Come back, Joey Harrington—All is forgiven

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, October 10, 2006  |  Comments( 3 )

Detroit Lions
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OK, maybe the Detroit Lions would go quite that far. Coupled with another frankly inexcusable loss, however, Harrington's performance on Sunday just goes to show how deep these Cats' woes may lie.

Against the Minnesota Vikings, Jon Kitna - the man new head coach Rod Marinelli tapped to start at QB - showed to what depths the Lions can reach to pull out a loss. Kitna's fourth-quarter stats: Seven of 16 passing for 54 yards, together with a fumble and two interceptions.

Meanwhile, Harrington, a dude who perhaps unfairly unearned the "draft bust" label while taunted with home-crowd boos and comparisons to Ryan Leaf, was thrust into the starting role for the almost equally hapless Miami Dolphins. Joey's line against a New England Patriots team quite a bit scarier than the Vikes read 26-of-41 for 232 yards. Kitna's went 23-of-42 for 225. And, though Kitna actually managed to pass for one TD, he also threw three picks (one more than Harrington) and there was that fumble...

Does anyone else get the feeling that the specifics in Detroit are quickly becoming irrelevant? Does anyone else suspect that the Lions could be playing anyone from Donovan McNabb to J.P. Losman and still get the same results? And most importantly, is there no way out of this mess?

Adding to the generally sunny feeling that surrounds the 2006 Detroit Lions were injuries to Shaun Cody, Paris Lenon, Damien Woody and Roy Williams, the only bona fide all-star these team has produced on offense this year. No official word as to the extent of these injuries has been released, but Williams has guaranteed that he'll miss at least the Lions' win - I mean, game - next week.

In his postgame comments, Marinelli commented that his boys' 0-5 start could be blamed on a lack of discipline: "We have to be a more disciplined football team."

Of course, once the Marinelli chapter of Lions' history is written (and yes, we should probably begin speaking of things, because it appears this coach is doomed), any references to this first-timer will be cross-referenced to the D-word. That D-word is "discipline" and not "defense," as was promised.

Other analyses by Marinelli through this season include "We weren't good enough on defense," an insightful comment following the St. Louis Rams game in which the silver-and-Honolulu blue gave up 41 points; "We have to finish," following the Green Bay Packers' sole win of the year; and "I'm not interested in just playing hard and well" after opening day.

(Incidentally, with regard to that 9-6 loss at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks: How many teams can say that a single-digit scoring, touchdown-less effort was their best game of the year? Zero? That's what I thought.)

But Marinelli's bon mots are all for naught. The Lions are minus-5 in turnover differential (better than only the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders). Though first in completions and sixth in total passing yardage, Kitna has recorded a pathetic five TD passes while taking 19 sacks.

Defensively - ostensibly Marinelli's specialty, remember? - the Lions are currently 28th, ranking better than powerhouses Tennessee, Green Bay, the New York Jets and the Houston Texans. (Of course, three of those four have actually notched a win or two.) On the plus side, CB Jamar Fletcher was able to record the Lions' first interception of the year.

Finally, after Week 1, Detroit is giving up 34 points per game and 11 per fourth quarter.

The real reason for the Lions' debacle, of course, is a subject Marinelli can't broach and really too large to be handled succinctly. The rot on the Lions goes deep, deep down into the roster and game plan. The 2006 Detroit Lions are the result of years of mismanagement and what appears to be serious disrespect for season ticket-holders.

(Lions backers, this writer is now firmly in your corner. Fire Millen.)

Symbolic of the whole mess was the performance of Mike Williams. Didn't see him? Ah, you must have left the room. Williams entered the game for a play, dropped a screen pass, and came out. Williams (together with departed 2003 first-round draft pick Charles Rogers) was supposed to be symbolic of a new no-nonsense era in Detroit and a cleaning-house of history's errors. Instead, the hard-work ethic of Marinelli has given him a one-two of castoff Az-Zahir Hakim and Mike Furrey.

For those of you keeping score at home, Williams was the No. 10 overall pick in 2005 and is now being called "one of the biggest draft busts of all-time."

On the other hand, maybe the Dolphins could help him realize his true potential. The Lions could trade him for, say, a quarterback...

RealFootball365.com: Waiting for the resurgence of the Detroit Lions.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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