No excuses for Matt Leinart today

[Pariah]

Matt shouldn't be looking like a deer in headlights when he plays. Ever!

He didn't.

 

[ajcardfan]

Given the chance to go back in time... I'd still take Leinart over Cutler.

 

[Shane]

He didn't.

Certainly did. BTW nobody expects Matt to play like kurt or at that level. But he should be able to at least put a FG or two on the board and ring and hit open WRs rather than checking to the RB on most of your throws.

I think peoplevforget how much talent Matt supposedly has and how he was considered the most NFL ready Qb to come out of college in a decade. He has been in the same scheme for three years. Has had the benefit of learning from a HOF in practice and in games during that time.

If Matt needs 3 days of practice snaps to try and look decent on Sundays he is way farther away from being even decent athab we thought and almost certainly isn't a QBOF.

 

[BigRedArk]

Believe it or not, the Rams are an NFL team chock-full of NFL calibre players with a defensive minded coach. I'd expect Leinart to play better than average if he'd prepared all week with the guys he played with today, but coming in cold at the half? No, I don't expect him to light it up. He wasn't awful for the most part, IMO, he just wasn't special.

Not only that but the Rams are an NFL team chock-full of NFL calibre players with a defensive minded coach who nearly beat the best team in the NFC and maybe the league last week too.

 

[LDL]

Nifty, Matt is a B/U QB, and he played like it. He doesn't start, he doesn't get the reps, ya'll can crucify (sp) him when he is/gets these things. For right now, he did wut was required of him. Next year, draft Warners replacement, and see wut u have in Matt.

 

[D-Dogg]

He didn't look very good. The playcalling wasn't good either. Both the calls and the QB were playing scared. He got the save, but that wasn't a very good showing.

 

[az1965]

Other backup QB's also did not get playing with their starters during the week but didn't seem to skip a beat where their starter left off... these are just excuses for Leinart.

Beating the Vikings at Minnesota was never a realistic expectation, but losing badly enough for the Vikings to replace Brett Favre with Tarvaris Jackson while the third quarter was still ongoing? That has to be a little humbling. Worse, Jackson lit up the Seattle defense, picking up where Favre left off.

 

[az1965]

Sando's reaction...

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/9569/leinart-offering-little-for-cardinals

Leinart offering little for Cardinals
6:41
PM ET
CommentEmailPrintShare
By Mike Sando

ST. LOUIS -- Matt Leinart held the ball too long in taking a third-and-3 sack when the Cardinals were trying to run time off the clock while protecting a 21-13 lead with less than 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Rams are now rallying.

What a horrible defeat this would be for Arizona.

Kurt Warner does not appear to be seriously injured. He is watching the second half from the sideline.

Backup Matt Leinart had trouble getting much going in the second half even though he inherited an offense that was running the ball effectively.

 

[Zeno]

I wasn't impressed with Leinart today but at the same time I am not willing to write the guy off. I expect better of him and for the first time in his career I am starting to have my doubts.

I think the playcalling was about as bland as the QB play when he came in.

 

[Stout]

I think it's a little bit crazy that I'm going to try to be a voice of reason. In years past, I'd be all over Leinart for his performance. Today? Not so much. Would I love for him to have stepped in, not missed a step, and lead us to multiple scoring drives? Sure. Would that have been a grossly unfair expectation? No doubt.

This game cannot, in a vacuum, tell us whether or not Matt Leinart can be our QBOF. For one, he had very few reps during the week, and most backups come in and struggle to excel in these kinds of situations. Does it happen? Sure, but not as often as when a backup comes in and gets killed. Also, think about our offense. It's a precision timing offense built completely around Kurt Warner. Do you think Matt Leinart might then have a problem getting his timing down with receivers, or reading where they're going to break? I think you'd have to have a very low football IQ to believe otherwise.

Plus, as to Leinart being the QBOF, please remember that this offense is built around Warner. Leinart isn't the kind of QB that's going to excel in the air-it-out style of offense we've built for Warner. He's made for an offense with balanced running and passing games, where play action will really help him out. That isn't our offense yet. Do you think that maybe, just maybe, when Warner retires and Leinart becomes our QB, that Whis and his coaching staff just might re-construct the offense to actually fit the QB? Nah, that would be too logical

 

[devilalum]

I'm to lazy to read this thread.

Did anybody else notice that he rolled out to his right on a bunch of plays? I was wondering if these are the Kurt plays?

Why isn't our left handed QB rolling out to his left??? I didn't see him move to his left once, maybe there aren't any plays designed for him to do so.

 

[trueherotillman]

I'm not sold on Leinart as QBOF. I do think you're right Stout, in the fact that the coaching staff would tweak the offense to the personnel. I'd only give Matt 5 or 6 games in 2011 though, his leash would be short.

