Originally Posted by
BravoWhiskey
Leftwich has only played in 2 games and attempted a grand total of 31 passes this season, so your assertion that "every game Leftwich played so far was horrible" is not accurate. He saw his first action against Tennessee, about a week after he was signed off the street. He only played in about 2 series in that game if memory serves me correctly, and was understandably rusty. Joey Harrington was under a lot of pressure in that game, and couldn't so much as complete dump passes late in the game. When Leftwich came into the game the issue had pretty much already been decided. Still, Leftwich had the Falcons at the 1 yard line late in the 4th quarter with a chance to tie or win the game. Only a superhuman play by Albert Haynesworth prevented the Falcons from tying it up. The only other game he has played in was the New Orleans game, in which he started. In the first half of that game the Falcons had their best half of the season as far as the passing game is concerned. Leftwich was injured toward the end of the first half, but in his time completed 15/23 for 145 yards and a TD. The Falcons went into the locker room with a 13-7 lead, but could only muster 3 second half points under the direction of Joey Harrington, resulting in a 22-16 loss. Ray Charles could see that Leftwich opens up the vertical passing game moreso than Harrington. If you are running a WCO, Harrington would be ok due to the fact that he is relatively effective completing short to intermediate timing passes. Harrington is not a threat to stretch the defense, so teams load up the box and smother the running game. When you have an offensive line in transition, and a 5'-9" 185# starting tailback, that doesn't bode well for your ability to run the football. I don't think you can take a little over one half of football, and equate Leftwich to being "horrible", that's certainly not what I observed. The offense has more life with Leftwich under center. Hopefully he is healthy enough to go this week, he gives the Falcons the best chance to win.