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.