There are two young teams making a splash on the early weeks of this NFL season that were not expected to do so. Both the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars were teams considered to be building their franchises from the ground up with success to come down the line. Now both teams end Week 7 with only a pair of losses.
The story for both teams hinges around their quarterbacks.
The Lions drafted Joey Harrington a few years back after a season where Mike McMahon had shown signs of life in an otherwise abysmal season. The Lions were an exciting team that made games interesting, yet they would consistently fall in the end. The pick of Harrington likely set the franchise back, but they knew that McMahon was not the answer long-term and had to get the right guy in place.
In Jacksonville, the selection of Byron Leftwich to supplant Mark Brunell was a simple one. Brunell put that franchise on the map and they parted ways gracefully. Everyone can see that Brunell is not the quarterback that is going to lead a team anymore.
Watching Leftwich thread passes on his way to 300 yards and an upset victory in Indianapolis will show you that much.
The connection that both quarterbacks have is their poise under pressure at such an infant stage of their careers. Leftwich is already establishing a knack for leading his team back from behind. Harrington walked into The Meadowlands this week and worked over a Giants team that has the playoffs on their mind.
Ah, the playoffs. Every team thinks about them at the start of the season. Some teams, like these Lions and these Jaguars, get laughed at when they mention these seemingly lofty goals.
Sure, they're both a long way away from the playoffs even as a wildcard, but both teams have to think that the playoffs are now obtainable. The Jaguars took over the lead in their division by defeating the team many thought was the sure division winner and the Lions just knocked off the team that many have been positioning as the front-runner for the wildcard.
So anything is possible.
The job that Leftwich has done with that team has been exceptional. They have themselves believing that they should beat teams like the Colts. They have won all five of their games in the last minute, bringing the term "cardiac" in to play by analysts. Like another top AFC team, the New England Patriots, this Jaguar team is scrappy enough to keep themselves in games and good enough to find ways to win in the end.
"We expect to win every game. That's the personality of our team," Leftwich said after the game.
Developing this very early on is something that a franchise needs long-term. The same thing can be said of Donovan McNabb's first full season in Philadelphia. The Eagles have grown a lot in the years since, as the Jaguars will, but one similarity is that McNabb took a team at the bottom of the league and gave them hope. They won a lot of games that they had no right to even be in, much like this Jaguar team is doing.
Harrington is bringing much of the same to Detroit, as well. Early in the season, FOX Sports sideline analyst Tony Siragusa questioned the toughness of Harrington. Harrington responded as a gentleman off the field and with toughness on the field.
The Lions aren't a Super Bowl contender. We all know that. Teams are going to have bad weeks, especially teams that are as young as this Lions team is.
The mark of a team that may some day turn into what the Patriots and Eagles currently are is what they can come back. How they respond to a thrashing, such as the one the Green Bay Packers doled out to them a week ago, is the determining factor on whether or not this team, and more specifically Harrington, has it. It being the proverbial edge that separates a playoff team from one that is sitting at home in January. Or it is some sort of outer world being from a Stephen King tale.
Harrington took a drubbing last week. He completed 12-of-23 passes and threw for only 101 yards.
He bounced back this week throwing for a solid 230 yards on a sharp 18-of-22 passing day. Along with their quarterback, the Lions responded to their defeat last week. Every team rallies around their quarterback, young teams maybe even more so than others. Harrington might not be a knock down quarterback such as Peyton Manning or Daunte Culpepper, but the poise he shows, when this team has been successful, is contagious.
Jacksonville and Detroit are both well on their way to becoming a threat in this league. The next step is to see whether or not the clubs can build around their quarterbacks like the Eagles have done with McNabb.
In Detroit, they have given Harrington weapons with the draft selections of Roy Williams and Kevin Jones to go with the already in place, but already oft-injured Charlie Rogers. Jacksonville differs in that Leftwich has less to work with, but their defense is allowing the fourth fewest points per game in the NFL.
The one thing that is going to help out the Jaguars at the end of the season is that they are throwing the ball a lot. Fred Taylor is injury-prone and resting him while still moving the chains is something that should be high on the list of goals for the Jaguars.
With the Lions, having Kevin Jones healthy and learning along with Harrington is something that will help them big time down the line.
Whatever happens, one thing that is for sure is that these two teams will look to shake things up the rest of the way. Neither team is just a flash in the pan like last season's Carolina Panthers; both franchises are looking forward as the years go by.
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