| | DAVIE, Fla. -- With a last-minute, game-winning touchdown throw, Miami Dolphins quarterback Damon Huard passed the biggest test of his career. The heir apparent to Dan Marino proved he can play in the NFL, so now he can relax.
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| Huard |
Wrong.
Huard, who came off the bench to beat New England last Sunday, will likely
make his first NFL start Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles in
place of the ailing Marino. That gives Huard a full week to develop
butterflies.
"You're always a little nervous," he said Wednesday. "I think
it's good to have some butterflies, but you also have to be
confident, and I'm confident. I believe in myself and the guys
around me.
"This is the opportunity you shoot for. Hopefully I'll make the most of it."
The Dolphins (4-1) hope so too, because their lead in the AFC East may hinge on Huard.
Marino, sidelined by spasms and weakness in the muscle between his neck and right shoulder, received an epidural injection and plans to test his throwing arm Thursday. He declined to speculate
on his chances of playing, although the team has listed him as questionable for Sunday's game.
"I'm feeling a little better today," he said. "We'll just have to wait and see."
There's no temptation to rush him back into action after the way Huard played Sunday. Marino's young understudy shook off nine sacks and a costly interception on his first pass, driving Miami 59 yards in the final two minutes for a touchdown and a 31-30 victory.
Huard finished 24-for-42 for 240 yards and two scores. He added 54 yards running, a dimension of his game that he seldom showed when he last quarterbacked regularly at the University of Washington.
Johnson, who created a controversy two weeks ago by criticizing Marino, can only rave about the 26-year-old Huard.
"He has a great arm," Johnson said. "He has great velocity on
the ball. He's a very accurate passer. He has the best deep touch
of any of the quarterbacks we have. He has a flair for the game. He
can run. He can move around in the pocket. He can scramble. He
makes a lot of plays."
Huard's mobility gave the Dolphins a new weapon against New
England. He ran 25 yards to set up a field goal and scrambled
before throwing a 69-yard touchdown pass to Tony Martin. But his nine sacks were a team record.
"I do need to learn to get rid of the ball quicker," he said. "But I didn't want to turn the ball over in the second half and change the momentum of the game, so I was real intent on not
throwing an interception."
Savvy play is a reflection of Huard's football bloodlines. His dad coached him at Puyallup, Wash., High School. His brother Brock is a rookie quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, and another brother Luke is a freshman quarterback at North Carolina.
"He's grown up around football, being a coach's kid, and that's
how he plays," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "He plays good, smart
football and has enough athletic ability to make things happen."
Huard started for three years at Washington but went undrafted and sat out the 1996 season after the Cincinnati Bengals cut him in training camp. He was signed by Miami in 1997 and
played well with Frankfurt of NFL Europe in the spring of 1998.
But until last week, his NFL experience consisted of nine passes in three games during mop-up duty.
"The No. 1 thing that developed Damon Huard is being able to
play behind a Hall of Fame quarterback for two years," Johnson
said. "Playing behind Dan has really helped him mature."
With Marino momentarily out of the spotlight, Huard received an NFL player of the week award in the locker room Wednesday. He graciously accepted the souvenir football that goes with the award, then quickly set it aside.
"It was only one game," he said. "The best quarterbacks in this league do it consistently week in and week out, and that's the challenge." | |
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