Joey Harrington - Progress Report
So how is Oregon's favorite alumn performing so far this NFL season? Not well, you'd be told by most of Detroit.
At least there's one reporter in that city that's willing to tell JH's side of the tale.
In my opinion, the 3 biggest problems faced by the Detroit Lion offense are as follows: 1) coaching 2) offensive line 3) team chemistry.
The team has the talent at the skill positions. It's a matter of the coaching to get those skilled players in positions to succeed. Mariucci's offense is just not cutting it. The game plans are not attacking the defense's weaknesses... they're defending their own. I think a lot of that has to do with the inablility of the offensive line to open a running lane for Kevin Jones, and the inability to protect the pocket for more than 1 second. Watching the game last weekend, it seemed that the Carolina D-Line was on top of Joey by the time he set his feet, if not BEFORE he set them. No QB can be expected to perform in that situation. Finally, there's just no chemistry...
If you look at the contributions of the other top draft picks made by the Lions over the past 3 years, you'll discover some very unimpressive results. Are any of these players "on the hot seat"? The QB is just to most visible target; he touches the ball every play, after all. People need to remember that it takes 11 men working together, each executing their assignment properly, for a play to succeed. It would be interesting to see the film analysis performed by the coaching staff... to see where the blame is truly assigned. Which receiver ran the wrong route, which running back failed to recognize a blitzing linebacker and block him, which offensive lineman failed carry out his assignment... that's not apparent to someone who just tunes in to the broadcast on Sunday.
The best thing for Joey Harrington is probably a trade to another team. Leave the disfunction of the Detroit organization and it's fair-weather-fans behind. Get on a team with an offensive scheme that works, and with players who want to work together to win. Cause let's face it... Detroit just plain sucks.
At least there's one reporter in that city that's willing to tell JH's side of the tale.
In my opinion, the 3 biggest problems faced by the Detroit Lion offense are as follows: 1) coaching 2) offensive line 3) team chemistry.
The team has the talent at the skill positions. It's a matter of the coaching to get those skilled players in positions to succeed. Mariucci's offense is just not cutting it. The game plans are not attacking the defense's weaknesses... they're defending their own. I think a lot of that has to do with the inablility of the offensive line to open a running lane for Kevin Jones, and the inability to protect the pocket for more than 1 second. Watching the game last weekend, it seemed that the Carolina D-Line was on top of Joey by the time he set his feet, if not BEFORE he set them. No QB can be expected to perform in that situation. Finally, there's just no chemistry...
[Joey] "I know what I'm supposed to do. I know where I'm supposed to go. But when you're struggling, when you're working with different guys all the time, it's not as natural, you're not quite sure it's gonna work out because maybe last time it didn't when it was supposed to..."
If you look at the contributions of the other top draft picks made by the Lions over the past 3 years, you'll discover some very unimpressive results. Are any of these players "on the hot seat"? The QB is just to most visible target; he touches the ball every play, after all. People need to remember that it takes 11 men working together, each executing their assignment properly, for a play to succeed. It would be interesting to see the film analysis performed by the coaching staff... to see where the blame is truly assigned. Which receiver ran the wrong route, which running back failed to recognize a blitzing linebacker and block him, which offensive lineman failed carry out his assignment... that's not apparent to someone who just tunes in to the broadcast on Sunday.
The best thing for Joey Harrington is probably a trade to another team. Leave the disfunction of the Detroit organization and it's fair-weather-fans behind. Get on a team with an offensive scheme that works, and with players who want to work together to win. Cause let's face it... Detroit just plain sucks.
posted by Tom Maier at 2:47 PM
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