Harrington's loaded for Bears
New Dolphins' QB has had his successes
By John Mullin
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 2, 2006, 11:16 PM CST
He has been a borderline Bears killer. His team has beaten the Bears three of the last four times he has faced them. And he's coming here off a 400-yard passing game.
And he's not Brett Favre. He is …
Joey Harrington.
Yes, that Joey Harrington, who was the third pick of the 2002 NFL draft.
The one teammate Dre' Bly called the biggest reason the Detroit Lions fired coach Steve Mariucci last year.
The quarterback traded for a sixth-round draft choice more to get him out of town than to add a pick.
Harrington's tenure in Detroit was a nightmare, but it had its moments. He was 18-37 in 55 starts yet owns a better record against the Bears in seven starts (4-3) than Green Bay's Favre in his last seven against the Bears (3-4).
Harrington, who will start for Miami on Sunday against the Bears, was traded to the Dolphins in May. This trip brings him to the site of his first NFL road victory, in 2004.
"I've won at Soldier Field and I've lost big at Soldier Field, so I've seen both ends of it," Harrington said. "I'm happy to go there with this team. I'm very confident we can play well."
That didn't happen often enough in Detroit to make Harrington or the Lions very happy. He had beaten the Bears three straight times going into 2005 but was annihilated in the second week of the season when the Bears intercepted five of his passes in a 38-6 rout.
"It seems like the times we've played him we've had some pretty good games," cornerback Nathan Vasher said. "But he's a good quarterback, first-round selection, so that must mean he's pretty good, right?"
Mariucci didn't think so. He replaced Harrington with rookie Dan Orlovsky to finish that game, and by the time the Bears saw the Lions again, Jeff Garcia was the quarterback.
That was not enough to dissuade the Dolphins from acquiring him. But they weren't planning on starting him because they already had traded for Daunte Culpepper last off-season, bringing in the former Minnesota Viking to start despite his season-ending knee injury in 2005.
"We were looking for a guy as a backup who had some skins on the wall … a number of starts," Miami coach Nick Saban said. "Joey had [55] and would give us a chance to win based on his experience.
"Joey is a very bright guy, makes good, quick decisions and has played well for us other than a play here and there relative to a turnover. We just have to play better as an impact group and cut out some of those bad plays. He has a good arm, he's accurate and we want him to feel more and more confident."
Confidence may be the key. Harrington was under fire on and off the field in Detroit, and did not mesh well with the procession of coaches that included Marty Mornhinweg, Mariucci and interim *** Jauron. The environment did little for the attitude of the player local sports talkers dubbed "Joey Blueskies" for his upbeat nature.
Harrington is in a different environment now, particularly where it matters most: on the field. Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said Harrington was less suited for the progression-based West Coast offense in Detroit, a point Harrington made upon leaving, and is more at home in the Dolphins' orientation toward vertical passing.
Instead of three-step drops and quick reads, the Dolphins allow Harrington to drop deeper and pick his receivers.
"[But] he knows us; we know him," defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "To his credit, he hasn't been on good teams. But he's still a young quarterback and everybody deserves second chances. He did pass for 400 yards [in a loss at Green Bay] and he's going to come in here feeling like he knows us."
Bears coach Lovie Smith said that familiarity works two ways.
"It helps anytime you've played against someone," Smith said. "I don't know who has the advantage, but it definitely helps us knowing a little about what he is as a player."
Harrington will not be relying on his relative success against the Bears to inspire his teammates. He has other sources of motivation.
"I flipped through the TV [Tuesday] and I heard them talking about Chicago playing the Giants in a couple of weeks," Harrington said. "That doesn't sit with me. So, yeah, there is going to be a little bit of that come Sunday.
"I'd be lying to say we're not going to play that card a little bit. Every team in this position plays the underdog, the respect card, the fact that everybody's talking about the Chicago-Giants game coming up."
jmullin@tribune.com
Thanks for the article man, very nice read :up: