The Harrington Family Foundation

For one day -- or at least one pleasant Sunday afternoon -- quarterback Joey Harrington must have known how Steve Young and Brett Favre felt when everything was falling in place.

"This might have been Joey's best game," Mariucci said. "I'm anxious to see the film, but I liked the decisions that he made.

"The shake route on the backside to Billy Schroeder was just an alert, it wasn't even in the progression. If he sees free safety middle, single-coverage over there, he has the option to do that and I've seen the veteran do that.

"I've seen Steve Young do that and Brett and Jeff Garcia take that one-on-one shake when really your progression should be the other way, and he shot it in there with some confidence."

Harrington shot it in, Schroeder made the difficult catch and the Lions had their first of three touchdowns.

If there was any doubt regarding Harrington's status as the Lions' quarterback of the future -- and there really was very little of that -- he probably put it to rest with his 72.2 percent completion passing against the Rams.

As far as he was concerned, it was as much about his receivers -- Schroeder, Az-Zahir Hakim, Casey FitzSimmons, Mikhael Ricks and backup running back Paul Smith -- making catches as it was him making throws.

"That was the story of the day," Harrington said. "Everybody made plays. Casey caught balls, Az caught balls, Bill caught balls, Mikhael Ricks made a great play on a ball I threw behind him late in the game. Paul Smith comes here five weeks ago and he catches four or five passes. Everybody made plays today."

Harrington clearly approached the game with a more aggressive attitude than he has taken in some games earlier, perhaps at the urging of team president Matt Millen.

Instead of taking the safe short completions that are always available, Harrington was willing to throw the ball deeper, testing the Rams' defense.

The only time it backfired was when Harrington rolled to his right and tried throwing back across the field to Schroeder. Rams linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa intercepted the pass.

Afterward Harrington said he heard comments about the win damaging the Lions' drafting position because it will push them deeper into the first round.

"I don't care," he said. "To go into the off-season on a note like this against arguably the best team in football right now, I don't care. For today, we were the best team in football and that feels good. It gave us -- as a team and as a city -- a taste of what that is like, and I liked it."

A feeling Young and Favre have experienced many times in the past.