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Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Harrington’s seen, heard a lot already
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Flowery Branch — When the Falcons signed Joey Harrington a few months back, people generally reacted in one of two ways. There were those who believed he wasn’t fit to quarterback the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. And there were those who believed he was.
Probably not the best choice to appease the masses.
“Do I get offended? No,” he said. “It just motivates me. There was a time in Detroit when I let what people said affect me. I got a bit out of whack. But not now.”
Harrington will make his Falcons debut in a preseason game next week. Are you ready, Atlanta?
Understand, this isn’t a preview of what happens if Michael Vick turns his ankle. It’s more likely a preview of the season. Given Vick’s impending trial and the irreparable damage he has done to the franchise and his relationship with Arthur Blank, the chances of Vick ever playing another game here are somewhere between slim and Ookie.
Harrington politely shook his head no when asked if he had ever been to a dogfight. (Sorry, it’s the new standard for opening questions.) He says this situation won’t overwhelm him. He says he has “been through more in five years in the NFL than a lot of guys go through in their career.” Dre’ Bly, a teammate in Detroit, publicly blamed him for coach Steve Mariucci’s firing. Fans booed him. Even PA announcers were out to get him.
When Harrington returned to Detroit last season as a member of the Miami Dolphins, the Dolphins asked the Lions to introduce the defense and not Harrington. The response was the public-address version of the middle finger. The Lions introduced the defense. Then they showed Harrington on the video board and introduced him while playing the song, “Piano Man,” a reference to his skills as a jazz pianist.
His sense of humor remains intact.
“I always thought it was ironic that in Motown, I was criticized for playing the piano,” Harrington said. “I laugh about these things now.”
It helped that he threw three touchdown passes and the Dolphins won the game.
“Yeah, that was nice,” he said, smiling. “Every time I was on the field, they booed me. But that was no different from when I played there.”
He is 23-43 as a starter, though he began a U-turn in Miami (5-6). He has thrown more interceptions (77) than touchdown passes. But confidence isn’t an issue. A year in Miami was like therapy. He is starting to feel like he felt at Oregon, where throwing for nearly 7,000 yards and 59 touchdowns in three years led to Detroit drafting him third overall.
Now, (dis)organizations like the Detroit Lions can make anybody look bad. But Harrington admits they shouldn’t turn a man’s mind to mush.
“I let it affect me because I had never dealt with adversity before,” he said. “We went 25-3 [with Harrington as a starter] in college. We never hit a real road bump. Everything was easy. Everything was fun. You get to the point where you expect everything to be like that. Then when I got to Detroit, everybody was criticizing, guys weren’t getting along. I had never been through that before. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I’ve been publicly called out by my teammates and fans. But I’ve grown because of it. I’ve had to learn things besides the playbook.”
Is there any way to quantify what went wrong?
“Everything,” he said. “There’s blame to be placed on everybody, myself included.”
After four years, Detroit dumped him for a conditional draft pick. Miami didn’t bring him back, but the Falcons must see something. They gave him a two-year, $6 million contract.
Harrington doesn’t possess Vick’s physical skills, but coach Bobby Petrino says he likes his “knowledge of the game. He understands what defenses like to do. He does a real good job on his reads. So I think he’ll be able to execute the offense and distribute the ball where it needs to be.”
But suspect linemen will keep him fleeing at a considerably slower speed than Vick. The receivers are largely unproven. Warrick Dunn is coming off back surgery. Otherwise, life is grand.
Petrino might have to shrink the playbook, minus Vick. He’ll begin to get a better understanding of things next Friday in New York. So will we. Harrington? Not worried.
“I’m just looking forward to an opportunity to prove people wrong,” he said.
Opportunity won’t be a problem.
Permalink | Comments (278) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Celtics about “now” — what about Hawks?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
The best things to happen to the Hawks this summer were Boston’s franchise-changing trades that brought megastar Kevin Garnett and megastar Ray Allen to the Celtics to join megastar Paul Pierce.
Or were those trades the worst things to happen to the Hawks this summer?
I mean, just like that, the Celtics went from one of the most wretched teams in the NBA to one of the best.
The Hawks …
They’re still on their perpetual three-year, four-year, five-year plan. They haven’t reached the playoffs in an NBA-high eight consecutive seasons. They’ve added draft picks Acie Law and Al Horford to join the two Joshes (Smith and Childress) and the two Williamses (Marvin and Shelden) to help the Hawks’ future.
The Celtics are about now after they just swapped seven players for Garnett. In contrast, the Hawks haven’t been about “now” since the days of Dikembe Mutombo, Mookie Blaylock and Steve Smith — or maybe since those of Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers and Spud Webb.
Is that good or bad?
Hmmmm. I’m guessing they”ll have more fans and energy at the Fleet Center this season than at Philips Arena.
Permalink | Comments (47) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
