I hate to say Tony Siragusa was right about Joey, but I don't think he was far off, when he made the crack about Joey being a "champagne and strawberries" kind of guy, rather than a "beer and hot-dogs" (and steroids) guy, like himself. I haven't seen any signs of the kind of grit and tenacity that make for a winning QB, best typified in the great Brett Favre.
Speaking of whom, the Lions get next, at frozen Lambeau, coming off that horrific pasting at the hands and heels of the Eagles yesterday. The Lions haven't won at Lambeau since 1991. Put another tick in the "L" column...
Back to Joey...the excuse-time honeymoon is over. The Lions have a running game now, and he was given plenty of protection yesterday, and in recent games. He just doesn't make the plays, when the team needs him to make something happen. Part of that is dropped balls, of course, but most of it is horrible interceptions, and badly-thrown third-down balls, either off-target or just a yard or two shy of the yard-marker.
The old saw about QB's needing 3-4 years to get anywhere has been trashed by several of them, in recent years, the most ferocious example being Pittsburgh's Roethlisberger. He looked like Joe Montana yesterday, calmly slapping together the winning drive with under two minutes left. I try to imagine Harrington pulling off that kind of poise and competence, at crunch-time, and I just can't see it.
I'm hoping the Lions make an attempt at either a proven veteran for next year, to challenge Joey for the starting job, or take an expensive flyer on Drew Brees. I would LOVE to see Brees in Detroit next year, chucking the ball to Williams, Rogers, Hakim, Streets, etc. Probably too rich for our blood, though. |