What did Whisenhunt really say yesterday when he announced that Derek Anderson would be starting in place of Matt Leinart?
He didn't say he was changing the depth chart. He didn't say that Leinart was done in Arizona, which seems to be the general reaction from the hyperbolic NFL talking heads. All he did was say that Leinart and Anderson were going to switch roles from the previous two preseason games.
In those two previous preseason games, by the way, Anderson went 24-for-41 while Leinart was 10-for-13. Anderson got 20 more pass attempts and so, by flipping the two, guess who will get more snaps on Saturday?
Leinart might not be the answer for the Cardinals, but I'll be damned if I understand how 10-for-13 in limited action in two preseason games playing behind a porous offensive line and with a limited running game and missing two key receivers against the Titans proves that he's a bust.
You can argue that the Cardinals should have given up on Leinart in the offseason, but they didn't and now they have no choice but to give Matt the ball in the regular season and see what he can do under real game positions.
Whisenhunt knows that and this is just another move designed to prepare Matt for the regular season. This is his Joker/Chaos coaching style on display here and he proved it with this statement yesterday:
"There is thought put into this," Whisenhunt said. "We are evaluating not only how Matt handles this but how other players handle it."
This is a test. A test for his team and a test for the rest of us fools talking about the team.
We'll see how the team handles it tomorrow, but so far the real fail is from the ones talking about the team and overreacting to a move that should result in Leinart getting more reps, getting more time to get into a flow, and playing against a second unit to regain his own swagger and the confidence of football's chattering class.
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