Cardinals’ still Warner’s team
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – Despite all the hoopla surrounding Matt Leinart, the Arizona Cardinals are Kurt Warner’s team. For now, anyway.
Warner has been in this situation before, with a big-name rookie waiting in the wings behind him. That stint with the New York Giants didn’t work out so well. The 35-year-old quarterback is expecting much better results in Arizona, and plans to hold on to the job throughout the season.
“He can have all the publicity he wants,” Warner said of his understudy. “As long as I’m out there playing and we’re winning, that’s fine.”
The good-natured Warner was smiling when he said that after Sunday morning’s practice, but his experience in New York taught him that his job is never guaranteed.
“My approach is always that it doesn’t matter who the cameras are on right now,” he said. “…The cameras will shift to the guys that are playing well and the guys that are on the field. I just hope and believe that’s going to be me.”
Coach Dennis Green has insisted all along that the plan is for Warner to start this season, with Leinart learning as his backup.
“We believe in Kurt Warner and we don’t think there’s any way that Kurt Warner’s not going to play unless all of a sudden he’s playing hurt and not playing like he can play,” Green said.
But, Green also said, “nobody is going to play who doesn’t play well, I don’t care who it is. That’s just not going to happen. The guys that back up, what their job is to do is to be ready.”
Warner had a strong preseason at the controls of an offense that, except for a few plays, was without one of its main components, Edgerrin James. By design, James played only a few plays in each preseason game but expects to touch the ball 20 to 25 times when the Cardinals open their regular season next Sunday at home against San Francisco.
The Cardinals, with standout receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, were the best passing offense in the NFL last season, and the worst rushing.
Just having James should save wear and tear on the quarterback.
“It’s got to be a key,” Warner said. “To be able run the ball instead of drop back and throw every snap definitely should help my health. I think having play-action, being able to slow down the guys up front, should be another distinct advantage in being successful and not taking the hits I’ve taken maybe the last year or so.”
In four preseason games, Warner completed 33 of 45 passes (73 percent) for 381 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
“I felt really good, I really did,” he said. “I felt like I made the right decision basically in every situation. I felt like I was putting the ball where I wanted to for the most part, and I felt like we moved the ball.”
Warner hasn’t played a full NFL season since leading St. Louis to a second Super Bowl in 2001.
A hand injury sidelined him the next year, and in 2003 he lost his job to Marc Bulger.
That led to his signing with the Giants, and there No. 1 draft pick Eli Manning took his place after nine games.
That’s why all the Leinart talk, especially after the rookie’s strong play in preseason, is not unexpected.
“I understand it. I’ve been in the situation before,” Warner said, “No. 1 draft pick in New York, the top 10 pick here with Matt, and all he brings to the table and the excitement about the future.”
The future belongs to Leinart, but the present is in Warner’s hands.
“You’ve got to win. We’re about winning,” Green said. “Kurt wants to win. He’s the MVP so he knows about winning more than anybody else. He can’t do the job by himself. Our job is to create a scenario where we’ve got enough good players who think like Kurt Warner does.”