Life In The DPC!

News of Matt Leinart losing his starting quarterback job to Kurt Warner have been greatly exaggerated.

“Contrary to everything (reported), nothing has changed,” Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We have not made a decision. We have not named Kurt the starting quarterback.”

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, citing unnamed sources, reported on Monday that the Cardinals we’re naming Warner their starting quarterback.  Leinart went 4 for 12 with 3 interceptions in last Sunday’s exhibition against the Oakland Raiders.

Going into the 2008 season it was widely assumed that the starting job was Leinart’s to lose. Unfortunately his less than stellar play, along with the ageless play of the former Super Bowl MVP Warner, have many scribes staing that the NFC West is not the PAC 10 and maybe he is not suited rise to the dizzying highs in the NFL.

DavidPatrickCastro.com is pro Leinart endeavor and still feels that he will suceed in the NFL. Other pundits have begun to right him off  but the former Heisman winner will ultimately play up to his potential and lead the Cardinals.

The Chicago Bears announced that Kyle Orton will be their starting quarterback over their incumbent  Rex Grossman.  Orton went 2-1 last season while subbing for the injured Grossman during the last three games of the season.

“In the end it comes down to a gut feeling that you have,” head coach Lovie Smith said. “And I feel good about Kyle leading our team.”

Orton has amassed a record of 12-6 as a starter and Grossman is 19-11 while at the helm of the Bears.
                      Games  Rating  Att.  Comp.  PCT.  Yards  Y/G    Y/A    TD    INT
Rex Grossman       32      70.9   489   900      54.3    5907 184.6    6.6       31     33
Kyle Orton             18     62.2    233   448      52.0    2347 130.4    5.2       12     15

Despite leading the Bears to the Super Bowl I, like many pundits, have never fully embraced Grossman and to this Bears’ fan they seemed to succeed despite his maverick style. I waste a lot of time watching football and one of my casual   observations is to watch how the players interact with one another on the sidelines during the game. For the most part Grossman never talked to anyone but the occasional coach and this was usually for some form of admonishment.

While a guy like Orton was interacting with his teammates and for the most part he seemed at ease with his peers and they liked being around him. It is the opinion of this scribe that players are more inclined to perform and stick their necks out for a guy they like. Grossman always seemed to be isolated on the sidelines and this may have led to him being a distant leader on the field. A lieutenant needs the respect of his men and the Bears finally realized that Orton has it.

Former University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan continues to show that he belongs in the NFL and after three preseasas on games the Heisman finalist has gone 17/23 with 239 passing yards, 3 touchdown passes and no interceptions. At this point Brennan is likely the third string quarterback for Washington but has shown some flashes of belonging in the NFL.

Former University of Hawaii standout Colt Brennan threw two touchdown passes and finished 9 for 10 for 123 yards in his pro debut. I guess a preseason game against the Colts’ third string defense counts as a pro debut but those misgivings aside Brennan proved that he can make all the reads and throws necessary to be an NFL quarterback.

“More than his throws, what I was pleased with is how he was looking to the right guy when he was backpedaling,” said Washington head coach Jim Zorn, a former NFL quarterback. “He knew the plays, knew the routes. He should feel very good about his performance.”

Last nights performance was nice but Matt Leinart’s former back up (Mater Dei High School) will need many more strong performances before he can begin to shed the system quarterback label. On a national stage last night Brennan did prove that his side arm delivery could lead him to being more than a WAC oddity that shined bright when no one was watching. Mahalo, Colt.

Madden NFL 2009 will be released on August 12th, 2009 with former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre on the cover. At the time of release Favre was retired and became the first non active cover boy in the history of the vidoe game franchise. Until recent developments it would also seem that Favre was going to be the first player to avoid the Madden Curse.

Prior to 1999, every annual installment of the Madden NFL series primarily featured John MaddenElectronic Arts selected Garrison Hearst to appear on the cover, and has since featured one of the league’s top players on every annual installment.^[5] Since then, certain players have experienced a decline in performance, usually due to an injury. For example, quarterback Michael Vick appeared on the cover of on its cover. In 1999, Madden 2004, and suffered a leg injury that sidelined him for most of the 2004 season.^[5] In a similar example, running back Shaun Alexander, then the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player , was featured on the cover of Madden NFL 2007, and sustained a foot injury that caused him to miss six starts.^[6] As a result, Alexander’s rushing statistics were substantially less than those from the previous season.^[6] - Wilikpedia.org

Of course Favre is likely to come out of retirement and any NFL franchise should be reticent to trade for the future Hall of Famer due to his inclusion on the cover of the latest version of Madden. I am not saying he will get injured, his 253 consecutive starts point to the contrary, but he could under perform like many of his Madden cover boys predecessors.

Madden cover curses aside history is not on the side of Favre. There is also a nasty precedent of aging quarterbacks hanging on too long and playing for different teams at the end of their careers( i.e. Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana). Of course Montana played fairly well for Kansas City but he was never the same quarterback and this is the likely scenario for Favre.

The 2007 version of the Wolf Pack finished the year 6-7 (4-4) and were lambasted by their Lobo hosts 23-0 in the New Mexico Bowl. That season was filled with close calls; four losses by seven points or less. Including losses to Boise State and Hawaii by a total of four points. Of course they squeaked out close wins against a pair of Aggie (31-28 at Utah State and 40-38 at New Mexico State). Throughout the season you never knew what version of the Pack was going to show up: the one that went toe to toe with national powerhouses or team that played down to its lesser opponents.

This season will likely be a similar to 2007 with some missed opportunities at victory and a general sense that the Pack is not ready to make the jump from mid level WAC team to the Boise States or Fresno States of the world. The Pack will beat the opponents that they’re supposed to and like 2007 they will fall short against the better teams in the WAC and the rest of the NCAA.