The Football Fan Spot

It is looking like Derek Anderson will be the Cardinals starting quarterback to open the year, barring any major changes. Anderson was given the nod at starter for the 3rd preseason game, after Matt Leinart started the first 2 games, and Anderson has been given the nod for their 4th and final preseason game. It’s highly unlikely, though Coach Ken Whisenhunt has not officially named a starter, that he changes his mind between now and their season opener. Leinart obviously knows that he’s unlikely to change his mind as he has been quoted as saying this.

“For me, this goes beyond the football field. You always want the best 11 guys to play and I feel I have proved that with my performance in training camp and preseason. I don’t really know what else this could probably be. This probably goes beyond football, beyond the field. I’m not making excuses, I’m not going to complain, I’m just going to keep working. For me, I really want an explanation and I haven’t been given one.”

Leinart obviously wants an explanation, so I’ll be a good person and try my best to explain it.

Leinart likely is citing his 18 for 22 completion percentage as the reason why he feels he deserves the job, but what he seems to be conveniently forgetting is that he’s only led one scoring drive this preseason and before the 3rd preseason game, when he was benched, he didn’t complete a single first down. Yeah, he’s got a great completion percentage, but what he’s completing are short throws that don’t get you anywhere. At the end of the day, you don’t care as much about your quarterback’s completion percentage as you do how well the team did while he was on the field. When he has tried to make something happen downfield, he’s often underthrown the receiver. In fact, in one of these cases, he actually chewed out the receiver for not finding the ball on an obvious underthrow, something that could be seen easily by anyone watching the game on TV.

For Leinart, the big issue is leadership, whether it be leading scoring drives, which of course is the name of the game, or with his attitude. Blaming receivers for something that’s your fault, that’s not the attitude of a leader. Having a bad game in which you don’t lead a first down in 3 drives, and then, in a post game interview, blaming it on the other team blitzing you, which of course happens all the time in the NFL, that’s not the attitude of a leader. Derek Anderson, as mediocre as he’s been statistically this preseason, and as horrible as he’s been statistically in the past, has been a solid leader. He is leading scoring drives. He’s making some mistakes and overthrows, but at least he’s actually taking chances and throwing the ball down field. As the old quote goes, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more. He also isn’t complaining about his teammate or the blitz and overall, the team seems to play better when he’s on the field, which, at the end of the day, is the most important thing.

The fact that Leinart doesn’t seem to realize this, is further proof that he is not fit to be the starter for this team. The fact that’s he’s not taking responsibility for his poor play, the poor play that cost him his job, and is saying that it must go “beyond the football field” insinuating that his coach has some sort of grudge against him and just doesn’t like him personally, that’s further proof that this shouldn’t be his job. Leaders take responsibility for their actions. Leinart doesn’t.

Leinart’s future probably is not in Arizona. I don’t see him being a starter anywhere, but certainly not in Arizona where the relationship between him and his coach (for good reason and probably some of the reasons I named above) has deteriorated significantly. Leinart’s name has been the subject of trade rumors in the past 24 hours, with teams like Buffalo, Oakland, and the New York Giants reportedly interested. Even if he did go to one of those 3 teams, he would likely be a backup. The Giants badly need a backup for Eli Manning, after backup Jim Sorgi was recently put on IR with a shoulder injury, ending his season. Oakland traded for Jason Campbell to be their starter this offseason so Leinart would likely be a backup there with Bruce Gradkowski. Buffalo has some quarterback issues, but Trent Edwards has been decent this preseason so I don’t expect them to be looking to trade for Leinart to make him their starter, especially with the way Leinart has played this preseason.

Reports say he could be traded to one of those 3 teams, likely for a late round pick, possibly a conditional late round pick that could improve to a mid round pick if Leinart performs well. This is absolutely the right move for the Cardinals. Leinart is making a lot of money this season. Leinart is probably a team cancer at this point. Plus, if Leinart were to stay, the Cardinals would likely have to cut one of their 2 rookie backups, Max Hall undrafted out of BYU, and John Skelton a 5th rounder out of Fordham. Both of those two quarterbacks have shown flashes of being solid quarterbacks in mop up time this preseason so they probably want to hold onto both for the future, as Anderson might not be the longterm solution.