The Harrington Family Foundation

OK, it wasn't exactly Bobby Layne moving a championship team against a dwindling clock, and it was just the annual sloppy first exhibition game. But in one span of 101 seconds Saturday, Joey Harrington was virtually dead-solid perfect.

In that brief time frame, Harrington drove the Lions 80 yards to a touchdown. In a drive against the Steelers' defense, Harrington beat the clock by five seconds before halftime. On the way, he displayed opportunistic field command and accurate passing -- and generated an already heightened feeling of optimism for the upcoming season.

Harrington's acceptable imitation of one of Layne's drives was the catalyst in the Lions' 26-13 victory over the Steelers. The Detroit franchise had not won its first exhibition game in five years.

"On the first real-game experience of the two-minute offense, I won't say I was surprised, but it went real well," said Harrington, starting his second season as the Lions' quarterback. "We made some good decisions."

The drive went very well.

Harrington huddled the Lions with 1:46 to play before intermission, and the Steelers ahead 6-2. And in eight plays, he took his team 80 yards to the touchdown. He completed six of his seven passes on the drive -- using four receivers. The sixth completion was a 13-yard pass that Scotty Anderson caught in the end zone, outdueling a defender.

It was a huge play in what Harrington would later say was a huge victory after the Lions' piteous exhibition performances a year ago.

But even though there were grins at winning in the wake of the past two seasons, this was not a polished performance by the Lions' first-team offense.

"The precision part of the game I wasn't happy with," Lions Coach Steve Mariucci said. "The protection wasn't bad ... but we need to be sharp in the passing game.

"The precision and accuracy, making the plays and moving the sticks, we didn't do that well enough late in the first quarter and in the second."

Harrington nodded at his coach's assessment.

The offense had plodded until the drive started with 1:46 left in the first half. Harrington had some accuracy problems.

"There were a few passes where I didn't have my feet," he said. "We had a few guys miss the routes.

"I feel good though. We have a lot to work on -- being more precise."

What a difference a year makes. A first-exhibition victory, a sophisticated coach in Mariucci, and Harrington secure in the No. 1 quarterback job that Marty Mornhinweg declined to award him during training camp in 2002.