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Saturday afternoon, with Arizona's preseason games completed and only one week remaining before opening-day kickoff, head coach Ken Whisenhunt stood before the Arizona press corps to announce ...

Ken Whisenhunt: Arizona Cardinals' Head Coach or Saboteur-in-Chief?

by Tom Highway (Scribe)

26

1331 reads

Opinion

September 01, 2008


Saturday afternoon, with Arizona's preseason games completed and only one week remaining before opening-day kickoff, head coach Ken Whisenhunt stood before the Arizona press corps to announce the final roster and to name the Kurt Warner as the starting quarterback.

One would expect that his announcement would be delivered with a sense of excitement and convey the heightened expectations of a coach and his team embarking upon a new season with most of its key players in good health.

Instead, a sullen Whisenhunt delivered a prepared speech in which he could not hide his disappointment in the result of the so-called quarterback competition.

It has been widely suspected that Whisenhunt had no desire to open the job up to competition and resented having his hand forced into actually delivering one.

Last season, the so-called "face of the franchise," QB Matt Leinart, performed at arguably the worst level of all starting NFL signal callers. 

His 61.9 passer rating was the lowest in the league, and he averaged only 129 passing yards per game—also an NFL low. He averaged only 0.4 touchdowns per game, and threw two interceptions for every touchdown.

And despite throwing to the best wide-receiver duo in the NFL, he threw only one touchdown to Anquan Boldin and zero to Larry Fitzgerald through five games.

After Leinart's season was ended with a broken collarbone (his second season-ending injury in his last five sacks), Kurt Warner was spectacular in his stead.

In only 11 starts, Warner tossed 27 touchdowns—including 21 in his final eight games. 

Boldin finished the year with nine TDs and Fitzgerald finished with 10 and made the Pro Bowl. Warner also finished in the top-10 in most quarterback categories, including passer rating (89.8), yards per game, and touchdowns per game. In the last half of the season, he even threw more touchdowns than Tom Brady.

Yet, the day after the 2007 season ended, Ken Whisenhunt announced Matt Leinart as the 2008 season starter. His rationale was the tired, old cliché that "a player shouldn't lose his job to injury"—although there are countless examples in all sports that suggest otherwise.

Arizona Cardinal fans were incredulous that the obviously better Warner was being pushed to the curb for Leinart, who, up until his injury, was doing a convincing impersonation of Ryan Leaf.

Fans widely sensed that management was pressuring Whisenhunt to promote their golden boy, and that Whisenhunt was siding with management over the good of the team. And with Anquan Boldin making a similar claim this summer, this seems to be developing into a disturbing trend.

And it's unlikely that Warner would have accepted this undeserved demotion without demanding a release, a trade, or threatening retirement.

So would Whisenhunt have the nerve to enter training camp with only an immature Leinart and no credible "Plan B," in case Leinart once again flops or fails to focus on football—as he did in the 2007 training camp?

WARNER AND WHISENHUNT: ENGAGED IN A GAME OF "CHESS"?...OR "CHICKEN"?

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26 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Gustavo Destro 10 months ago

    Great article Tom, and I agree with everything you say, Wisenhunt is working in very misterious ways and I'm not sure it's for the best interest of the organization to have this kind of aproach.

    Leinart has been nothing short of a disapintment so far and clearly Warner gives them a better chance to win, I just hope for the Cardinals' fanbase's sake that Wisenhunt sees it too.

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  2. Ted Choate 10 months ago

    Great article. Tom.

    Your points are spot on.

    Go Cards.

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  3. desert glory 10 months ago

    What a great "vote of confidence" for Warner. One game!

    I am looking forward to the season when Whiz and Leinart are on their own without Warner to bail them out. They deserve each other.

    Keep up the great work, Tom.

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  4. Stingray Charles 10 months ago

    In Wisenhunt we trust...

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  5. Sean Crowe 10 months ago

    Great article.

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  6. L.J. Burgess 10 months ago

    This is one of the best articles I've read in a month.

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  7. Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

    Very well done Tom, nice read.

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  8. Nathan Blunck 10 months ago

    i wonder if a line in your article answers why wisenhunt is doing this little dance. if management is forcing him to play leinart, he doesn't want to get fired, so leinart will have his chance to play. warner going to the press and saying that wisenhunt told him the best player will play is a bad move, what ever happened to something staying in house? now every reporter has a "source" in every locker room and clubhouse even if it's some 9 year old ball boy. i'd rather watch players play then read about what they say.

    good article though. keep it up.

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    • Tom Highway 10 months ago

      Good comments, Nathan. I would only add this...

      When the Jets wanted to go with Favre, they didn't force Pennington to hold the clipboard... and when the 49ers wanted to go with Steve Young, they allowed Joe Montana to go to Kansas City. After all, both Pennington and Montana at those points were still quite capable NFL quarterbacks.

      But the Cardinal organization seems to want to have it both ways.

      They do not want to give Warner a fair shake and let him play... but they are also highly suspect of Leinart's abilities and thus want Warner to stick around as a safety net.

      And with Warner having come off a great season -- but also sensing the approach of the end of his career -- I can understand his desire to force the issue: "Play me or release me to go elsewhere where I can start."

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    • Nathan Blunck 10 months ago

      good points.

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  9. Nino Colla 10 months ago

    I actually had the opposing view coming into this article, but you've changed my mind.. I feel for Whisenhunt and his inability to say the right thing. He obviously didn't take enough notes from Cowher and I thought he'd be a decent coach. This is a full-blown mess.

    I also wonder how much of what Nathan mentioned plays a part in this. Leinart is a big money investment and you have to think Bidwell want's his big money investment playing and not riding the bench. Sometime in that aspect, maybe there is nothing Whisenhunt can do.

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  10. Tom Highway 10 months ago

    Good points, Nino!

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  11. David Wiley 10 months ago

    Ahh, the politics of the NFL. Since when isn't it the coaches and owners responsibility to play the best players, rather than promote their draft picks and the people they paid the money to. I'll tell ya when....

    History shows the ego's of owners and front office usually win over actual performance.

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  12. Nick Deplitch 10 months ago

    Kurt Warner! Way better than frat-boy Leinart.

    Nice article. Wisenhunt will end up being fired. Hopefully, a good coach will take over before all the talent of that team is gone and SI and ESPN analyst can finally be right when predicting that "this is the Cardinals' year!".

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  13. Samuel Bell Jr 10 months ago

    Wow, good read here! I agree totally, Whisenhunt was my pick for coach of the year of a surprising playoff-bound Cardinals team until he started to botch the most important position on the field...I hate how franchises feel that a 1st round pick has to start and be successful, even when they aren't the best on the team. Kurt Warner has outplayed Leinart, and therefore should be handed the job until further notice. Not week-to-week, but every week.

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  14. russ autin 10 months ago

    i think the old adage is right a proven player should not lose his job to injury,matty is not a proven player.just the revere warner should not lose his job to a struggling matty.other than green bay this is the dumbest qb situation all year

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