 

[conraddobler]

Meh, Matt wasn't in mop up duty he came in with the game still not yet decided.

18 points is a big lead but it's not monsterous, they just played it cool and won the game as they should have.

I have no doubt if he had to go in there with the game truly on the line in a much tighter score situation that we'd of gotten a better reading.

I don't think this game tells you much one way or another because of the situation, no first team reps, a good lead by not insurmountable given the time left, etc.

He looked like he didn't want to lose, and given the Bears game I don't blame him but if the whole thing were ever on his shoulders then at least you could judge him, even if it's only one game, not in a half where the lead was built by another guy.

 

[Pariah]

He looked like he didn't want to lose,

Exactly, and not only can you not blame him, he did what he set out to do.

I'm not saying he looked good, I'm saying he given the circumstances he didn't look bad.

JMHO

 

[OmeneX]

Matt coming off the bench performed right about where I expected a normal backup to be. He is supposed to be "special" and our QBOF, but given that our offense is timing based, half way thru the season and built around Warner, I suppose I can understand Matt's struggles. Which, on that note, he really didn't do to much flashy play, but overall played safe and won the game.

With a game more on the line and more reps at practice a fairer judgement could be made. This game wasn't a reliable barometer IMO.

 

[joko4]

Just got back from the game.
One observation about Matt, he sucked. Sat basically behind the bench, and thru that whole second half not a player I can remember ever went to #7 and said anything. ANYTHING! No leadership ability at all, you could just see that the offense, and defense for that matter had any kind of confidence in #7.
Next year we will still have #7 around but his name won't be Matt.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

Pariah I usually agree with everything you say. But after 4 years, three years in the same offense, and against the 1-7 Rams, don't you expect Matt to play better - full week of practice as a starter or not?

I mean c'mon....some plays downfield, a good drive, EVEN A FG would have been a reason to think Matt is at the place he is supposed to be at this point in his career.

No matter what tact/perspective you want to take I don't think there is anyway you can walk away from watching todays game without more questions then answers on the career of Matt Leinart.

Catching up on this thread and have been reading from page three up to this post.

If I hadn't seen the game, and I read all your posts, I would have guessed that matty threw at least one pick and completed less than 50% of his passes. Your typing like he stunk up the field.

Granted, he made some bad throws, and he didn't really look like he was in any kind of rhythm.

But he did make the one big play and otherwise didn't make any negative plays big enough to lose the game.

That's all we needed from Matt today. period. Like somebody said, he preserved the win. He did his job.

Are you upset because he didn't play as well as Kurt? I am a little, so that's cool.

Mad because he didn't lead the team to any points? Okay, that's a little concerning.

But Hollywood's career is not going to be defined by what happens this year. We've all seen at the level he can play it. He's got the talent, it's will be a matter of him getting it together mentally once he's the man.

Either he will or he won't, but we can't make a definitive judgment that he's not the QBOF based on his performance this season can we? During his role as the back up?

Also, we all better get use to the fact that our QB play is going to fall off a little bit once KW is gone. He's an HOFer, and whoever ends up as the starter after he's gone (be it matty or someone else) is probably not going to perform at the same level as KW. He's a special player, and its going to really suck not having him as our QB.

 

[187]

I didn't see any confidence in him today. I know it was in the *preseason* but in that GB game the way Matt carried himself, stood in the pocket, made decisive throws (no double and triple clutching), etc looked TOTALLY different than it did today. I hope this guy can get it together, because the last thing we need to be doing is drafting a QB with one of our top 3 picks. OLB, ILB, and offensive tackle are going to be some very big needs going into next season if Dansby runs for the money. I still have confidence in him and I'm not going to put too much into a game that he came in to conserve a lead with vanilla playcalling, but it definitely didn't build my confidence in him by leaps and bounds. At least he converted the crucial third down late in the game, that 3rd and 1 roll out call was completely stupid.

 

[splitsecond]

I'm to lazy to read this thread.

Did anybody else notice that he rolled out to his right on a bunch of plays? I was wondering if these are the Kurt plays?

Why isn't our left handed QB rolling out to his left??? I didn't see him move to his left once, maybe there aren't any plays designed for him to do so.

i noticed that too and thought it was really strange, especially since they had the half to kind of readjust what plays should be called for him.

 

[az1965]

Somers' take

Coach Ken Whisenhunt defended the play of backup quarterback [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Matt [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Leinart[/FONT][/FONT], although the Cardinals haven't scored this season in his three appearances. On Sunday, a couple of players mentioned that Leinart entered the game under "tough" circumstances. Ahead 21-3 and facing a bad team is tough? Sounds ideal to me.
I don't blame Whisenhunt for defending Leinart. What's he supposed to say? But I'm not joining the chorus of people who think Leinart can't play. I do think it's reasonable to see progress from him this year. And he hasn't shown it. He still tends to throw high when he's nervous, mostly because his footwork gets out of whack. That's been a problem for more than two seasons now. Leinart was set up to succeed Sunday and it didn't happen. You can't get around that fact and it has to concern [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Cardinals [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]coaches[/FONT][/FONT] and management.

