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Message to Leinart: Shape up or Ship out!

Week Three was an eventful one, because we had two high-profile quarterback switches and one season-ending injury to a starting running back. One of the two quarterback changes appears to be permanent, while the other is temporary at this point. Brian Griese takes over for Rex Grossman in Chicago, and it’s a move that had to be done. The offense was running on fumes with Grossman, and it wasn’t getting any better. Grossman has happy feet and can’t stop throwing mindless interception. Lovie Smith didn’t want to make this switch, but he knew that he had to do something. His team was losing on the field, and the season was hanging in the balance. Grossman doesn’t have a future in Chicago unless Griese falls on his face and he takes advantage of the second chance.

The dilemma facing Cards coach Ken Whisenhunt is more complicated. Matt Leinart is not playing well right now, while Kurt Warner looked like the former league MVP last week against the Ravens. Leinart was one of the most celebrated college quarterbacks ever at USC and came into the league with huge expectations. His slipping in the 2006 draft did little to temper the hopes of his fans that thought that the teams that passed on him were crazy. I’ve got to tell you that I was one of those folks who thought that the Jets were insane to pass on him in favor of D’Brickshaw Ferguson. Now, it doesn’t look like the move will be an organization killer, because Leinart has not lived up to the hype. He’s got two of the best receivers in Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, so the problem isn’t the talent around him. Leinart’s offensive line is below average, but it’s not the sieve that got David Carr beat up on a weekly basis in Texas either.

Whisenhunt knows that Leinart is the future of the organization, so he can’t bench him in favor of Warner even if he knows that the team has a better chance of winning in the short term with Warner. Whisenhunt’s best way out of this situation is Warner’s own spotty past. Warner has proven that he can’t stay healthy or play well enough in long stretches to justify the Cards’ benching of Leinart. Warner fell apart after a few games with the Giants and these same Cardinals not too long ago. It would be one thing if Whisenhunt had a talented young quarterback like Kellen Clemens on his bench. If that were the case, Whisenhunt could turn this into a full-fledged quarterback controversy and pull Leinart for the backup to shake up the team. Making the switch in the current scenario would only shake Leinart’s confidence and jeopardize his future potential. That said, I would draft a quarterback in next year’s draft if Leinart doesn’t significantly improve by the end of the year.

I’m going to mention another disappointing young high-profile quarterback before I address the Deuce McAllister injury. Alex Smith was the number pick in the 2005 draft, and he’s already earned a boatload of guaranteed money that goes along with that status. Up to now, I’ve only seen a below-average quarterback, and I’ve never gotten any indication after 26 starts that he’ll ever be anything more than that. That’s why I’ve gone on such a rant in the past about teams blindly drafting quarterbacks with the first pick and handing them the keys to the castle. They don’t all turn into Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer folks! Reggie Bush will get his chance to do a Brian Westbrook impersonation, because leading rusher McAllister is done for the season with a torn ACL. I was a huge Bush fan when he first came into the league, but I now have my doubts about whether he can succeed as the number one back. My gut tells me that he can, but I wouldn’t bet the house on it.