Re: What do you do when you go 0-16?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dryburn 
Yeah, people out here still talk about what happened to Harrington. He never got a chance to learn anything before getting thrown into the fire. Some guys can handle that, he obviously didn't. It could happen again. You just never know.....Falcons and Ravens did okay with rookies last year.
I will flat out admit I didn't want Matt Ryan starting last season for the reasons I mentioned about Harrington with the Lions and Carr with the Texans. I was so unimpressed with what the Falcons did with their 3+ headed QB monster back in 2007 I was for sure that the Falcons were going to ruin Ryan's career by starting him from the onset, no matter how many times Falcons fans in Atlanta said he looked just that good in camp. And hey, I was wrong. But both Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco have an advantage that I just don't think Stafford will have in Detroit - a credible running game. Neither Ryan nor Flacco had to do it all by themselves from the onset - Ryan had Turner, Flacco had Baltimore's tandem of RBs. When a defense has to respect the run the way the Falcons' and Ravens' opponents had to last season, it makes it much easier for a rookie QB to survive when trying to learn by being thrown into the fire. I'm not convinced that Stafford will have the same advantage that Ryan and Flacco had because I'm not convinced the Lions have a credible running game. Maybe Stafford will be successful - but he's going to have to be much more mentally strong than previous rookie QBs.