 

[Sunburn]

It seems like everyone who is defending ML is citing this game as his only instance of poor play, completely forgetting the Jaguars and Bears debacle.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Catching up on this thread and have been reading from page three up to this post.

If I hadn't seen the game, and I read all your posts, I would have guessed that matty threw at least one pick and completed less than 50% of his passes. Your typing like he stunk up the field.

Granted, he made some bad throws, and he didn't really look like he was in any kind of rhythm.

But he did make the one big play and otherwise didn't make any negative plays big enough to lose the game.

That's all we needed from Matt today. period. Like somebody said, he preserved the win. He did his job.

Are you upset because he didn't play as well as Kurt? I am a little, so that's cool.

Mad because he didn't lead the team to any points? Okay, that's a little concerning.

But Hollywood's career is not going to be defined by what happens this year. We've all seen at the level he can play it. He's got the talent, it's will be a matter of him getting it together mentally once he's the man.

Either he will or he won't, but we can't make a definitive judgment that he's not the QBOF based on his performance this season can we? During his role as the back up?

Also, we all better get use to the fact that our QB play is going to fall off a little bit once KW is gone. He's an HOFer, and whoever ends up as the starter after he's gone (be it matty or someone else) is probably not going to perform at the same level as KW. He's a special player, and its going to really suck not having him as our QB.

I guess at this point I'm just expecting more from him. I have been the first to jump to Matts defense when warranted but he hasn't looked good during game conditions since the preseason Broncos game two years ago. And that was against all scrubs. I have been patient through spot duty the last two years and I have been looking for any kind of flash. But he had extended time this game against a bad team and still couldn't sustain a drive. Like Somers said you don't get a bigger softball then that. And I don't want to hear he was playing not to lose. I want our QBOF to WANT the ball and want to go score points. Not play timid, which he did.

I think there is just a difference in perspective. I get what many of the posters are saying and sure, he didn't lose the game or turnover the ball. But that's not what I was looking for. I wanted to see him take command and lead the team to points at least once. That wasn't the 85 bears we were playing there.

Many are looking at this in the context of the game and season. And hell yeah I'm excited we are where we are as a team. But I'm a guy who relies on eyeballs more then anything to evaluate guys and Matt hasn't given me anything to really be excited about after Kurt retires for two years.

Am I jumping ship on the kid? No. Ill keep an openmind. But I think Wiz is being naïve if he doesn't make QB a priority in the draft this year because its fair to say Matt hasn't seized any of the opportunities he has gotten so far. Hopefully we clinch early and he gets a full week and game for Green Bay with the starters. But right now I'm disappointed because I have gone tooth and nail for the kid for four years now, and I'm still waiting for him to make me feel comfortable with all that belief.

And in all honesty its starting to wane.

 

[Russ Smith]

Heres the difference in perspective. You look at Matt like he is a scrub compared to Warner and evaluate him like Bucs fans evaluate rookie Josh Freeman. Fans of the team for multiple years look and think "Damn - this kid was a #1 pick, has been in this system for 3 years, and should be playing alot closer to Kurts level then he is."

At this point should be leading TD drives against 1-7 teams, no questions about it. Anything less leads to more questioning. Its not like the pass to Doucet was his only drive. He had 4 other drives to make a mark and he played like s---. There is really nothing else to say.

And saying Wiz is trying to maintain the score so we don't get overconfident against TENN is laughable. This is the NFL. You get wins and move on simple. Nothing else to it. When you start trying to play mind games with your team is when you start losing games.

So what about that Drew Brees piker in New Orleans? He threw 2 picks against those loser Rams and only scored TD's on 3 of 9 drives. If they hadn't gotten a KO return for a TD they might have lost to the Rams.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I hate the fact that Leinart divides the fans so much. He made the play when he had to but struggled at other times. A mixed bag.

Maybe it's time to adjust expectations from "The franchise" to "A Cardinal". Don't declare him the future or a failure, just let him carve out his own path where ever that leads.

There are several players today who deserve harsher criticism than Leinart and one of them was drafted even earlier.

 

[az1965]

There are several players today who deserve harsher criticism than Leinart and one of them was drafted even earlier.

That "earlier" player is pretty much a bust and under performs week in and week out... jury is still out on Leinart but signs don't look good. The main concern is "what after Warner?" which is not too far away... Leinart is the hier apparent and there appears to be significant drop off at the position.