Sure, Matt Leinart’s struggles in a Cardinals scrimmage on Saturday don’t amount to much. But scrimmages are better than just practice reports and they are what we have to go on so far.
Leinart did not perform well on Saturday, according to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic. He misfired especially on deep throws to Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston. Perhaps just as concerning, the protection for Leinart on Arizona’s rebuilt offensive line proved shady.
In general, Leinart has distanced himself from Derek Anderson during camp. ESPN’s Mike Sando writes, however, that Leinart did not stand out one way or another when he watched the Cardinals. SI’s Peter King writes that Leinart’s accuracy certainly doesn’t measure up to Kurt Warner, which is no surprise.
Leinart only has to be mediocre to be the best option on the Cardinals. But he has to be better than that for the Cardinals to win another division title.
(I was the only PFT scribe to predict that happening in our magazine, although that was more about my confidence in the rest of the team and coaching staff.)