As it stands right now the Detroit Lions have five quarterbacks on their roster. Jon Kitna, Josh McCown, Dan Orlovsky, Shaun King, and Joey Harrington. Some say that there is power in numbers, but not in this case. They may just have five back up quarterbacks.
Joey Harrington is still a Lion after deals have fallen through on trades for him with several teams. Most recently the Browns (on draft day) and the Miami Dolphins. The Browns were willing to give up a 4th or 5th round pick this year and Miami was only willing to trade a 6th rounder in next year's draft. Matt Millen thinks his quarterback is much more valuable than just a 6th round pick. I actually will have to agree with him to a certain extent. Joey did have his issues with Detroit but has starting experience and also has had times without almost every starting skill position players in place. On the other hand they do need to cut ties with him and try to get something for him. They really don't need him around with the attitude change he has had since wanting to be traded. He sure has high demands for a player who has not accomplished anything in his career. Joey and Terrell Owens have something in common and it isn't being a great player. They both had division in the locker room causing rifts between players (right or wrong). Terrell had to go and so does Joey, Philadelphia didn't get anything for Owens though. Besides, the Lions weren't winning with him so now they will most likely be winning without him.
Jon Kitna may be the starter when the season rolls around. He will have the strongest competition from Josh McCown who they recently signed from the Arizona Cardinals. Jon Kitna is not the answer this team needs to turn the corner, is he? Kitna joins the Lions after spending the last four years with the Cincinnati Bengals. He signed a four year deal with Detroit. While in Cincinnati he played a crucial role in the Bengals current success. After going 12 seasons with 11 seasons below .500 and one 8-8 season, Kitna engineered a run to compete for a playoff spot in 2003. That season, he posted career highs in completions (324), completion percentage (62.3), passing yards (3,591), touchdown passes (26) and passing rating (87.4) as he led the team to an 8-8 record while starting all 16 games. The year prior, the Bengals finished the season with a 2-14 record. For his performance in 2003, Kitna was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year by the associated Press and Pro football Weekly. He was the only quarterback in the NFL in ’03 to take every snap. He led the team to an NFL-best improvement from 2-14 in 2002 to 8-8 in 2003. Kitna also had a plus-11 differential in touchdown passes (26) to interceptions (15) that was the best by a Bengals passer with at least 20 passes since 1989.
Josh McCown the biggest competition to this point for Kitna was a starter and back up in Arizona. He was drafted by Arizona in the third round (81st overall) of the 2002 draft and has played in 33 games with 22 starts, completing 498-of-862 passes for 5,431 yards and 25 touchdowns. To me I always wonder why teams (especially teams like Arizona) give up on young players. Sometimes players look good from a far but are far from good. If Arizona was comfortable letting him go to hold on to Kurt Warner doesn't that raise a red flag? At the time they didn't know that they would be drafting Matt Leinart. Maybe Arizona just thought it would be smarter to pay a rookie than McCown to back up Warner.
Dan Orlovsky may be the teams no. three quarterback when the season rolls around but as far as this staff sees it they all have a shot at starting. Shaun King is in the mix to possibly make the team but he didn't even play in 2005. King and Orlovsky may just be battling just to make the team as the third qb.
To a Lions fan like myself, I really don't see any of the quarterbacks making a big splash this season. Really Detroit's best hope is that McCown or Orlovsky take over because of their ages. It would be better off for them to have a young guy be good enough to take the job from Kitna as far as the future of the team is concerned. As long as they are the best player it bodes well for Detroit. That is what they need. If someone is on the field it is because they are the best player, not the highest paid or been here the longest. Personally though I am not sold on any of these guys and have a great deal of concern for this position. The good news is that the Lions have put in place a offense coordinator and offensive line coach in place that should get the most out of what the team has.
coming soon:
Ty Law and Az Hakim Lions?
"Hurtin" Ernie Sims, Brian Calhoun, and Daniel Bullocks. What impact are they going to have?
Things I know are bad up there in Detroit, especially when they believe there's a need to have 5 quarterbacks on your roster. What's Matt Millen thinking? I know that the hiring of Rod Marinelli is a good one as he was here in Tampa. John Gruden thought highly of him and was pleased that he'd finally found a head coaching position in the NFL. In all honesty you're going to better off without Joey Harrington as I believe he's lost his confidence and likewise management has lost it in him. He needs a new climate and perhaps it would be better for him if he came to S.Florida. Competition is going to be fierce for the starting job and if that's what it takes in deciding who it'll be.....let the games begin. Kitna seems the obvious choice.
I can always appreciate the passion of a true home-team fan, especially when his team isn't performing like it can or should be performing.
In the case of Detroit, the blame lies with top brass. In my opinion, Detroit hasn't been the same organization since the Bobby Ross/Barry Sanders fiasco. What Matt Millen is doing is beyond me. Suffice it to say, I must not know anything about Football, even though I played the sport at a high level for more than ten years, because Millen should have been fired at least two seasons ago.
As for your Pistons, there is nothing for me to say that hasn't already been said. They are a phenomenal team, in every facet.
You are right about Millen for sure. Here is the thing though. In Detroit, as a Lion there is actually one good thing you can say about the owners (if you work for them) is that they are very loyal to the people they have in place. Former Lions head coach Darryl Rogers once said after a game they were beat pretty badly in, "what in the hell does a guy have to do to get fired around here!"
However that is a key turning point in the wrong direction with Bobby Ross and Barry Sanders, However I think it has far less to do with Bobby Ross than it did Barry Sanders. Barry knew he was done after that loss in Baltimore in 98 as he sat there crying on the bech when it was over. He knew he didn't have the heart to keep going. Kind of like if you were at a job for too long and just had to quit because you just weren't a happy person anymore. It just hurt all his fans around the country and here in Detroit.
Now, if we could just get more than a bag of footballs and some breath right strips for Joey Harrington we will all settle back down for a week or two.
Hey all, what i don't understand is why sign josh mccown and jogn kitna they suck. johns has the experience but not the talent. and josh he's just like joey harrington. dan orlovsky he's good but younge needs to work into the starting spot. in my opinion i would start shaun king. Why do you say? well he hasn't played in a year very true, but you have to look at it he's been sucessful with other teams he brought tampa bay to the playoffs and they did loose but he's' more right for the job. insteed of drafting a defencive back late 7th round i would have picked Marcus Vick the future of the NFL. you say what about his character thats where you bring him in under your wing and train him not to be like that and to change his ways he's a great QB in my opinion whatever team gets him will be lucky in the long run i say take a chance on him and see what happenes. over all thanks for reading.
Flint Michigan -
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