiced Friday. Earlier this week, Culpepper acknowledged that he's feeling the effects of being hit so often -- a problem created in part by his lack of mobility following reconstructive knee surgery last year -- but added that he wasn't overly worried about it, either. Culpepper has completed 81 of 134 passes for 929 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions for the Dolphins, who are off to a 1-3 start. His quarterback rating of 77.0 ranks 20th. Saban said Harrington has done "a nice job" in practices, but stopped short of revealing if the offense would look markedly different if Culpepper doesn't play Sunday. "Both guys would basically execute pretty much the same things," Saban said. "I think there are differences that one guy may like certain plays better than another. Short of calling [Patriots coach Bill Belichick] and telling him what those are, I think that's not something I'd like to share with anybody here." |