The official START WARNER and BENCH LEINART thread

[CardShark]

If Leinart isn't ready, then he's not ready. Are you willing to throw away the season for sake of keeping him in there to develop if Warner can help you win? Do you think Leinart wants to be the one to hold this team back? If he's having trouble, why would let him stay in there to get buried? I think that is far more detrimental to his psyche than watching an MVP QB move the team. That doesn't mean that you have to leave him on the bench either. If he's got a grasp of the offense and gives you a better chance than Warner, then play him. Remember when he was drafted that it was intended for Warner to be his mentor. Today Warner showed that this offense can move on anyone. What better form of mentoring is there? I'm sure they'll talk and Warner will tell Leinart exactly what he was doing. That's the nature of Warner.

 

[moklerman]

Hasn't it always been "who gives the best chance to win"? 3.64 ypa in game 1 and 2.65 in game 2 for Leinart is a clear sign of regression. Also, Warner hasn't turned the ball over since he started wearing the gloves. Problem definitely solved? No, but before the start of last season many thought that Leinart sitting for a year or two would be the best thing. The Card's are still only a game back in the NFC West and can't afford a non-existant passing effort next week against Pittsburgh. The Steelers are a mirror image of the Ravens and their vulnerability is against WR's down the field. All of that underneath, dink and dunk stuff isn't going to work against them just like it didn't work against Baltimore.

The o-line is much improved at this point and Warner is fresh. If it really is best chance to win, I think Warner is the obvious choice at this point. Whisenhunt will obviously be taking next week VERY seriously and will want a win against the team that snubbed him as a head coach.

Last, I don't think potentially avoiding a qb controversy by playing Leinart is even an option. Warner far outplayed Leinart to the point that there will be doubt in the back of the players' minds more than any decision Whis might make.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

I think Archie Manning working with Matt, has made him totally regress.

 

[CardShark]

I think Archie Manning working with Matt, has made him totally regress.

I REALLY HATE THE MANNINGS!

 

[moklerman]

Recent game history for each qb:

Leinart
75 com 133 att 56.4% 830 yds 6.24 ypa 3 td 5 int 66.9 rating

Warner
46 com 65 att 70.1% 719 yds 11.06 ypa 3 td 0 int 122.5 rating

This is essentially 3 full games and 2 partial for Matt and 1 full and 2 partial for Warner(since he started wearing the gloves last year). Both sets of numbers are a sampling under the old coaching staff and the new. If it was just one game, obviously you wouldn't want to make a switch but the end of last year, the preseason and this year, Warner has clearly outplayed Leinart. Regardless of age, wouldn't a team want to play the better player and deal with it if/when someone gets hurt?

 

[cardsfanmd]

Warner flat out is better at this point. Please stop sugarcoating it. The bottom line is that if Warner had been the starter from Day 1 we would be undefeated at this point. Some of you guys have just become too accustomed to losing. We are not a crap team that can be thinking about next year right now. C'mon we can WIN GAMES NOW! I say play Warner. We are 1 game out of 1st place in our division. Why not play the BPA?

 

[john h]

Nuff said. Warner gives us our best chance to win.

Leinhart looked bad last week also. Warner was really hot today and I agree he gives us the best chance to win. Experience really tells. You can bet that our receivers would like Warner in there. He sees the field better at this point and can check off plays with his experience. If we had brought him in a little earlier we might have won. We dropped some key passes and fumbled on a key play. Be interesting to see if they start Warner?

