Arizona Cardinals’ Matt Leinart will need a solid outing against the Titans
The Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals will conclude week two of the pre-season under the Monday night lights on 23 August at LP Field. The last time these two teams meet was in week 12 of last season, a game which the Titans won 20-17 with a last second touchdown.
Now the stakes may not be as high, but the Cardinals have retribution on their minds after Vince Young marched his team 99 yards down the field and into the end-zone to steal the victory. But this is not the most intriguing aspect of this exhibition contest.
Arizona’s starting quarterback Matt Leinart is still living in the shadow of recently retired veteran Kurt Warner. He has received the nod of approval from head coach Ken Wisenhunt, but not everybody is a firm believer that the former Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Southern California is the right man for the job or that he can duplicate his collegiate success into the pros.
"[I'm] trying to gain (teammates) respect every day; and I think you do that by going out there and playing and making plays," Leinart said.
The former USC Trojan star quarterback completed six of seven passes for 49 yards last week in the team's 19-16 win against the Houston Texans, but he was also sacked twice and fumbled once. The Cardinals did not score any points with Leinart as their signal caller and offensively the team looked out of sync.
To make matters worse, Pro-Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald, suffered a knee injury in that game, and will not play against the Titans as he will miss the remainder of the pre-season.
The Cardinals signed Derek Anderson, the former Cleveland Browns quarterback, for insurance purposes which shows just how much faith they have in Leinart. “It was understood to me that I was going to be the number two and come in and compete and do what I’ve done over my career,” Anderson said. “Obviously, my job will be to push Matt and make him better, too.”
Luckily for Leinart, his backup Anderson wasn't much better in the Cardinals pre-season opener, completing 13-of-22 passes for 88 yards and tossed two costly interceptions that kept the game much closer than it should have been.
Leinart is already on the hot seat and he will remain there until he can consistently show that he can move the ball, score points and lead the offence –something that has been lacking in his NFL career.
If Anderson plays better in the pre-season than Leinart, then we might have a quarterback controversy in the desert.
Both Leinart and Young, 2006 draft-class mates will start for their respective teams. Unlike Leinart, Young enters training camp as number one on the depth chart, and will not be locked in a battle with other quarterbacks.
Young has the luxury of blocking out all outside distractions and can keep improving with each exhibition and focus for the start of the regular season on 12 September. Leinart has to play good enough in the next three pre-season games to make sure that he is named the team’s starter.
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