The best time to play prized rookie quarterbacks? Now

Sporting News, The, Sept 30, 2002 by Dan Pompei

Welcome to the NFL, Joey Harrington.

Say hello to Marques Anderson, intercepting and returning the fifth pass attempt of your first start for a touchdown.

Meet Darren Sharper, picking off your desperation heave at the end of the first half.

Greet Mike McKenzie, taking away one of your passes from Az Hakim for another interception.

This is Tod McBride, sealing the Packers' 37-31 victory by catching your final pass of the day.

And here is Cletidus Hunt, Vonnie Holliday, Billy Lyon, Joe Johnson and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, knocking you off your feet at Ford Field 11 times. Ground bits of tire and sand form the base of the Field Turf playing surface at Ford Field. By the end of the season, there also could be ground bits of Harrington mixed in.

But there was growth Sunday. "I learned how to stay composed," Harrington said afterward. "It's like anytime you get in a new situation. You're a little uncomfortable. You don't quite feel right. You rush some things. You throw some balls where you wish you wouldn't have thrown them. But ... there were things you learn."

Pay no attention to his 38.9 passer rating for the game. Throwing Harrington to the lions by having him throw to Lions receivers was the right thing to do. Absolutely, it was.

If Detroit coach, Marty Mornhinweg made a mistake, it was waiting until the third game to start Harrington. Coddling quarterbacks who are chosen at the top of the first round no longer is an option. Out with the pacifier; in with the mouthguard.

The best way for Harrington and Houston's David Carr to learn how to play in the NFL is to play in the NFL. "For every play Harrington is involved with, he'll learn something," former 49ers coach Bill Walsh says.

Former Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman, who went 0-11 as a rookie starter in 1989, says the speed of the game can't be simulated in [Unreadable text in original source] son games. And practice really isn't even an issue with quarterbacks who aren't starting because the starter usually takes between 90 and 100 percent of the practice snaps.

Whether a quarterback becomes a starter as a rookie or as a third-year man, he is going to have to play the mistakes out of his system. The quicker that occurs, the better off his team will be.

"No matter how long he sits, he still has to go out in a situation where he has 25 seconds to get a play off, read the defense and make a play," Houston offensive coordinator Chris Palmer says. "There may be fewer mistakes after having sat for awhile, but there still will be mistakes of inexperience."

No one expects Harrington or Carr to excel now because they have so much to overcome.

Building trust with receivers and establishing timing does not happen in one season, according to Walsh. Aikman says when college receivers are open, they are wide open, but that's not the case in the NFL. Coverages also are disguised much easier in the NFL because college defenses have to show their hand earlier with the hashmarks are farther apart.

NFL defensive coordinators do a much better job of breaking down pass protections and attacking an offense. Palmer estimates Carr was blitzed about 45 percent of the time in the Texans' first two games. After the Texans' 23-3 loss to Indianapolis last Sunday, Carr had been sacked 19 times and was on pace to be sacked an NFL-record 76 times.

"With Detroit, the complementary people are not very strong, so Harrington will have to carry the team," Walsh says. "He doesn't know the receivers like he did at Oregon. The pass protection won't be very good. Aside from that, the other team will be scoring against his team, so he'll have to move the ball quickly."

The burden is on their coaches to try to protect Harrington and Carr. "You give them throws they are comfortable with," Palmer says. "You do less." For example, an offensive coordinator might use 20 routes in a game plan with a veteran quarterback, but only five with a rookie.

The excuse that often is recited by those who don't want to play young quarterbacks is they don't want to ruin their confidence by allowing them to be physically, mentally and emotionally overwhelmed. It happens. See Testaverde, Vinny, and Dilfer, Trent.

"You have to look at a player's mental make-up and see if it's something he can endure," says Aikman, who described Harrington's debut as a starter Sunday as an analyst for Fox. "If you get a guy who is a little fragile mentally, he's going to struggle."

Ultimately, if the Lions or Texans are afraid of hurting their quarterback's psyche by playing him, then they picked the wrong guy.

Carr stayed in school for five years, he is married, and he has his parents in Houston to support him. Few 23-year-olds are as mature as he is.

As for Harrington, his leadership and competitiveness were what made him the third pick in the draft. Thirteen of his 25 victories at Oregon were comebacks, and he nearly had another in his first NFL start. In the losing team's locker room on Sunday, he was anything but a beaten man. His eyes sparkled above eyeblack as he spoke of the spirit on the Lions' sideline during their comeback from a 17-point deficit in the final 10 minutes.