The Cardinals Probably Can't Have Too Many QBs

The word is going around that Ken Whisenhunt has already declared Matt Leinart the starting quarterback for Arizona this year, ahead of Kurt Warner. I only know about it because it was apparently interesting enough to merit discussion on 1st and 10. Naturally the discussers disagreed, with Skip Bayless arguing this hurts Arizona's chances to take advanatge of a weak division, while his cohort, a Rob Parker of ESPN Radio, said that was OK, it was more important to look to future years, and that's why you start Leinart, and besides, Warner is old news, and we should just forget about that old man. Hey, he said it, not me.

I'm a bit torn on the issue. After Leinart got hurt last year against the Rams, Warner took over as starter, and racked up a 5-3 record (though the Browns were the only team of note he beat, and they lost to the Saints and the 49ers), which, since this is the Cardinals we're talking about, is nothing to sneeze at. Leinart hasn't done anything in two years (13 TDs/16 INTs in 17 games) to prove he's better than Warner (33 TDs/22INTs in 21 games). He hasn't even proved he's more durable than Warner is at this stage in his career, and that's after Warner's gotten pummeled for years.

The downside to that is Warner gets punch drunk when he gets hits a lot (say the first few games of '02, or '04 with the Giants). Hey, I love the fact that he'll stand there in the face of the rush that extra second to make the throw (except when he stands there a second too long) but that's a good way to get beat all to hell, and then his play suffers. He starts holding onto the ball too long more frequently, and his fumbles seem to increase. So he probably doesn't work as a long-term starter, unless you run the ball a lot, or have one outstanding offensive line*. Plus, Leinart is the first round draft pick that's making some big bucks, and you'd like to start seeing a better return on that. He is the guy for the future, certainly more than Warner anyway, and he's got to play if he's going to improve.

Truthfully though, I don't think it's any big deal. With the hits QBs take now (even with all the rules to protect them), you're not likely to keep one QB under center the entire year, so having two competent signal-callers is handy. I wonder whether they'll do what they did last year, with Leinart running the basic offense, and Warner taking the ball when it's time for the two-minute drill/no huddle offense. That seemed to work pretty well, since it eased the decision making process on Leinart, and let Warner handle the situations where you needed to make calls on the fly. Plus, a hurry-up offense wears down the defense, since they can't make substitutions, which blunts the pass rush Warner would have to deal with a little.

I suppose Leinart has to learn to handle those situations at some point though, so I guess it depends on what the team's goals are this year. If they're still primarily concerned with building up the team for the future, then you give the ball to Leinart and let him play until he physically can't, even if Warner might be better in a particular situation. If you're set on making the biggest splash possible this season, then I think you go ahead and use Warner when it's most advantageous, regardless of whether it stunts Leinart's progress.

Personally, I want Leinart to start, but have Warner ready to jump-start things if Leinart just looks completely lost out there. We're talking dire straits here, so hopefully Matt doesn't start looking over his shoulder. Honestly, with the weapons the Cardinals have, Leinart ought to be able to avoid prolonged struggles, barring massive, debilitating injuries to their playmakers.

* Either of those circumstances would be a nice change of pace for the Cardinals.