Matt Leinart has had to listen to a lot of shit talk about him in the media lately, with Derek Anderson basically stealing his starting job. It seems Leinart lives in Ken Whisenhunt’s doghouse, but Leinhart doesn’t believe it’s because of his play on the field.
Leinart reportedly told reporters after practice that he felt like he had outplayed the competition in training cap and in the preseason. Leinart said, “I feel like I’ve outplayed the competition, training camp, preseason,” Leinart told reporters after practice. “I think my play speaks about that. For me, this goes beyond the football field.”
That’s sports athlete talk for the coach doesn’t like me, and never has liked me. And when you really look at the situation, there’s a grain of truth to it, perhaps more than a few grains. Firstly, Leinart isn’t getting nearly the same amount of reps as Anderson for him to even get into a rhythym. Leinart has completed 19 of 23 passes in the preseason, meanwhile Anderson is 31 for 53, that doesn’t exactly scream equal opportunity.
Whisenhunt has maintained the he’s only trying to put the best team out on the feild, as if he would say anything else. But he did say that “it’s not about whether you like somebody or whether you don’t like somebody”, which usually means, it’s exactly about whether you like somebody or don’t like somebody.
Let’s be real, Leinart has been sitting on his ass since Kurt Warner showed up and now with Warner gone, everybody and their baby’s momma thought Leinart would at least get a shot at the starting role. It should have been his job to lose, but now, it seems he’s lost that job before he even got a chance to really prove himself. Of course the knock on Leinart is that he just doesn’t have the physical tools to get the job done, he doesn’t have the big arm to throw the long bombs, but, Leinart will argue that he’s accurate and he can manage the game. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what Leinart thinks or says.
But what’s really going on between Leinart and Whisenhunt? Does Whisenhunt have a teenage daughter that got a little to close to the Lion in Leinart? We all know about his off-field good times, has the act worn thin on Whisenhunt? I guess we’ll have to wait and see, this story isn’t blowing over anytime soon and the way it’s looking, it wouldn’t surprise me if Leinart wants out Arizona.
