A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Heisman

Wasn’t there a rumor that Britney slept with Leinart and the next day shave her head? If that’s true it beats anything bad that happens on the field.
This is just a short timeline of Matt’s follies and we could dissect his career more.
I think AZ is being hasty in dismissing Leinart as its only preseason and the rest of the team looks bad too.

lol

I was really wishing he would enter the draft and the niners would take him instead of Smith. Of course everything might have been different, but wow, I’m glad that didn’t happen. Not that Smith has been anything to write home about…

I won’t even try to argue that Matt Leinart hasn’t been a huge disappointment in the NFL. That is obvious. However he has two season ending injuries on HIS THROWING ARM and then got beat out by a hall of famer. As we always like to say around here when apologizing for Alex Smith, not everyone can go hold a clipboard for three years and then inherit a really good team like Rodgers or Rivers.

I have to say that, as a lifelong Niners fan and a current University of Texas student who had student tickets for 2005, I highly approve of this post. Well done, sir. Well done. Believe it or not, I was actually glad Leinart went back to his ballroom dancing class and we got Smith. Smith did more with less at Utah. Still hoping he gets to that point with the Niners this year…

Matt Leinart has not lost his job yet. Derek Anderson was only named the starter for that one preseason game. That said, it seems likely Anderson will get the regular season nod – probably quite soon.

It is a completely untrue that Leinart did anything on the field to lose his job. And he totally outplayed the competition in camp. But frankly, it appears he never really had a real shot.

The stats from the preseason games illustrate this clearly.

Vs Houston: Leinart 6-7 49yards 0TD 0INT 95.8Rat
                        Anderson 13-22 88yards 1TD 2INT 45.3Rat

Vs. Tenn: Leinart 4-6 28yards 0TD 0INT 77.1Rat
                       Anderson 11-19 105yards 0TD 0INT 73.4Rat

Leinhart only got 13 attempts in the first two games combined! And he connected on 10 of those.

By contrast Anderson got 41 attempts in those two games. And he really didn’t look that good in either game.
The rundown.

 Anderson, who:

• A) Had a 42.1Rat w/ 3TD and 10INT last season.
• B) Had that same 1/3 TD/INT rating in his first two preseason games.
• C) Didn’t really play well in two preseason games given 41 attempts.
• D) Was dropped like a hot potato by QB guru Mike Holmgren when he took charge of the Browns.
• E) Did not play near as well as Leinart in camp.

Gets chosen over Leinart. the supposed near lock at starter, who:
 * A) Only gets 13 attempts in 2 games…….

Analysis: Matt Leinart never actually was to be given a real chance by Wisenhunt.
 EGO? Remember Leinart was Denny Greens guy. There is also speculation that Larry Fitzgerald may have a lot to do with choosing Anderson. I can’t answer this riddle yet.

But, Derek Anderson chosen to run the team that was the runner-up in last years Super Bowl? WTH………..

As much as I absolutely hate Leinart’s attitude and lack of sense of personal responsibility, he has the skillset to play in the NFL. And last season’s game against Tennessee kinda showed that. I mean all he has to do is get it in the general vicinity of Fitz and let Fitz take care of the rest. Leinart should at least be better than Mark Sanchez is right now and nobody is shouting to replace Sanchez with a Derek Anderson or Andrew Walter. I think Leinart’s downfall is due mostly to his bad attitude. Smith has always taken every opportunity he’s been given and has been grateful for it even if it meant getting beat by Shaun Hill to start the season.

“The Bears are who we thought they were . . . "

He was a centerpiece in that 2nd half meltdown. You wonder Whiz never wants to trust him, he cost the last coach his job.

Leinart is throwing 82.6%, 7.0 yrds/att, 1 TD 0 INT 110.3 rating
Anderson 58.5%, 5.4 yrds/ att, 2 TD 2 INT 70.2 rating

Why does everyone think he is gone, he has clearly been the best QB that they have had. He is carefull with the ball, maybe a little too much, but still doesn’t turn it over.

I think that Whiz just did all that to light a fire under Leinart, and it worked. Matt was a lot better last week. 82% passing and he is done…..people are reading way too much into all of this. Leinart will start and finish the season as the starter.

It still won’t help him beat the 49ers though……..Niners sweep.

The guy won national championships, a Heisman, and three seasons worth of games. Yet Sanchez and Cassel, who had what, twelve games between them in college, both have starting NFL jobs?

I watched Leinart play this preseason. “Good” stats or not, he looked pretty awful when in the game.

I’m pretty much in the same boat as ericalancanty. Looking at him and Anderson… Leinart is like Kyle Orton, a guy who won’t make a ton of downfield plays that make you say “wow”, but he can be a smart QB who won’t make too many mistakes. Then you have Anderson who is like Rex Grossman. This picture says it all with Sexy Rexy

From everything I’ve heard about Leinart, ever since he lost his job to Warner in 2008, and the hot tub pictures came out he has worked very hard and his work ethic has been praised by by a lot of people in the organization. I’m not sure what is going on, from everyone that has gone to the practices during Training Camp Matt has been the better QB too, and I think that Leinart has looked better than Anderson in the preseason.

I’m not sure what was going on, the offense as a whole struggled in the first two games, but the offensive line was also struggling mightily in those first two games and both QBs hardly had any time to throw. Then in the last game both of them worked with the first team offense, the O-Line was a lot better, they could actually run the ball, and both of them looked pretty good. Maybe it is just some personal difference between him and Whiz, maybe it is because Matt is too laid back and calm while Anderson is more active, or it might just be differences in the kind of offense that the Coach wants to run. Matt is more of a West Coast Offense QB which fit what Dennis Green did, and would probably fit with a few other coaches offensive playbooks like Andy Reid or Mike Holmgren, but apparently Whisenhunt wants to do the same kind of thing he did in Pittsburgh with a power running game with a lot of deep passes off of playaction.

I think that Leinart did have a pretty good rookie season too, and he showed a lot of promise as the QB of the future, but it just seems like him and Whiz never really got along. Then he had the broken collarbone and losing his job to Warner in 2008, both of those were probably a shot to his confidence and he is still working on getting it back.