Sweetwater Red
03-17-2008, 12:02 PM
It seems fitting that David Carr and Joey Harrington were in the news this week. After all, the two embattled quarterbacks came into the NFL at the same time and have had similarly checkered careers.
The Super Bowl champion New York Giants acquired Carr to compete as the backup to Eli Manning, and the Atlanta Falcons re-signed Harrington a week after releasing him.
Both players were first-round draft picks in 2002—Carr was selected No. 1 overall by the Houston Texans and Harrington went two picks later to the Detroit Lions—who have had some flashes of success and a lot of disappointing performances.
Houston released Carr after five disappointing seasons. He played for Carolina last season, starting four games after Jake Delhomme sustained a season-ending elbow injury. The Giants are Carr’s third team in seven years.
Harrington mostly was ineffective during four seasons in Detroit, and the Lions traded him to Miami in ‘06. Atlanta is his third team.
The conventional wisdom has been to label both quarterbacks as “busts.” And it’s true: They have not performed up to expectations.
After six seasons, these are their numbers:
Player GP-GS Att. Cmp. Pct. Yds. TDs. INTs Rating
Carr 82-79 2,206 1,316 59.7 14,026 62 70 74.4
Harrington 81-76 2,538 1,424 56.1 14,693 79 85 69.4
Carr and Harrington, however, don’t deserve all the blame. If you want to point fingers, also point them at the general managers who drafted them and the coaches who failed to develop them.
Making Carr the first-overall pick in the draft was former Texans GM Charley Casserly’s first mistake. Carr never should have gone that high. But failing to surround Carr with proper talent—particularly a reliable offensive line—was just as grievous an error.
As a rookie, Carr was sacked 76 times (an average of almost five per game), a single-season NFL record. In Carr’s five seasons in Houston, opponents sacked him 249 times.
Lions GM Matt Millen was responsible for drafting Harrington, who played inconsistently in Detroit but also didn’t have a great supporting cast.
“I’m not putting all of it on the quarterbacks,” says one AFC personnel man. “They were picked before they should have been, placed in positions they shouldn’t have been in, on teams that weren’t very good and in organizations that showcased them before they were ready.”
Let’s not absolve the two quarterbacks, who have their own faults. Carr often holds the ball too long and forces passes into coverage. Harrington has been inconsistent overall, is not an effective deep passer and often doesn’t put the right touch on throws.
In a league where there isn’t a great surplus of talented quarterbacks and where, according to STATS LLC, 64 quarterbacks started at least one game last season because of injuries or ineffectiveness, there still are places for Carr and Harrington.
With the Giants, Carr will be reunited with quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer, who was Houston’s offensive coordinator in Carr’s first four NFL seasons. That familiarity should give Carr an edge. Plus, in his first season with the Giants, Palmer helped hone starter Eli Manning’s game.
On April 26, the Falcons are expected to draft Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan with the No. 3-overall pick if he is available. If not, the team still figures to draft a quarterback in the early rounds. Harrington could play the role of an experienced backup or he could start if Falcons coaches decide to bring the rookie along slowly.
Carr and Harrington both have absorbed some hard knocks in their careers, but they still are young and possess some talent. And when you’re a quarterback with those two assets, there’s a place for you in the NFL.
Dennis Dillon is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at ddillon@sportingnews.com.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=manytoblameforcarrharrin&prov=tsn&type=lgns
The Super Bowl champion New York Giants acquired Carr to compete as the backup to Eli Manning, and the Atlanta Falcons re-signed Harrington a week after releasing him.
Both players were first-round draft picks in 2002—Carr was selected No. 1 overall by the Houston Texans and Harrington went two picks later to the Detroit Lions—who have had some flashes of success and a lot of disappointing performances.
Houston released Carr after five disappointing seasons. He played for Carolina last season, starting four games after Jake Delhomme sustained a season-ending elbow injury. The Giants are Carr’s third team in seven years.
Harrington mostly was ineffective during four seasons in Detroit, and the Lions traded him to Miami in ‘06. Atlanta is his third team.
The conventional wisdom has been to label both quarterbacks as “busts.” And it’s true: They have not performed up to expectations.
After six seasons, these are their numbers:
Player GP-GS Att. Cmp. Pct. Yds. TDs. INTs Rating
Carr 82-79 2,206 1,316 59.7 14,026 62 70 74.4
Harrington 81-76 2,538 1,424 56.1 14,693 79 85 69.4
Carr and Harrington, however, don’t deserve all the blame. If you want to point fingers, also point them at the general managers who drafted them and the coaches who failed to develop them.
Making Carr the first-overall pick in the draft was former Texans GM Charley Casserly’s first mistake. Carr never should have gone that high. But failing to surround Carr with proper talent—particularly a reliable offensive line—was just as grievous an error.
As a rookie, Carr was sacked 76 times (an average of almost five per game), a single-season NFL record. In Carr’s five seasons in Houston, opponents sacked him 249 times.
Lions GM Matt Millen was responsible for drafting Harrington, who played inconsistently in Detroit but also didn’t have a great supporting cast.
“I’m not putting all of it on the quarterbacks,” says one AFC personnel man. “They were picked before they should have been, placed in positions they shouldn’t have been in, on teams that weren’t very good and in organizations that showcased them before they were ready.”
Let’s not absolve the two quarterbacks, who have their own faults. Carr often holds the ball too long and forces passes into coverage. Harrington has been inconsistent overall, is not an effective deep passer and often doesn’t put the right touch on throws.
In a league where there isn’t a great surplus of talented quarterbacks and where, according to STATS LLC, 64 quarterbacks started at least one game last season because of injuries or ineffectiveness, there still are places for Carr and Harrington.
With the Giants, Carr will be reunited with quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer, who was Houston’s offensive coordinator in Carr’s first four NFL seasons. That familiarity should give Carr an edge. Plus, in his first season with the Giants, Palmer helped hone starter Eli Manning’s game.
On April 26, the Falcons are expected to draft Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan with the No. 3-overall pick if he is available. If not, the team still figures to draft a quarterback in the early rounds. Harrington could play the role of an experienced backup or he could start if Falcons coaches decide to bring the rookie along slowly.
Carr and Harrington both have absorbed some hard knocks in their careers, but they still are young and possess some talent. And when you’re a quarterback with those two assets, there’s a place for you in the NFL.
Dennis Dillon is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at ddillon@sportingnews.com.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=manytoblameforcarrharrin&prov=tsn&type=lgns