If you caught Sunday's game or heard anything about it, you probably know that Matt Leinart was pulled and replaced by Kurt Warner. This came after a horrific showing from Leinart; he completed 9-of-20 pass attempts for only 53 yards. The move has mostly drawn okay reviews from pundits because putting in Warner gave the team its best opportunity to win.
I'm a big Matt Leinart guy, but Kurt Warner is the better quarterback right now. At 36, he's seen it all. He's played through it all. From the highs of a Super Bowl to the lows of stacking groceries as a second job while playing AFL ball.
His experience and leadership clearly showed Sunday when the Cards took on Baltimore. While Matt Leinart stumbled through his second bad performance of the season, Warner managed to complete 15-of-20 pass attempts for 258 yards and two scores. Warner maximized the potential of the offense, and boy was it sweet to see. He nearly rallied the team to a victory, had Baltimore not kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired. And Warner did all this in a little over a quarter.
But now we have to wonder, is there a quarterback controversy?
Ken Whisenhunt has made it clear Warner is the team's starter, but pulling your young quarterback from a game can damage his confidence. More than that it can split a locker room. The last thing we need at this point, after all the steps taken forward, is a giant leap back. And we don't want Coach to lie to us, either.
"It wasn't a situation where Matt didn't play well," Whisenhunt said Monday. "Matt has worked hard and done what we asked him to do. He's improving as a quarterback, so he is our starter, like we said yesterday after the game."
Why did you bench him if it wasn't because he played bad? Look, we can accept that Leinart had a bad game. He did. And we can accept the excuse that Warner gave the team its best chance to win. He did. But don't fuel a fire by making a bad excuse. It's not helping anybody out. The right decision during the game was to bench Leinart, no doubt about it. It's something Lovie Smith should probably learn from. But just give us a straight, honest answer, and we'll respect you all the more for it.