Falcons Roll the Dice, Sign Leftwich
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by Nejoshi
It didn’t take long for Bobby Petrino and the Atlanta Falcons to realize that Joey Harrington wasn’t the answer at quarterback. The only surprise here was that it took two games and an 0-2 start for the Falcons to take action. Byron Leftwich, who was cut from the Jacksonville Jaguars just days before the season opener, agreed to a two-year with Atlanta, hoping to jumpstart a career that has been a large disappointment to this point.
Leftwich will receive $7 million for the two-year deal, giving Atlanta a little more stability at one of the game’s most important positions. While it’s not likely that he will be #1 on the depth chart for Sunday’s home opener against the Carolina Panthers, it’s only a matter of time before the ex-Jaguar should become the starter.
Leftwich has passed his physical already and is set to start working on becoming acquainted with Petrino’s offense. The former head coach at Louisville was brought in to utilize Michael Vick’s unique skills in an imaginative way, but ever since his debacle, he has had to switch gears and adjust to the pocket passing tendencies of Leftwich and Harrington.
Atlanta has been handcuffed at the quarterback position ever since Michael Vick pleaded guilty to dog fighting chargers and was suspended indefinitely. Their only hope was to turn to Harrington who has a 23-45 mark in six years as a starter. His backups, Chris Redman and Casey Bramlet, didn’t provide any sort of credentials to challenge Harrington for the top spot. But, given Harrington’s predictable slow start, 0 TD’s with 2 INT’s and a 74.1 QB rating, a move had to be made. He has also been sacked a whopping 13 times through two games.
This was first posted on The Sports Lounge
