Is Joey Harrington really that bad?

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, June 14, 2007  |  Comments( 15 )

Atlanta Falcons
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Turns out Michael Vick and Joey Harrington have something in common. Both, at various times, have gone to the dogs.

And for many Atlanta fans, the prospect that Vick might be suspended for his alleged involvement in illegal dog fighting is scarier than "Cujo." That would mean that Harrington, one of the most celebrated quarterback flops this side of Ryan Leaf, would probably become the starter (sorry, D.J. Shockley).

The question is, Would that be so awful? Maybe not.

Although Harrington's official bio refers to him as a "Joe Montana clone," he is most often compared to Leaf. Both came out of Pacific Northwest colleges (Harrington from Oregon, Leaf from Washington State), both were Heisman hopefuls, both were expected to star in the NFL.

It didn't happen, in either case.

Part of the problem with being a high-profile college quarterback is that you tend to be drafted by a bad team. That means a leaky offensive line, a weak supporting cast of backs and receivers, and a fan base that may have already run out of patience.

To Harrington's credit, he completed most of his passes as a Detroit Lion. Unfortunately, those completions weren't always to his teammates. Only once during his four-year tenure as a Lion did Harrington manage more touchdown passes than interceptions -- 2004, when the ratio was 19-12 to the good.

The Lions finally gave up on the former Ducks All-American prior to last season, and Harrington eventually got another chance to start with the Miami Dolphins when Daunte Culpepper went down with a knee injury. Harrington's next 11 games saw him throw for 2,236 yards and 12 touchdowns, completing 68.2 percent of his passes and, uh, tossing 15 interceptions.

One telling stat for Harrington is that his average yards per completion keeps going down each year, a symptom of a quarterback with a wounded psyche. When interceptions start piling up, most QBs (unless they're Brett Favre) start looking to complete safer throws to tight ends and underneath receivers.

Harrington recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he started seeing a sports psychologist his last two years in Detroit, and that his confidence has been improving ever since. Getting out of the Motor City probably didn't hurt, because it got to the point that the very sight of him jogging onto the field enraged most of the long-suffering Lion fans.

The Falcons signed Harrington before Vick's latest public relations crisis began, obviously with no intention of installing him as the starter. But head coach Bobby Petrino has been fiddling with an offense that places a higher premium on running the ball, and that's where Harrington might find his niche.

In Detroit, which lacked a running game, Harrington was asked to shoulder most of the weight of the offense. That won't be the case in Atlanta.

Still, Harrington will have to win over the Falcon fans, because they can read, and they can see the statistical evidence of a career gone bad.

"It would be naive of me to say I'm completely oblivious to what's going on," Harrington said of the Vick soap opera.

Then he followed by spouting out all the right things -- Vick is the starter, a true talent, and Harrington just wants to help the team in any way he can.

He can help them most by not playing like he did in Detroit.

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