 

[john h]

leinart seems to have david carr's problem. he thinks to much instead of just throwing the ball. when warner was in there he was taking his 3 or 5 step drops and the letting it fly. leinart is always double clutching and holding the ball to long. leinart waits until the reciever has already made his cut and then it's too late. warner has the ball in the air before the reciever turns to look for the ball.

from the get go leinhart has failed to see wide open receivers and thrown into a crowd. In the past few weeks Fitz on a couple was completely open for a TD and Leinhart did not see him. it just may be that everthing is coming at him to fast and he does not have the experince on instincts Warner has. Warner immediately put the ball downfield on the money while leinhart was throwing very short passes. He has looked totally lost the last two games. The way leinhart was passing the opposition could easily stop the run. Looks to me like the OL gave Warner good protection which may be partly due to him checking off to the right plays. Leinhart has actually gone downhill from last year. He needs to sit a few games on longer if Warner can put us on the winning track. Wilson's hit was costly but what I think happened was the receiver was in the air when he took aim but when he arrived the receiver was now down and what would have been a shot to the chest became a shot to the head. No argument with the call. I do not think Wilson intentionally made that type of mistake.

 

[Red Hawk]

I'll be wearing my Warner jersey to the Steelers game!

Because I expect to see him play.

 

[JeffGollin]

Nuff said. Warner gives us our best chance to win.
Not enuff said -

Warner gave us the best chance to win in a noisy road stadium against a team like the Ravens.

Leinart may give us a better chance to win under different sets of circumstances involving different matchups.

We should feel blessed we have 2 guys who can light it up depending on the circumstances.

It's up to Wiz and Haley to determine if and when a QB change needs to be made before or during a game.

I trust them.

PS "Bring on the furies!" (The inevitable "fire the coach!", "change RB's!" "Trade Fitz", nonsense is filling up this board. Relax. We're 1 & 2 - and 4 points away from being 3 & 0 - in our division - where 2 of 3 other teams lost handily today)

We showed we could compete with one of the NFL's toughest teams on the road. And we proved we can come back from 17 points down against a tough defense (on the road). This is not the time to push panic buttons and call for peoples' heads - it's time to figure out ways to get about 10% better without shaking the foundation. (I feel this is more than do-able).

 

[CtCardinals78]

I find it absolutely incredible that since April 2006 Card fans have been doing nothing but falling all over Leinart and have done everything short of going to a house of worship and praying to him every Sunday. This is the savior of our organization. Now because of two bad games in his very short career, people want to bench him for the same guy everyone wanted out after week 3 last week.

Come on guys. Patience. It's not like we're going to win the Superbowl this year. It's growing pains. I think the footwork thing really has him screwed up. Also he needs to start thinking with his big head, and focus more on football. He played the leagues toughest D at their house. Lets wait a little while longer to see if he should be benched.

You guys just really surprised me I can't believe how quick some of you are to turn on certain players. Everyone just chill it will be fine. Another thing to consider is that Whiz probably had a little more complicated package together this week to compensate for BAL's D.

 

[CtCardinals78]

Warner flat out is better at this point. Please stop sugarcoating it. The bottom line is that if Warner had been the starter from Day 1 we would be undefeated at this point. Some of you guys have just become too accustomed to losing. We are not a crap team that can be thinking about next year right now. C'mon we can WIN GAMES NOW! I say play Warner. We are 1 game out of 1st place in our division. Why not play the BPA?

Cardfan, you're a great poster but how can you say that? If Eric Green fell on the ball in week one or CP didn't go to the prevent we would have won that game.

Today if Rackers made that field goal (he usually makes 47 yarders) or if Fitz didn't fumble near the Red Zone, or if that blatant PI against BJ was called or if the D didn't let a mediocre offense move the ball at will we would be undefeated.

It's a team game. To hang two losses on one player is unfair. Especially today. The final score of this game should have looked more like the PHL DET game, the fact that we were in it in the end was blessing enough. I'm just pleased the team didn't quit like they would have in the past.

He had an awful game on the road against a team that feasts on young QB's. Surely the footwork has a lot to do with what's going on. I am not in Matt's entourage, but from what I read and hear he could probably take his job more seriously. Maybe todays was Whiz's way of kicking his butt into shape.

Let's not forget too that this is the toughest part of the whole schedule and anything over 1-3 after Septemeber would be considered a blessing. No biggie, they will get better as the weeks go by, and will start to tear off wins very soon.

