Lions quarterback Harrington misses the field already

Joey Harrington was apologetic now that his rookie season as the Detroit Lions' starting quarterback is over because of his irregular heartbeat that was discovered during last Sunday's game against Tampa Bay.

"I would like to apologize, I pride myself with playing hard and my heart wasn't in it," said Harrington with a smile at Friday's press conference.

Harrington was diagnosed with supra ventricular tachydria, which is a common form arrhythmia. He has to have a non-surgical technique, called a catheter ablation, to stop his arrhythmia. The technique destroys (ablates) parts of the abnormal electrical pathway that is causing the arrhythmia.

During the procedure, doctors will insert a special cathode (long, flexible instrument) into the heart. They will position it so that it lies close to the abnormal electrical pathway, then pass heat up and destroy the small area of heart tissue that contains the abnormal pathway.

While Harrington apologized jokingly Friday, he is hurt that he won't be able to play or suit up in the Lions' last two games.

"I don't like that they'll be playing in Atlanta without me," he said. "I kind of feel like a weenie not having a definitive injury."

The non-surgical technique has vastly hurt his energy level. He had the catheters inserted in his hips and groin area. His heart and breathing rate aren't what are slowing him down, he says. Right now, it's hips that tire out and cause him to need to rest often.

Both Harrington's dad and uncle have had the same problem, but doctors do not know if is hereditary or not, so Harrington says that he has been through this situation before. The surgery is also very common and has a 95-97 percent success rate, so Harrington is feeling at ease about it.

"I have been brought through this before," Harrington said about his family history of arrhythmia. "I have been brought up knowing this is no big deal."

He knew he was coming down with something in the middle of the first series against Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and the rest of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense.

He felt as if he was out of shape or something and his heart would skip a little bit, so he put the two together and knew something was wrong. His heart was beating a scary rate of 280 beats per minute.

Harrington selection as the third pick in the NFL Draft surprised many around the league. Harrington's stock was readily dropping and Lions CEO Matt Millen and head coach Marty Mornhinweg gave no inclination that they would draft a quarterback, since they had a put out a smoke screen to wanting the Oregon quarterback to not be fooled into any unwise trades.

Upon his arrival in Detroit, Lions fans knew he would have to be the man to help turn the franchise around, and he took over as the starting quarterback in the third game of the season.

He has thrown for 2,294 yards and has completed 50.1 percent of his passes, but has a very meager quarterback rating 59.1.

A lot of talk was how he would be sacked a lot due to the Lions offensive line and his lack of mobility for a quarterback in the West Coast offense, but to his credit, he has only been sacked a total of eight times on the year.

This was due to his quick release, the offensive line playing better than expected by many, and the fact that taking sacks is really de-emphasized in Mornhinweg's version of the West Coast offense.

De-emphasizing sacks, however, has caused him to throw more than expected interceptions.

He caught the nation's attention during a five game stretch where the Lions were 3-2 from week four to week four to week eight.

He had his first victory against possible-playoff bound New Orleans, and had his first career 300 yard game against Minnesota, a game they lost 31-24. The two losses in that stretch to Minnesota and Buffalo were only by a touchdown each.

Harrington then struggled mightily following Detroit's week 10 blowout loss to Green Bay, 40-14.

Now that he is out for the rest of the season, there is some question as to how much this will hurt his development as a NFL quarterback. He is going to partake in as much as he can with the Lions for the remaining games.

"I am not going home, we got a game versus Minnesota (last week of the season), it's a division game," he said. "I am going to watch some game film. I won't dress however."

He has also sat in on team meetings after being released from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. A stress test is planned for him on Dec. 26th, and he plans to partake in the Lions' offseason program in 3-6 weeks.

Fans of the Detroit Lions are rejoicing as they have seen many tragedies happen at their former stadium, the Pontiac Silverdome.

Former Lions' offensive lineman Mike Utley was paralyzed in a 1991 game against the L.A. Rams, and linebacker Reggie Brown was temporarily paralyzed and had to be given CPR on the field to regain his consciousness in 1997 against the New York Jets.

Thankfully, the future of the franchise has his heart intact, literally, for the Lions.