Oh my, one bullet taken and another dodged.  How do the Arizona Cardinals feel about this?  As reported yesterday, Matt Leinart is now gone for the rest of the season with a broken left collarbone.  Because of this development, Kurt Warner has come out of the bullpen and will be the starting QB in Arizona.

There is quite a bit to consider here.  First, Leinart’s injury was fortuitous as it now resolves the QB controversy that was brewing and almost coming to a boil in the desert.  However, this also means that Leinart’s development is likely to be delayed.  I continue to insist that the more a QB is injured at the beginning of his career, the chances of him becoming a true star or even simply progressing and achieving his full potential is greatly lessened.  Just think back to any number of QBs who showed lots of potential, but kept on getting injured at the start of their careers and consider those who really haven’t been injured at all like Favre, Manning and Brady or those who were healthy young and started getting injured late in their careers (which is the normal progression) like Bradshaw, Namath etc.  Yes, all of those guys may have had that extra little something that put them above the rest, but then again, how many of those young guys who were injured may have had that little something extra that could have developed into something very special, but didn’t because they suffered injuries early in their careers?

The other thing to consider too is; can Warner handle a full game?  Yes, his numbers look incredible right now, but that is in relief.  Like in baseball, how many closers can be successful starters?  Is it possible to say that if a relievers ERA is 1.30 would that also mean that his ERA as a starter, going 6 innings instead of 1 or 2 would also be 1.30?  No, not necessarily.  In sports, stats cannot be reliably projected out like that.  Warner did lose the starting job after four games last year, what has changed since last year that will make things any different now?  And don’t forget, he is getting up there in age too, his numbers look really good right now, but what happens when he starts taking all the snaps and starts getting hit on a regular and prolonged basis? 

I say he will be okay for a game, maybe two and we will see the Warner of last year once again.  And, let us not forget why Warner was thriving this year.  When would he generally play?  At the end of the half or the fourth quarter in no huddle situations; the defences were tired by that point, so was the offence of course, but the defences in their tired states were less able to successfully react and adapt to a new QB running a different style of offence.    

As you can probably tell, I am not at all convinced that Warner has what it takes to be the full time starter let alone to lead the Cardinals into the playoffs.  There is a chance he will as he has a great track record and I don’t doubt his toughness and his belief in himself, but let’s hold on to the MVP thoughts here (as some people are thinking). 

God help the Cards if Warner does stumble or gets injured, because that leaves Tim Rattay in the ‘pen, and if I were Whisenhunt, I wouldn’t want to be handing him the ball in the bottom of the 9th let alone the 1st.

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