Opening Salvo Fired in 2008 QB Controversy

jefftheshark

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Interesting read:


Warner says he's proven he deserves a shot at starting next year

By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer
December 19, 2007

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Kurt Warner believes his performance for Arizona this season has earned him a chance to compete for the starting quarterback job next year.

"Hopefully what I've shown is I can still play, and I can still start, and I can still be very effective in this league," he said after practice Wednesday.


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Warner, who has one year left on his contract with Arizona, said he asks only for a situation where "the best player plays."

"I hope it's that way through the rest of my career, wherever that is no matter how long that is," he said, "that I get a chance to compete every year."

Matt Leinart, the second-year quarterback who went down with a season-ending broken collar bone the fifth game of the season, isn't surprised at Warner's attitude.
"He's a competitive guy," Leinart said. "I've got to look at it as a situation where it's my team and I've got to come out and play well and be the guy for this team. But I would not expect anything less of Kurt, and he wouldn't expect anything less of me."

Warner has thrown for 21 touchdowns, the most by a Cardinal since Neil Lomax threw 24 in 1987.

Warner has completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,748 yards. But he's been intercepted 15 times, and his fumbles while being sacked have been costly.
Last week, Warner's lost fumble set up a New Orleans touchdown in a 31-24 Saints' victory that eliminated Arizona from playoff contention. On the sidelines afterward, Warner got into a heated discussion with offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

Warner later chalked it up to routine sideline tension, but turnovers have tarnished the 36-year-old quarterback's season and helped lead to Arizona's 6-8 record going into Sunday's home game against Atlanta. His lost fumble in his own end zone resulted in a 37-31 home loss to San Francisco on Nov. 25.

"I feel good with a lot of things that I've done," he said. "There are always things that I wish I could change, mistakes that I've made at critical points in certain games. Those are the things I wish I could take back. If I didn't have a few of those, I'd feel really good with the way I've performed this year."

Warner's season is even more impressive because he's played the last eight games with a torn ligament in his left (non-throwing) elbow. He's also playing with sore ribs.

"Kurt's really fought through some injuries, but he's been productive for us," coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "I know he's turned the ball over a few times because he's trying to make plays, but as far as keeping us in games, coming back in some things, doing some things for us, he's done a good job with that."

Warner, as people might forget, was one of the NFL's great success stories, fighting his way up from the Arena Football League and NFL Europe to win the league MVP award in 1999 and 2001. He also was the MVP in leading St. Louis to a Super Bowl triumph in 2000.

But after an injury-plagued 2002 season, he lost the Rams' starting job in 2003. A year later with the New York Giants, he was benched in favor of Eli Manning. Then he came to Arizona in 2004, and found himself on the sidelines again watching rookie Matt Leinart two years later.

"Just to be honest, I think a lot of people would have questioned what I still had left," Warner said. "I've heard those questions for four or five years now."
Whisenhunt took over from fired coach Dennis Green and promptly made Leinart the starter again, but Warner came off the bench when the Cardinals went to a "no-huddle" offense. That all changed when Leinart was hurt. The team was unquestionably Warner's.

Whisenhunt added more pass to what was supposed to be a run-oriented offense, and the Cardinals moved the ball against everyone. But penalties and turnovers were Arizona's undoing. Warner is unabashedly pleased to prove himself at this later stage of his career, but he knows the statistics don't mean much. "The bottom line is us winning football games," he said, "and I haven't done a good enough job to help us do that."

*********

JTS

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-cardinals-warner&prov=ap&type=lgns
 

SuperSpck

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I'd still like to see him here next year, as a guy who comes off the bench to win the occasional game, but I'd be surprised if any team will offer him a starting job.
Then again, the league is hurting for starters.

Falcons could use him...
 

Cheesebeef

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if this franchise had no young QB, or didn't care about making the playoffs, I'd say he has a point. But considering we're 3-6 with him as our starter and he's got a TD:Turnover ratio of 12:18 in those games, I'm gonna say he doesn't have a point as we have to finally see if we've got a future, rather than another season of losing. We've watched that with Kurt for three years.
 

moklerman

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I chose NOT to post this article. The only purpose it serves is to give Cheesebeef and the few others like him a platform to drudge up more of the same that's been discussed ad nauseum.

He passionately believes there's some phantom QB out there who's being held back, like the Card's have been for 3 years, by Kurt Warner. He is welcome to share and maintain his opinion as much as he wants. I'm more than blue in the face trying to debate the issue. I'm going to look forward to the last two weeks of the year and enjoy watching the Card's get to 8-8.
 

