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Joey Harrington


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Joey Harrington:

Diary entry 4-17-08

 People just dont understand, In Detroit I had to practice every day against a dominating defensive line, protected by what seemed at the time to be a makeshift offensive line made up of five wet pieces of newspaper. Heck, I was a battered man before the season even started, and the poundings continued every Sunday during the season. How could I be expected to perform well under those conditions?

 And then there was that brief stint with the Dolphins, more of the same. But then one day it hit me, like a ton of bricks, or like Jerry Ball, or like Jason Taylor.

 If I could somehow sign with a team that had a great offensive line, I could finally start a season unscathed, then I'd show 'em! There was a problem with that idea however, as I soon realized that most of those teams already had established quarterbacks (funny how that works), and sadly none of those teams had any interest in me. It seemed that somehow my misfortune had lent itself to a bad wrap.

 So I did the next best thing, and signed with a team that had a horrid defensive line, the Atlanta Falcons. I was flying high through training camp, and practices last year rarely even getting touched, and entered the regular season ready to take the league by storm. But that idea was slightly flawed as well. It seems that I had developed a bit of false confidence in my new offensive line, cause once the season started I was right back to picking myself up off of the turf every other play. Once again how am I supposed to perform well under those circumstances?

 Now here I am again about to start another season, and voluntary camps are again going nicely. The offensive line seems a bit better than last year, though I'm skeptical, and the defensive line is noticeably worse, which is nice. But things aren't all peachy.

 The Falcons have the 3rd overall pick in the upcoming draft, and may very well select another defensive lineman with that pick, so things could take a turn for the worse very soon. That is unless the new guy turns out to be like last year's first round pick, who can't rush the quarterback worth a darn. Boy was that Jammal Anderson an unexpected pleasant surprise, but anyway back to my problems.

 This year I'm entering the season staring straight at a backup role (I just can't seem to shake this bad wrap). Heck if I wanted to be a backup I could have just tried harder to hang on with the Dolphins, maybe. As a matter of fact I'm beginning to wish that I had. Back then I thought for sure that I would have to contend with Daunte Culpepper for the starting job, and it seemed like he couldn't catch a bad wrap if he were actually fishing for one. I mean even now some people seem to think that he can be a quality starter, even though he has pretty much proved that he isn't anything special, heck he just got lucky. Give me a couple of seasons worth of throwing to Randy Moss, I'd show 'em. Anyway, again I digress. If I were only still a Dolphin this could have been the year, I could beat out that Croyle kid, I know I could, and I hear that they are already in contract talks with Jake Long. They have the 1st pick in the draft, they are choosing to upgrade their offensive line, they have no viable option at QB and their defensive front is getting pretty long in the tooth. My dream senario and I didn't have the forsight to see this coming, I pretty much pissed it away. Unfortunately what's done is done, and I'm stuck here.

 Maybe I'll get lucky and the Falcons will draft Matt Ryan with their first rounder, compared to him I'd look good. Then all I would need is for Redman to break his ankle or something and I'd be right back in there. I've got to stay positive, you never know how things will work out. maybe with Ryan, Redman, and Shockley they could trade me to the Dolphins. Yeah that could work, ah well it's all speculation at this point. I guess I'll have to wait till after the draft to put things into the right perspective.

 End entry.

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