Leinart shines as Cardinals beat Bears
The nine teams that passed on Matt Leinart in the April draft may be having second thoughts already.
Less than two weeks after becoming the final first-round pick to sign, Leinart led the Arizona Cardinals to a 23-16 win over the Chicago Bears on Friday night. And he did it with confidence, telling coach Dennis Green to ?call anything,? and then going out and completing 15 of 21 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown.
?Matt had a lot of poise going in there,? Green said of his quarterback, who signed just 11 days earlier after slipping from the first three to 10th overall in the draft. ?When they gave him time, he stood in there and delivered. When they were all chasing our guys, he stood in there and scrambled for yardage at some key times. He had a good, solid performance.?
In other games Friday night, Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh 16-7; the New York Giants beat the New York Jets 13-7; Minnesota beat Baltimore 30-7; and Oakland won its fourth straight with a 21-3 win over Detroit as Randy Moss caught two TD passes from Aaron Brooks.
As it was last week, when he played his first game just four days after signing, the spotlight was on Leinart.
He entered the game in place of Kurt Warner with 5:13 left in the second quarter. Leinart completed 12 consecutive passes at one point, leading the Cardinals (2-1) to a field goal at the end of the first half and a touchdown early in the third quarter.
Leinart completed all six passes on his second possession as the Cardinals drove 54 yards in the final minute of the half, Neil Rackers? field goal extending their lead to 10-6.
After Antrel Rolle intercepted Rex Grossman on the opening possession of the third quarter, Leinart went 4-for-4 as the Cardinals drove 42 yards against the Bears? first-string defense for a touchdown that made it 17-6.
Rex Grossman was 13-of-21 for 117 yards and an interception after two rough preseason games for Chicago (1-2), but did little to end the quarterback debate among fans.
Grossman was booed, and backup Brian Griese was cheered when he entered with about five minutes left in the third quarter. Then, he went 10-for-14 for 131 yards and a touchdown, and heard a ?Griese! Griese!? chant late in the game.