Quarterback battle is in the Cards in Arizona
It hasn’t been the greatest offseason for the Arizona Cardinals and their fans.
Two pieces of their defense, Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle, left the desert via free agency. Wide receiver Anquan Boldin was finally shipped out of town in a trade with Baltimore. And, I almost forgot, future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Kurt Warner retired.
Now Arizona, two-time defending NFC West Champions, heads into the season with either Matt Leinart or Derek Anderson taking snaps, and people can’t seem to write them off quickly enough. But here’s a little bit of information for the anti-Zona crowd: teams go through transitions all the time, and the Cardinals will be just fine this season.
First and foremost, Leinart is the starter heading into training camp and the preseason. He’s been on the team since he arrived as a first round pick in 2006, and has plenty of knowledge of head coach Ken Whisenhunt’s offence.
The biggest knock right now on Leinart from around the league is that he can’t replace Warner in running the offence at such a high level. You know what? That’s 100 percent true. Leinart cannot replace a Hall-of-Fame caliber quarterback.
I’ll let that last line sink in for a second.
How can anyone expect Leinart to replace Warner?
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Warner is a two-time league MVP, Super Bowl Champion, Super Bowl MVP, and threw for over 200 career touchdowns. Asking Leinart to step in and repeat Warner’s greatness is like asking Brady Quinn to go to Indianapolis and replace Peyton Manning.
It can happen (see Rodgers, Aaron), but it’s not fair to pile criticism on Leinart just yet. He needs time, and if he falters, the Cards have a capable backup in Anderson.
Leinart has started 11 games in his career, throwing 14 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. In his rookie season, he threw 11 scores and 12 picks, a very respectable number for a rookie. He would go on to ‘lose’ his job to Warner the next year, but once again, Warner was a pretty good quarterback.
Arizona’s offence will be tweaked this year, and I won’t be surprised to see them shift to more of a run-focused attack. Alan Faneca was brought in to solidify the offensive line and Beanie Wells will be ready for a bigger workload heading into his second season.
When they do pass, Leinart will be able to utilize arguably the game’s best receiver in Larry Fitzgerald, and Steve Breaston has emerged as a capable target. Early Doucet, entering his third year out of LSU, will be relied upon to help replace Boldin, and Tim Hightower caught 63 balls out of the backfield last year.
If Leinart doesn’t provide the answer, Anderson may not be a bad replacement. He’s not to be confused with an elite-level pivot, but he’s certainly a more-than-adequate backup. He’s thrown more touchdowns than interceptions in his career, and although he’s a one-year wonder (2007 seems so long ago now), you cannot overlook the fact that he was playing in Cleveland. The Browns of the past two seasons will never be mistaken for offensive juggernauts.
Would Anderson be able to reproduce his almost 3,800-yard, 29-touchdown season of three years ago? Highly unlikely. But at least he’d have weapons in the desert.
It’d be foolish for anyone to think that the Cardinals won’t miss the direction of Warner on offence. Replacing Warner wasn’t an option this offseason. They could only hope that someone will be able to keep the offence moving.
With Leinart or Anderson under centre, Arizona still has a legitimate shot at winning the NFC West.
It’ll just depend on which quarterback plays the best hand.
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