Tice still ticked about Campbell's taunting penalty

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) _ Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice, happy about his team's victory over Houston, was not pleased by wide receiver Kelly Campbell's taunting penalty. <br/><br/>``That was

Monday, October 11th 2004, 7:48 pm

By: News On 6

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) _ Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice, happy about his team's victory over Houston, was not pleased by wide receiver Kelly Campbell's taunting penalty.

``That was just flat-out dumb,'' Tice said. ``My recourse is to hope the league fines the snot out of him.''

Campbell joined Daunte Culpepper's familiar ``roll'' dance after the quarterback threw a touchdown pass to Randy Moss that put the Vikings up 28-14 in the fourth quarter on Sunday. A 15-yard penalty forced Aaron Elling to kick off from the 15-yard line, giving the Texans the ball at their 42 and setting up a touchdown that cut the lead to 28-21. Minnesota hung on and won in overtime.

``Hopefully he'll realize, 'Gee, that wasn't worth 10 grand. I think next time I'll just stand over here with a cup of Gatorade and be quiet,''' Tice said. ``On second thought, I don't think he can be quiet.''

Campbell came off the sideline to emulate Culpepper _ who usually circulates his arms in a rapid motion following scores, similar to a referee signaling a false start. Campbell said Monday he was unaware of the NFL rule that prohibits multiplayer celebrations.

Though Tice said he likes the third-year player and simply wants to teach him a lesson, Campbell was taken aback from the coach's harsh criticism.

``I don't want to do anything to try to hurt the team,'' he said, ``but as far as me stopping celebrating _ I'm not going to stop celebrating.''

Campbell apologized to the defense for his penalty.

``It was a dumb move and it won't happen again,'' he said.

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QUESTIONING CULPEPPER?: Daunte Culpepper has done just about everything right this season, and the sixth-year quarterback is probably the leading candidate at this point for the league's MVP award.

Someone asked Tice on Monday, though, if he was concerned that Culpepper is becoming too cautious _ and whether he wanted him to freelance more on the field?

``I don't know why we'd want him to try and freelance when he's thrown 13 touchdown passes in four games and one interception,'' Tice said. ``The answer to that is no. Simple, plain no.''

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QUICK HITS: Despite being the only team in the NFL without an interception, the Vikings are tied for seventh in the NFC with an even turnover differential. They've thrown one INT and fumbled three times, and the defense has recovered four fumbles. ... In the 10 passing categories listed on the league's official statistics report, Culpepper is third or higher in the NFC in all of them and first or tied for first in seven of them.