November 30, 2005

Bly Disses Joey Harrington: It sounds like the TO comments about McNabb. I wonder if Cap'n Bly will walk the same plank as TO. If so, it may bring killer Phil (oops, I mean Arlen) Specter back into the foray.

posted by drevl to football at 11:24 AM - 15 comments

Won't have anything close to the same reaction as the T.O. -McNabb spat. The main reason, of course, is the Lions stink, Harrington stinks, nobody cares about Bly (or the rest of the Lions, for that matter) and the entire team is caught up in another (of many) wasted season. I think the Lions players are up in arms over Mariucci getting shown the door because he was such a good guy and supposedly a "player's coach," but I believe that's exactly what a team like the Lions DOESN'T need. As far as Harrington, he's now officially in the category of Tim Couch, though even Couch never had the luxury of being on a team that worked so hard at drafting offensive weapons for him to utilize, like Harrington did.

posted by dyams at 11:32 AM on November 30, 2005

Thanks for the Tim Couch dig! now there's a waste. But for real though, T.O. can't even carry Dre Bly's strap when it comes to being a team player! That's where the difference of opinion comes into play.

posted by Tazz1 at 11:41 AM on November 30, 2005

Damn-it dyams, will you stop with the intelligent comments and write something stupid for a change. Here I was convinced that I was the only awesomely brilliant contributor to this site, and then you put in your two cents. Knock it off.

posted by drevl at 11:46 AM on November 30, 2005

Do we need a rule that you can't talk about a teammate ever? Sure, it is a team game, and you can't blame one person for a team loss. But, pointing out that a person who is the #3 pick overall should be performing better is fine by me. Also, if a QB does not earn th respect from his teammates, I don't think that his teammates should have to fake it.

posted by bperk at 11:53 AM on November 30, 2005

True, but the chemistry on a football team is a fragile thing. You have fifty-some-odd guys packed together in a room closer than family, and outside that room is a city full of people staring at you, waiting for you to screw up. Football, being a sport with a lot of cogs in a big machine, requires a strong coaching hand more than most sports, so in that light, Mariucci wasn't the right guy for this job. Yes, Harrington hasn't dealt with the pressure well, at all. (So put the McNabb comparisons away. Harrington loses on every count there.) But Dre Bly was out of line in throwing him under the team bus, and there needs to be a coach there who will tell him that. Calling people out in the press is one thing. Saying they suck and you wish they hadn't been playing the last two years is quite another. I've got it. Their new coaching candidate? Iceberg Slim. At least his pimp hand is strong.

posted by chicobangs at 12:14 PM on November 30, 2005

As a lifelong Lions fan, a credential that will get you a free pass out of hell if such a fate should befall you, this is nothing new, unusual or unexpected. I've never believed in the supernatural or curses, but the Lions make an excellent case. All the hoo-ha about Bly and Harrington is a non-issue, we should all be creating a stink about Garcia's comments about his role as the supreme god quaterback of the league and how much management sucks. Isn't this Jeff Garcia who's post 49er stats with the Browns have him outpershined by Tim Couch?

posted by gradys_kitchen at 12:19 PM on November 30, 2005

Gee, where did I see this before? Oh, yeah, in the other Lions' thread.

posted by scully at 12:31 PM on November 30, 2005

The comparison with TO isn't warrented in this case. I can understand Bly's comments. He is playing on a terrible team with a horrible quarterback. The defense has played well enough to win and the offense continues to struggle despite every effort to put the weapons in place...I can understand his frustration. Furthermore, I think he's mostly right. If the Lions had an average to good quarterback they would be a playoff team. I have to disagree with Dre on Jeff Garcia being that guy, but he is better than Joey freaking Harrington.

posted by bigrobbieb at 12:37 PM on November 30, 2005

And Bly has apologised and also says he wants out of Detroit. So please no new front page post tomorrow about either of these things. :)

posted by scully at 12:42 PM on November 30, 2005

maybe BLY should play some better DEFENSE, but vHARRINGTON does stink

posted by loumal at 01:17 PM on November 30, 2005

From terrapin's last link: "Bly said he had no plans to apologize to Harrington for his comments and isn't convinced Harrington will pan out in this league." "As of today," Bly said, "I don't know if he can get it done." That doesn't sound like much of an apology to me.

posted by bperk at 01:18 PM on November 30, 2005

bperk: I didn't say it was a good apology. ;) And the last link is an article about how he wants out. The first two are about how he is apparently sorry. My guess is it was a politicians apology. "I'm sorry if anyone took offense at what I said." Not "I'm sorry I said something offensive." :)

posted by scully at 01:26 PM on November 30, 2005

maybe BLY should play some better DEFENSE Bly has been playing defense. He has four ints and 2 forced fumbles. That's not too shabby. In Detroit, they have been spending their top draft picks on their offense. The result has been that the offense ranks near the bottom (27th) of the NFL. The defense, however, ranks 14th overall.

posted by bperk at 01:30 PM on November 30, 2005

Gee, where did I see this before? Oh, yeah, in the other Lions' thread. posted by terrapin at 12:31 PM CST on November 30 Sorry about that, terr. When last I read that link (Monday, I think) that comment hadn't been posted yet and I hadn't heard about it until this morning. Thought I was posting something new.

posted by drevl at 02:40 PM on November 30, 2005

"sigh" ...at least not many of you have to deal with the annual trash that the Lions give us fans as "a competitive team."

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 06:42 PM on December 02, 2005

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