Harrington vs. Garcia

Well so much has been made of this quarterback controversy in Detroit between Joey Harrington and Jeff Garcia, with a majority of people ready to see Garcia take over the reigns immediately.



However I think differently and for more reasons than being a fan of Harrington. Sure he has not produced up to standards yet but he has had a lot of things going against him. Keep in mind last season he got the Lions off to a solid 4-2 start before they kind of fell off. But look at what he had going against him:

Roy Williams being not at full strength
Charles Rogers hurt again
A bad case of wide receivers with dropped ball syndrome (Az Hakim, Tai Streets and anyone else)

In most of his seasons he has had receivers prone to drop the ball like Bill Schroeder which doesn't help. People say he isn't accurate enough, but if a receiver can get their hand on the ball they should be able to pull it in.
Hopefully he will finally be able to use his full compliment of receivers of Charles Rogers can finally string together a healthy season in the NFL. Having him out I believe has hurt Harrington considering he is a first round pick that was expected to do big things.

This year hopefully things will come together for Harrington and I see no reason to play Garcia over him. Lets see what Harrington can do with solid compliments in his offense. He has a legit tight end in Marcus Pollard who has played with the best in Peyton Manning. He has a legit rushing attack to help him in Kevin Jones, who should be one of the NFL's top backs this year, anad he looks to have a solid core of receivers in Rogers, Roy Williams, Mike Williams and Kevin Johnson. Let's hope they can stay healthy because thay will be an important key to Harrington having success.

Also if you look at the numbers from last season, Harrington has a leg up on Garcia and had improved numbers from his previous seasons in the NFL.

Harrington

Comp/Att - 274/489
Comp % - 56
Yards - 3,047
TD - 19
INT - 12
2004 record as starter - 6-10

Garcia

Comp/Att - 144/252
Comp % - 57.1
Yards - 1,731
TD - 10
INT - 9
2004 record as starter - 3-7

Granted Garcia split time with two other quarterbacks look at the touchdown to interception ratio. Some might argue that Garcia is better acquainted with the West coast offense thanks to his days in San Francisco under coach Steve Mariucci. While it is a plus I still don't think it is reason enough to play him over Harrington. I'd go with Harrington for one last chance - this will be his third year in the offense and the first year with a real compliment of talent. If he can't get it done this year, then you start trying to find a viable replacement, which I dont think is Garcia.

LINK
Det News article about Harrington's meeting w/ Terry Bradshaw, who also faced the same problems as Harrington has early in his career.