A Response to bstro and Willie b in Regards to Harrington
This post was written in reference to a post on bstro's thoughts and opinions. Click here to read the posting. Also this is in response to comments left by willie B on that same post, specifically that Joey Harrington is a very talented NFL quarterback.
I would like to debate the fact on whether or not Harrington is a very talented quarterback. bstro and willie b take the position that Harrington is talented and capable of significantly contributing to the Dolphins. Willie b said, and I quote, (referring to Harrington)"he is very talented its just the fact he never has been able to showcase it, watch out for Joey this year he's gonna be good"
I take the position that Joey Harrington is a terrible quarterback, incapable of being the starting quarterback for an NFL team. Here I will prove my point.
First, Harrington has played for the Detroit Lions his entire career until this season when he was traded to the Miami Dolphins for a sixth round draft pick. It was well publicized that the Lions would not keep Harrington on their roster in 2006. I believe that had they not found a team willing to trade for Harrington, he would have been flat-out cut by the Lions, as Harrington was due roster bonuses on June 15th. A sixth round draft pick is hardly winning the lottery for the Lions. Again, the Lions had been trying for weeks to trade Harrington with no takers. Finally they settled for what they could get (sixth round pick) as Harrington would have been cut anyway. For more details on this info, click here.
Conclusion: Joey Harrington is not "trade-bait".
Second, Joey Harrington played in 12 games last year, starting in 11. Harrington was benched by two different coaches in 2005 - once by coach Steve Mariucci, once by interim coach Dick Jauron. Talented quarterbacks do not get benched by two different coaches. Maybe it was because Harrington was 27th in the league last year in passer rating. Hey, everybody has a bad season now and then. To truly measure Harrington's talent, we need to look at his career numbers. Ok, I submit for you Joey Harrington's career stats.
54.7 completion percentage
5.68 yards per average
60/62 TD's to Int ratio
68.1 career passer rating.
Here are just a few quarterbacks still in the league who have higher career quarterback ratings than Harrington: Charlie Batch, Brooks Bollinger, Jay Fiedler, Kelly Holcomb, Damon Huard, Jamie Martin, Craig Nall, and Tim Rattay just to name a few. There are several others, but this is just to show what kind of company Harrington is in. Actually he is below this company rating wise.
Conclusion: The nicest way to put it, Joey Harrington is not a talented quarterback. He is very lucky the Lions organization even kept him for that long and gave him as many chances as they did.
Finally, Willie B believes Harrington just never had the chance to showcase his talents. Harrington has played in 58 NFL games and started 55 of those in his career. What more of an opportunity does he need? (Harrington's record during that time was 18-37 by the way, hardly very talented). Also Harrington played for the Detroit Lions who have several quality offensive weapons. The argument that Harringon didn't reach his potential because of lack of surrounding cast is not a valid argument as many other truly talented quarterbacks have done more with less weapons. New England, Philly, and Chicago all had better scoring offenses than Detroit last year with less offensive fire power than the Lions (not counting QB).
Conclusion: Joey Harrington's subpar NFL career is in no way related to the team that he played on. Rather, Harrington was the weakest link on otherwise quality offense.
I would like to say that this is not written to bash Joey Harrington or the Miami Dolphins. I don't have a personal beef against Joey Harrington as I have never met the guy nor do I have any desire to. Ok, I guess if given the opportunity I would meet him just to get Nance an autograph. The point is that it's a fact that Joey Harrington has not been anything near a quality quarterback thus far in his career. He also hasn't shown anything that would indicate he will be a quality quarterback in the future. The Dolphins probably got a fair deal for Harrington, as had they drafted a quarterback in the sixth round, they would have gotten someone with comparable talent. I actually believe that the Dolphins will have a good year (more on that in AFC East predictions later) and contend for the division IF and only IF Daunte Culpepper stays healthy. If not, and the Dolphins are forced to go with the number two man then Jay Fiedler will be looking pretty good about then.
I would like to debate the fact on whether or not Harrington is a very talented quarterback. bstro and willie b take the position that Harrington is talented and capable of significantly contributing to the Dolphins. Willie b said, and I quote, (referring to Harrington)"he is very talented its just the fact he never has been able to showcase it, watch out for Joey this year he's gonna be good"
I take the position that Joey Harrington is a terrible quarterback, incapable of being the starting quarterback for an NFL team. Here I will prove my point.