RugbyMuffin

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Throwing stats, wins, losses, etc. out the window.

You gotta respect Kurt Warner for what he did this season.

I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want Kurt around next year. We all know Matt Leinart is here to be our QB. But this is the NFL and guys do get hurt.

He has turnovers like he has always had in throughout his career but Kurt gave us a good chance to win with our "backup" QB.

I would hope Kurt Warner comes to camp next year and brings his A game. I hope he challenges Leinart for the starting spot. Coach Whiz preaches competition and I think Warner putting some pressure on Leinart will be a positive thing in the maturation of Matt Leinart.
 

Duckjake

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Week 15 2004. Cards beat Rams 31-7. The QB in that game was Josh McCown who threw for 287 yards and 2 TDs and ran for two more. His backup was Sean King.

Beat the Falcons 31-7 Sunday, Kurt, and we'll talk.
 

Capital Card

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Interesting read:


"I feel good with a lot of things that I've done," he said. "There are always things that I wish I could change, mistakes that I've made at critical points in certain games. Those are the things I wish I could take back. If I didn't have a few of those, I'd feel really good with the way I've performed this year."


This reminds me of "Mayor for Life" Marion Barry's infamous quote that Washington D.C. didn't have a lot of crime if you ignored all the killings.

Go Cards!!!
 

stewdog1

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Last week, Warner's lost fumble set up a New Orleans touchdown in a 31-24 Saints' victory that eliminated Arizona from playoff contention.

Quite misleading, since the defense couldn't stop anybody all day. Actually they were abused like a rag doll by a pit bull all day.
 

Darth Llama

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Quite misleading, since the defense couldn't stop anybody all day. Actually they were abused like a rag doll by a pit bull all day.

Which is exactly why there is an extended need for the Offense to not turn the ball over. New Orleans does not have a very good defense at all, so with both defenses taking the day off, the burden was on the offense. When you have a game like the NO game last week, the team that does the best job protecting the ball and avoiding beating themselves with penalties wins the game. Warners turnovers were very costly in that game. Is it his fault our defense sucks with all these injuries? Of course not, but he had an added responsibility in that game and he failed to get it done.

That being said, Leinart hasn't looked impressive either, and to me neither QB has proved beyond any doubt that they deserve to be handed the starting position. The best course of action is to declare the position open going into camp and let the best player win. The competition will bring out the best in both and will be far more effective then just handing one guy the job. All I want to see is an honest competition for the job, and I will put my full support behind whoever wins.

I like Leinart, and I like Warner, I just want our best QB on the field in 2008.
 

WisconsinCard

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Which is exactly why there is an extended need for the Offense to not turn the ball over. New Orleans does not have a very good defense at all, so with both defenses taking the day off, the burden was on the offense. When you have a game like the NO game last week, the team that does the best job protecting the ball and avoiding beating themselves with penalties wins the game. Warners turnovers were very costly in that game. Is it his fault our defense sucks with all these injuries? Of course not, but he had an added responsibility in that game and he failed to get it done.

That being said, Leinart hasn't looked impressive either, and to me neither QB has proved beyond any doubt that they deserve to be handed the starting position. The best course of action is to declare the position open going into camp and let the best player win. The competition will bring out the best in both and will be far more effective then just handing one guy the job. All I want to see is an honest competition for the job, and I will put my full support behind whoever wins.

I like Leinart, and I like Warner, I just want our best QB on the field in 2008.

Post of the week my friend...
 

Pariah

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If it's an honest competition, then they should bring in another starting-calibre QB. Neither are without their warts.

If it's about recognizing that Leinart is the future of the franchise, then he needs to start (if he's even remotely capable).

JMHO
 

azsouthendzone

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This is a no brainer. Leinart is the guy. I love Warner but I wouldn't mind saving the cap space and making Rattay #2.
 

cardsfanmd

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I'd still like to see him here next year, as a guy who comes off the bench to win the occasional game, but I'd be surprised if any team will offer him a starting job.
Then again, the league is hurting for starters.

Falcons could use him...
I could see him starting for the:
Lions
Bears
Falcons
Dolphins
Cheifs
Giants
49ers
...just off of the top of my head
 

Pariah

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I could see him starting for the:
Lions
Bears
Falcons
Dolphins
Cheifs
Giants
49ers
...just off of the top of my head
There is no way in Hell he could start for the Giants. He'd have a better shot of starting for NE.
 

john h

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I'd still like to see him here next year, as a guy who comes off the bench to win the occasional game, but I'd be surprised if any team will offer him a starting job.
Then again, the league is hurting for starters.

