What do I see wrong with Carr? I don't know if I see anything wrong. They talk about his sidearm delivery, but there are plenty of sidearm delivery guys in the NFL. More than anything, he does that because that's his way of getting rid of the football quickly.
I remember watching Carr play against Boise State last season. There were defenders in his face and he came directly over the top and threw the ball as hard as he could. And I thought to myself, "There's the best player in college football." I don't care that it was against Boise State, and I don't care that they lost the game. On the one play, he showed the physical ability, and the ability to change his delivery when he has to.
What is David Carr's greatest physical asset? A very good arm. With Harrington, you get a quarterback with a lot of intangibles, a player who truly is a good leader. He has good size for an NFL quarterback and he has a good arm -- but it's not at the same level as Carr's.
Some people say you can overrate the arm. Maybe you can, but I don't think so. The bigger and better the arm, the more chances you'll have to create and make plays just with the throw.
Sometimes Brett Favre just sticks it in there. Strong-armed quarterbacks will throw the ball into places that most quarterbacks don't. They look at it and see it differently, because they know they can get the football in there.
As Jon Gruden points out, big strong-armed quarterbacks will throw interceptions, because they'll take more chances. Quarterbacks without that strong arm might be more conservative, and not make as many errors. But they're not going to make as many big plays, either.
If you're looking for the fastest guy in the world, what do you look for at the track? You look for a fast guy, right? You don't tell me about his intangibles. Well, when you look for a great quarterback, in my opinion, the number one thing you look for is the arm. We can go from there.
Yes, there are a lot more things involved when talking about the quarterback. But first we look at the arm, then break it down from there. We look at size, mobility, leadership, smarts. It doesn't matter what order you put those traits in. But to me the first thing you judge is the arm.
People see the Carr-Harrington debate differently. To me, there is no debate. Will I be wrong? No, I won't be wrong! I don't care what it looks like five years from now. I'm judging it from what I see right now and that's what I see.