Cardinals Play Four Quarterbacks During 14-9 Preseason Victory Over Bears

Coach Whisenhunt may have a good problem on his hands.

Both Derek Anderson and Matt Leinart put together QB ratings over 100 on Saturday night, leading the Cardinals to a convincing win over the Bears.

Anderson completed 7 of 12 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, while Leinart was 9 for 10, adding 84 yards and a touchdown pass of his own.

Max Hall and John Skelton both saw time, with Hall being more impressive (albeit during the game’s waning minutes).

Stephen Williams, the rookie out of Toledo, impressed again with five catches for 79 yards and a TD.

The defense intercepted Jay Cutler twice, but found Dan LeFevour, the rookie out of Central Michigan, to be a much tougher test: LeFevour was able to go 10 for 12 with a touchdown and 100 yards in the air.

All in all, Coach Whisenhunt has to be pleased with what happened in the Windy City. Look back for more coverage of his impressions of the game soon.

Derek Anderson and Matt Leinart both looked respectable in the first half of tonight’s game.

Anderson scored a touchdown, while Leinart looked to be well on his way  to scoring one of his own before a questionable fumble by Beanie Wells.

The defense has picked off two Jay Cutler passes, causing a cascade of boos from the Bears faithful. Since we like the Cardinals, however, we’ll take this defensive improvement.

Revenge of the Birds is running an official gamethread if you’re interested in joining the fun.

Derek Anderson is looking good on the field tonight in Chicago. He’s standing in the pocket, taking hits from the defense, but still finding the open man and moving the markers.

Stephen Williams made a few nice catches, including the touchdown reception over the middle. Williams is fast and hungry.

These two are forming a nice connection, and Leinart needs to come out and impress when he gets his opportunity.

Cutler just connected with Johnny Knox for a 42-yard gain, and immediately thereafter threw a quick screen to Matt Forte that went for a nice chunk of yardage.

Luckily, the defense is not being completely fooled, stifling a Hester end-around for -8 yards.

The Bears just showed a Wildcat formation, but Hester fumbled the snap. Will this be something they try to use during the season to take some pressure off of Cutler?

Signs of life from the defense, as Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie picks off a lame-duck pass from Bears QB Jay Cutler.

After watching the starting unit get dismantled by the Titans last weekend, seeing them come out and take care of business was a sight for sore eyes.

Matt Leinart was on Sports 620 KTAR's Gambo and Ash show (with Dave Burns filling in for Asher).

Here's the audio for that interview where Leinart talks about Coach Whisenhunt's decision to start Derek Anderson in the Cardinal's third preseason game against the Chicago Bear's on Saturday.

Audio: Leinart on KTAR 082710

Leinart struck a slightly defiant tone and made it pretty clear that he doesn't feel like his coach has given him clear expectations.

Leinart has gotten far few snaps than Anderson so far in the two preseason games so either Whisenhunt isn't happy with what he's seen in practice or he's playing some mind-games with Leinart to fire him up and raise the performance level.

Gambo feels that Whisenhunt has never bought into Leinart as the team's quarterback and hasn't given him the a fair shot to show his stuff in game situations. Burns trusts Whisenhunt to do the right thing and thinks that if Leinart hasn't won the job by now, than the team should make a change.

There's no question now that both Anderson and Leinart will be under a microscope when they play on Saturday.

Fans at Revenge of the Birds blog still are not sold on Derek Anderson being the solution.

It's a situation that would make The Situation proud.

Matt Leinart, after being "benched" or "demoted" or "given an opportunity to get as many snaps as Derek Andreson did in the first two preseason games" reacts with understandable defiance and a general sense of pissed-offedness.

Good for him.

The Cardinals are jerking him around here for no good reason. If they didn't believe in him this offseason after having seen him in practice for three year as some suggest ...

Matt Leinart bristles at his benching | ProFootballTalk.com
Matt, it's not about the other guy. It's about you. Coach Ken Whisenhunt has seen far more than 13 pass attempts from Leinart in training camp practices, offseason practices, in-season practices, preseason games, regular-season games, and even postseason games.

... then the team should have traded him. They didn't. They went into camp saying the Matt was the guy. Whisenhunt said repeatedly that there was no quarterback competition and yet now there appears to be a quarterback competition.

Matt is rightly upset about being judged without being given the same opportunity as Anderson.

Word From the Birds Blog
– On whether it could be coach Ken Whisenhunt trying to spark Leinart:

“Coach has a way of handling me and my situation the last three years, even when Kurt was here. For me, I’ve always kind of taken it with a grain of salt and continued to work hard.

If he is testing me, that’s fine. I am disappointed but it’s not going to stop me from working and being a leader. I know guys are looking to me still. It’s adversity but I will get through it. I know hard work pays off.

“I’m not going to look much into it. I am going to go out, play my game, and take advantage of the opportunity I get. That’s all you can do.”

We will have video of it up later, but I thought his body language was fine. I sensed a guy hoping that chance will come again to start, not defeated. I sensed too he might have been (smartly) holding back. He’s definitely not happy. You know he knows Anderson has had 41 pass attempts this preseason and he only has 13. Maybe that gets flipped a bit tomorrow night

Maybe it's a test and Whisenhunt is yanking his chain to get a reaction and maybe that's not a bad idea at this point. He's the coach and he's earned that right. But we certainly can't blame Leinart for his reactions today ...

azcentral.com blogs - Kent Somers - KentSomers - Leinart talks about demotion
(I asked Leinart if the root of his problem is that he and coach Ken Whisenhunt don't mesh.)

“I don’t know. I really don’t know. It seems like every preseason there is something I’m trying to get through. I don’t really know what’s going on and why decisions are being made."

In the meantime, our friends at Revenge of the Birds have it right ...

Thoughts on the Leinart Situation - Revenge Of The Birds

But now, because Derek Anderson is going to be the starter on Saturday, the media has feasted on this story like sharks drawn to a fat man with a stab wound in his stomach floating in the middle of the ocean. Seeing all of the updates about this story on ESPN, NFL Network, and pretty much everyone on the internet saying that we are going to be awful this year just makes you lose your mind. I am so sick of this story, but it won't go away unless Matt lights it up....

I do think that people are looking into this story too much, we don't even know if Anderson will be the starter in week 1 or not. Now, if that happens, then this will be a big story. But until then, it is just seeing how the other guy plays when he starts the game with the 1st team. If he struggles, if he plays well, if he is just okay, and thats it. Maybe Anderson is just starting as a way to help him learn the system better. But overall, I think that unless Leinart has a complete meltdown of a game, he will still be the starter in week 1 against the Rams.