Lions still looking to Harrington to restore the roar

Mike Martz took a grocery store worker and made him into Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Now, as the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, Martz thinks he can do the same for Joey Harrington. We all know the story of Kurt Warner and his rise to stardom under Martz when the two were together as QB and coach, respectively, in St. Louis, staging the Greatest Show of Turf. To produce the same results with the disappointing Harrington would not top Martz’s construction of Warner into an NFL quarterback, but it would be pretty darn close. Most everyone thought Harrington’s days as the Lions’ field general were finished, but that’s not the case according to new coach Rod Marinelli, who says Harrington fits into the team’s 2006 plans. Do those plans involve winning? "We all sat down and watched him (Harrington)," Marinelli said in Wednesday’s Detroit News. "He (Martz) sees a lot of really good, positive things from this guy -- a lot of skill, a lot of things that we like. We're just moving right down the road with him. We're going to coach this guy real hard. Off of film, you can see all the upside to him -- tremendous upside." No one in the Lions organization is confirming the rumor that Harrington will be demoted to playing piano in the Ford Field lobby the first time he throws three picks in a game.