The Harrington Family Foundation

By Mike O'Hara

Joey Harrington has experienced the rush of what it would be like to be crowned a world champion in Detroit. He was a fan in the crowd at The Palace with some Lions teammates watching the Pistons topple the mighty Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA championship.

“I was at every game with one of the guys,” Harrington said Saturday. “We would always turn to each other and just say, ‘This is going to be us next year. Can you imagine hosting a playoff game at Ford Field?’ “Imagine 65,000 for a playoff game.”

The off-season and the first day of training camp make as good a time as any for a player to have high hopes. But the reality of the NFL is that if the Lions are to make a run at contending for a championship — this season, next season, whenever — Harrington must play a vital role. Harrington is at the point in his career — his third season as the Lions’ full-time starting quarterback — when he must distinguish himself as the team’s offensive leader.

Some coaches, such as the Seattle Seahawks’ Mike Holmgren, consider the third year a defining moment in a quarterback’s career if he has been a consistent starter in the same system. Holmgren’s timetable would apply to Harrington, but the circumstances under which he has played might not.
There have been understandable — and explainable — growing pains for Harrington. The Lions did not have 3-13 and 5-11 records the last two years solely because of their quarterback’s learning curve. They were bad teams with a decided lack of talent at the skilled positions.

President Matt Millen and Coach Steve Mariucci have worked the last two years to add big-time playmakers fast receivers and productive running backs. With a better supporting cast comes higher expectations. Harrington has to hold up his end of the deal. He doesn’t shy away from it. Harrington will be the young leader of a young unit in 2004. Receiver Charles Rogers and running back Artose Pinner were drafted last year. Wide receiver Roy Williams, a holdout on the first day of training camp, and running back Kevin Jones were first-round picks this year. They’ll all look to Harrington for the answers.

“It’s time for Joey to develop some leadership skills,” Mariucci said. “He’s the veteran of that skilled group on offense. He’s got the most experience on offense. We have a lot of new receivers with some questions in the huddle. Joey answers those. We have the player do that — not the coach — in the huddle. So that’s good for Joey. I expect more production, better execution, better understanding of defenses and our offense. Better in every area. Better smarts. Better preparation. I’ve seen it in the off-season with Joey. I’ve seen it in his preparation coming back.”

The Lions’ offensive deficiencies last year were obvious and numerous. They were last in the NFL in rushing, last in total offense and led the NFL in dropped passes. Harrington was far from perfect, though. At times, he was too quick to dump the ball off to an open receiver instead of waiting for someone to break free farther downfield. On the other hand, the Lions played better after a 1-6 start. They won four of their last nine games, and Harrington’s statistics improved. In the first seven games, Harrington completed 52 percent of his passes. He threw eight touchdown passes against 12 interceptions. Over the last nine games, Harrington’s completion rate rose to 58.8 percent, with nine TDs and 10 interceptions.

One element of his game that Harrington plans to change this year — regardless of the supporting cast — is to be more mobile. He has been strictly a pocket passer in the pros. Last year, he ran only 30 times for 86 yards. And 41 yards were on two runs — 15 yards in a home game against the Vikings and 26 yards at Minnesota. Before camp opened, Harrington spoke about the benefit of being a running threat.

“Teams could game plan that I wasn’t going to get out of the pocket,” he said. “I was either throwing the ball, throwing it away, or, very rarely, taking a sack. There were times, I threw the ball away a little too quick.”

Run or pass, Harrington has started camp this year with a new comfort level.

“When I stepped in the huddle those first couple of times with guys who were a bunch older than me, it was a little intimidating,” he said. “Now when I step in the huddle, I see fresh faces, young faces, who are eager to learn from me — looking at me, like, ‘He’s got something to teach me.’ I feel terrific in the huddle.”