First, Harrington has played for the Detroit Lions his entire career until this season when he was traded to the Miami Dolphins for a sixth round draft pick. It was well publicized that the Lions would not keep Harrington on their roster in 2006. I believe that had they not found a team willing to trade for Harrington, he would have been flat-out cut by the Lions, as Harrington was due roster bonuses on June 15th. A sixth round draft pick is hardly winning the lottery for the Lions. Again, the Lions had been trying for weeks to trade Harrington with no takers. Finally they settled for what they could get (sixth round pick) as Harrington would have been cut anyway. For more details on this info, click here.
Conclusion: Joey Harrington is not "trade-bait".
Second, Joey Harrington played in 12 games last year, starting in 11. Harrington was benched by two different coaches in 2005 - once by coach Steve Mariucci, once by interim coach Dick Jauron. Talented quarterbacks do not get benched by two different coaches. Maybe it was because Harrington was 27th in the league last year in passer rating. Hey, everybody has a bad season now and then. To truly measure Harrington's talent, we need to look at his career numbers. Ok, I submit for you Joey Harrington's career stats.
54.7 completion percentage
5.68 yards per average
60/62 TD's to Int ratio
68.1 career passer rating.
Here are just a few quarterbacks still in the league who have higher career quarterback ratings than Harrington: Charlie Batch, Brooks Bollinger, Jay Fiedler, Kelly Holcomb, Damon Huard, Jamie Martin, Craig Nall, and Tim Rattay just to name a few. There are several others, but this is just to show what kind of company Harrington is in. Actually he is below this company rating wise.
Conclusion: The nicest way to put it, Joey Harrington is not a talented quarterback. He is very lucky the Lions organization even kept him for that long and gave him as many chances as they did.
Finally, Willie B believes Harrington just never had the chance to showcase his talents. Harrington has played in 58 NFL games and started 55 of those in his career. What more of an opportunity does he need? (Harrington's record during that time was 18-37 by the way, hardly very talented). Also Harrington played for the Detroit Lions who have several quality offensive weapons. The argument that Harringon didn't reach his potential because of lack of surrounding cast is not a valid argument as many other truly talented quarterbacks have done more with less weapons. New England, Philly, and Chicago all had better scoring offenses than Detroit last year with less offensive fire power than the Lions (not counting QB).
Conclusion: Joey Harrington's subpar NFL career is in no way related to the team that he played on. Rather, Harrington was the weakest link on otherwise quality offense.
I would like to say that this is not written to bash Joey Harrington or the Miami Dolphins. I don't have a personal beef against Joey Harrington as I have never met the guy nor do I have any desire to. Ok, I guess if given the opportunity I would meet him just to get Nance an autograph. The point is that it's a fact that Joey Harrington has not been anything near a quality quarterback thus far in his career. He also hasn't shown anything that would indicate he will be a quality quarterback in the future. The Dolphins probably got a fair deal for Harrington, as had they drafted a quarterback in the sixth round, they would have gotten someone with comparable talent. I actually believe that the Dolphins will have a good year (more on that in AFC East predictions later) and contend for the division IF and only IF Daunte Culpepper stays healthy. If not, and the Dolphins are forced to go with the number two man then Jay Fiedler will be looking pretty good about then.
posted by Andrew at 7:30 AM
5 Comments:
Mr. Strobel...you better pray that Culp is ready 2 go. & stays healthy
Harrington never had great weapons with the Lions, the only good reciever he ever had was Roy Williams, and he was injured thru most of his rookie year, and Charlie Rodgers is no good, and Mike Williams was only a rookie last year. Then any defense can key on one reciever, not to mention the horrble line the lions had, all i know is that at the beginning of this year Joey will look like Joey Heisman of the old days.
why does SITU have beef with Willie B?
he doesn't have beef with Willie B or anyone for that matter. disagreeing isn't beef. Situ does however think that Harrington is a crappy quarterback. He was good in college but history has shown us lots of examples of studs in college whose talent doesn't transfer to NFL. Leaf,Couch,Mirer,Detmer,Wuerffel, and Ware are a few that come to mind. Obviously college can't be the measuring stick, so guys gotta prove it in the bigs. So far Harrington ain't stepped up to the plate. I guess only time will tell what he'll do in Mee-ah-mee and his future in the NFL.
how could I be mad at my old streetball teammate? I will give you that his line was suspect at times in Det.
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