Well this interesting preseason is finally over after a 28-14 loss
to the Denver Broncos. Most importantly the Arizona Cardinals got out
of there without any serious injuries. So maybe that's a good omen for
the rest of the season.
But lets get to the exciting stuff...
Matt Leinart tore it up out there tonight. He was 10 of 14 for 177 yards with 1 touchdown. He looked like a real professional football player and that makes things even tougher on coach Whisenhunt when making his final decision on who the starting quarterback is. Warner on the other hand was no slouch himself. Kurt was 4 for 4 for 48 yards and looked very solid as usual. So who's the starting quarterback for the season opener in San Francisco?
I agree with Whisenhunt when he says that they need to look at the body of work when picking the quarterback. Well the body of work clearly favors Warner, I don't even think it's close. Kurt is better right now and that's when I want to win, RIGHT NOW! I've been talking about the future with the Cardinals for 20 years and I'm running out of patients, I'd like to go to the playoffs this year and not make a project out of the season. I'm still impressed with Matt and still think he has a future in this league and possibly with the Cardinals.
What's amazing to me is how you can go to all the Cardinals fan forums last week and see everyone saying Kurt needs to start and Matt's career is over. Then after a good week for Leinart, those same fans are saying Kurt needs to ride the pine. Are these the same people that flip flop from candidate to candidate based on a stupid political commercial? It just blows my mind how often people keep changing their opinions with this Warner and Leinart thing. It's just obvious, one guy is NFL ready and can move the ball up the field. The other has shown flashes of doing that but is way too inconsistent. I don't think the Cardinals can afford that.
I'd
like to stress once again that I think Kurt should be the quarterback
for the Arizona Cardinals. But I am not giving up on Matt at all. I
think if Kurt does go down with an injury or is starting to struggle,
that Leinart is a very
capable player to step in and hold down the fort. For the time being
though Matt still seems like he has plenty to learn and some more time
on the bench might not be the worst thing for him. Even though he's at
his best when coaches are showing confidence in him and letting him
play.
A couple quick notes about the last preseason game against Denver...
Calais Campbell is the real deal. I know a lot of what he's done is against back ups but he man handles everyone that gets in his way. It looks like the Cardinals have found one of their future defensive ends. On the topic of future defensive ends Kenny Iwebema is looking very good himself and is a player I could see starting one day for sure. Not only starting but being a very solid contributor to the team.
I don't want to be negative but the offensive and defensive lines looked awful last night. What was more disappointing was both starting lines for the Cardinals were going up against the Broncos back ups. Hopefully this was because the Cardinals were missing a few starters themselves.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie looks like the real deal. DRC is starting to look like he's figuring it all out. He clearly has the physical tools to play against the best wide recievers out there. I'm very pleased with what I've seen out of him.
There's plenty more I could talk about but I'm tired and want to go to bed. So forgive me for gramatical errors. I'll be doing another podcast soon once the final rosters come out so watch for that. Now the real football begins!