Falcons could use him...

If a QB did not want to be given a shot as the starter I would not want him on my team so kudos for Warner for not rolling over. With a rookie QB with great potential Warner should be allowed to compete for the job as you should not give the job to anyone. The game is about winning and not training. Steve Young sat on the bench for sometime before he got his shot. Hopefully Matt will have the lights come on and win the job as he is our only hope for a future QB. Before he was injured he very much looked like a rookie but now is a year behind because of his injury. You can bet the other players will want the guy who gives them the best chance of winning to start whoever that is. If both of the QB's are about equal then you probably give the job to Matt but if Kurt has a big edge how can you not give him the job. It certainly is in our best long term interest for Matt to be good enough to win the competition but he has to win it not have it handed to him.
 

ajcardfan

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So what?

Of course he should want to start. And, of course, there should be competition. And, of course, if that competition is even close, Leinart has to be the starter next year.
 

JeffGollin

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I like Kurt's attitude.

It shouldn't necessarily award him the starting job next year.

And Leinart shouldn't feel he has lock on it either.

Backing away from the entire scene and trying to look at things objectively:

Neither of our QB's played consistently well enough for us to do much more than be a .500 team. (When your QB throws as many picks as he does TD's, it's not considered by most experts to be a successful season). Kurt and Matt both had their hot streaks, but both too often undermined the good things they did by committing too many miscues. Both have the capacity to do better, but we're fast approaching the time for us to focus on the "now" rather than on the "what might be."

Competition should be wide-open, and not necessarily confined to Matt vs. Kurt (although realistically this still figures to be the most likely scenario). Watchword during the off-season and preseason should be: "Whatever will most help the football team.

Bottom line: I love 'em both, but we gotta do better. Maybe either or both can improve, but I'm not sure we can afford to bet the store on it. So if it means the remote possibility of bringing in someone better to get the job done - we shouldn't rule it out If that's what it will take to win.
 
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BigRedRage

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Warner, as people might forget, was one of the NFL's great success stories, fighting his way up from the Arena Football League and NFL Europe to win the league MVP award in 1999 and 2001. He also was the MVP in leading St. Louis to a Super Bowl triumph in 2000.


kinda hard to forget that bob when you media guys drill it into my brain every time i read something about warner.
 

football karma

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I want competition

I think part of Matt's issues this year was the fact that he came into camp a bit complacent -- that he was "the guy"

Nothing wrong with Matt thinking over the offseason that he better come to camp spot on, or he may be sharing the job again.
 

Rats

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I would hope that Warner gets to run the no huddle as he did when Matt was starting this year. Matt was set back in his development with his injuries last year and this season. He will need game speed learning to go with his draft status to become the Qb we all hope he can. Lets hope Warner can fill in the gaps and we have less Defensive injuries next season. Then we might have something to cheer about.
 

SuperSpck

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Steve Young sat on the bench for sometime before he got his shot.

Good points, but I can't help but think when you mentioned Steve Young, thinking he was backing up the greatest in Montana. Young's eventual backup would go on to be ridiculously productive as well.

I'm a little envious of that era of Niners' fans. They certainly didn't seem to appreciate Garcia towards the end, something I'm sure they regret now.

Thanks for allowing my to go OT a bit.
 

Russ Smith

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So what?

Of course he should want to start. And, of course, there should be competition. And, of course, if that competition is even close, Leinart has to be the starter next year.

Ditto, you want people that want to play, as long as they're not disruptive when they don't play it's not a problem IMHO.

If I were the coach I'd say Kurt gave it all he had this year the problem is he's just good enough to get me beat more often than not. I need better I need to find out if Leinart can give me better.
 

moklerman

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It's all about perception. Look at the 7-7 or worse teams in the league and what their QB's did this year. Brees is the only one who has put up clearly better numbers than Warner. Cutler's rated a little higher. Everyone else is below Warner.

Buffalo
Houston
New Orleans
Washington
Carolina
Denver
Detroit
Philadelphia
Chicago
Cincinnati
Baltimore
Kansas City
Oakland
San Francisco
Atlanta
NYJ
St.Louis
Miami

Warner deserves a fair shot at starting next year.
 
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