 

[Stout]

I find it absolutely incredible that since April 2006 Card fans have been doing nothing but falling all over Leinart and have done everything short of going to a house of worship and praying to him every Sunday. This is the savior of our organization. Now because of two bad games in his very short career, people want to bench him for the same guy everyone wanted out after week 3 last week.

Come on guys. Patience. It's not like we're going to win the Superbowl this year. It's growing pains. I think the footwork thing really has him screwed up. Also he needs to start thinking with his big head, and focus more on football. He played the leagues toughest D at their house. Lets wait a little while longer to see if he should be benched.

You guys just really surprised me I can't believe how quick some of you are to turn on certain players. Everyone just chill it will be fine. Another thing to consider is that Whiz probably had a little more complicated package together this week to compensate for BAL's D.

Normally I would agree with you. This isn't a normal situation. We don't have a young QB who busted his balls to do his best. We have a young kid with his head in his clouds, who breezed through the offseason, and who I personally want to throttle for it right now. He isn't ready in the least for the starting gig, and he should sit until he is ready. Benching Leinart for Warner kills two birds with one stone: it allows Leinart to focus on the basics, and gives us the best chance to win.

 

[CtCardinals78]

Normally I would agree with you. This isn't a normal situation. We don't have a young QB who busted his balls to do his best. We have a young kid with his head in his clouds, who breezed through the offseason, and who I personally want to throttle for it right now. He isn't ready in the least for the starting gig, and he should sit until he is ready. Benching Leinart for Warner kills two birds with one stone: it allows Leinart to focus on the basics, and gives us the best chance to win.

I hear ya Stout, but what do we do when Warner has fumble issues again, and then everyone says he sucks put in Matt. What if he doesn't play this season and then resents Whiz or benching him.

I sometimes get the impression that he(Matt) thinks things should come to him. But since I don't know him that would be irresponisbile for me to say. What I do know is that Matt has known no stability whatsoever in the NFL since being drafted. That can't be a good thing. He has also trying to relearn the fundamentals of QBing on the fly. Again that can't be easy.

If he played like this against CLE, or ATL then yeah I'd say bench him, but I am going to wait for the stormy part of this schedule to clear before I say bench him. Whiz knows better than us, if he were dogging it and played like this I'm sure he wouldn't be playing this weekend. I'm sure Whiz wants to win this game more than any other this season, if he thought Kurt gives us the best chance surely he'd get the nod.

Whiz isn't ready to give up on Matt yet, so I won't be. Let's just hope that as the weeks go by this team improves. After all we are only one win away from sharing SEA's and SF's record.

 

[Stout]

I hear ya Stout, but what do we do when Warner has fumble issues again, and then everyone says he sucks put in Matt. What if he doesn't play this season and then resents Whiz or benching him.

I sometimes get the impression that he(Matt) thinks things should come to him. But since I don't know him that would be irresponisbile for me to say. What I do know is that Matt has known no stability whatsoever in the NFL since being drafted. That can't be a good thing. He has also trying to relearn the fundamentals of QBing on the fly. Again that can't be easy.

If he played like this against CLE, or ATL then yeah I'd say bench him, but I am going to wait for the stormy part of this schedule to clear before I say bench him. Whiz knows better than us, if he were dogging it and played like this I'm sure he wouldn't be playing this weekend. I'm sure Whiz wants to win this game more than any other this season, if he thought Kurt gives us the best chance surely he'd get the nod.

Whiz isn't ready to give up on Matt yet, so I won't be. Let's just hope that as the weeks go by this team improves. After all we are only one win away from sharing SEA's and SF's record.

1-Cross that bridge when we come to it. Warner earned the start; Leinart proved he isn't even close to ready to start.

2-Then he isn't the QBOF and is instead a whiny little punk ass bitch.

3-Sadly, I agree. If so, it needs to stop. NOW. Also, see #2.

He just isn't ready. There is no use throwing him to the wolves when he is clearly not prepared. It is even worse for his fragile psyche to do so than benching him is.