Roger Staubach was not only on the bench for a few years, he spent five years before THAT in the friggin’ Navy.
Rich Gannon was mostly a backup until he was past 30.
Now that is funny.
I don’t know why you guys are belaboring this point: Leinert had a bad preseason, lost the confidence of Whisenhunt and his fellow offensive players due to a lack of leadership (and inconsistent play), and he couldn’t beat out Derek Anderson. I can’t stress that enough. Derek Anderson had exactly one flukey good year with the Browns but he absolutely blows. If he’s the starter for the Cards the entire season, they will go 4-12.
Um, Warner sat all but a single quarter of 1998. Saw action in 1 game. He was 4 of 11 for 39 yards in garbage time.
Sorry I just don’t buy this argument. The rate of successful QB’s overall is exceptionally low. The number of spectacular busts is exceedingly high compared to the number of what could be considered a successful QB in the NFL. Just in the last 20 years I can rattle off names like Andre Ware, Jeff George, Dan McGwire, Todd Marinovich, David Klingler, Rick Mirer, Heath Shuler, Trent Dilfer, Jim Druckenmiller, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith, Cade McNown, David Carr, Joey Harrington, Patrick Ramsey, Kyle Boller, Brady Quinn, JP Losman, and Jamarcus Russell, almost all of whom were the supposed “saviour” of their respective franchises, compared against Steve McNair, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger, Phillip Rivers, and Donovan McNabb. That’s a 74% failure rate, and that’s just the 1st round.
Extrapolate that out to the 400+ QBs drafted since 1980 and that percentage drops significantly.
The difference in baseball from a last place team to a pennant contender is one game in 5. That is not much. Big programs in football win 80 percent or more of their regular season games. They live off mismatches. They get to schedule cupcakes .
He played in Amsterdam in 1998. I didn’t realize that after that season he was on the Rams roster in 1998 as well.
You don’t think sitting on your ass for 4 years and not getting used to week-to-week gameday prep or NFL game speed makes it tougher? It’s not impossible, but you don’t get better not doing something for an extended period of time. If Leinart had fallen into say Mark Sanchez’s situation things would have played out much differently.
That’s not entirely true. There can be great improvement in a player through film study as well as greater tutoring on mechanics than a particular player may have been exposed to previously. Some players prosper by sitting. It can be argued that many of those “bust” first round QB’s flamed out because they didn’t sit and watch.
This implies that NFL QBs who start right out of college get less film study and coaching than the second stringers who sit. That is absurd. You honestly think Sam Bradford is gonna get less coaching and time in film sessions than Jimmy Claussen?
There is absolutely nothing that I said that implies that a backup gets less film time. It is only your interpretation that is absurd. The learning curve is so steep for the position that some players need the time to process the information, perhaps years before they are primed to be starting.
What, is he going to get traded to a contender? 
Where the hell are you getting this idea that the backups sit on their asses doing nothing?! They’re practicing with the 2nd or third team, they’re sitting in on the same film sessions and meetings as everyone else. Just because they’re not practicing with the 1st team doesn’t mean they’re “not getting used to week-to-week gameday prep”; in fact, that’s ALL they do all week, and that’s what they’re doing with the clipboard during games.
Fact is, Leinart had every chance to be the full time starter and got beat by 1) the incumbent QB and probable future HOF-er, and 2) a washed up barely-was QB picked up from Cleveland of all places. He sure didn’t help himself by holding out, then posted pedestrian numbers his rookie year. Also, he wasn’t “sitting on [his] ass for 4 years,” he started 12 games as a rookie, had 112 attempts his 2nd, only 29 his 3rd, and 77 last year, appearing in half of their games, and continuing to stink up the place (career 57% with 14 TDs and 20 INTs).
It wasn’t “rust” that was Leinart’s problem, it’s just that he sucked.
Why is anyone surprised? Far more Heisman QB’s disappear quietly than have solid NFL careers. The game is different - faster, more complex - and doesn’t require the same skill sets.
In regards to Warner: he only played in St. Louis because Trent Green had the Brady play happen to him.
Couple points:
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College skill doesn’t always translate to the NFL. I won’t belabor the point, but the examples could be in the thousands.
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Interesting point about Warner above, but I would argue that Warner made up for a lot of weaknesses on the o-line. Only a player of Warner’s caliber could succeed in AZ. Maybe if Lineart was in NE or Minnesota, he could have put up better numbers.
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Maybe he was drafted too high. AZ does not have a stellar record in the draft. Maybe Lineart just wasn’t worth wherever he was drafted at.
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What I heard was that Lineart didn’t put in the work necessary to be an NFL QB. He didn’t work hard, he wasn’t hungry, and he wasn’t focused on football.
last few Heisman Qbs winners
Bradford
Tebow
Troy Smith
Leinart
Jason White
Carson Palmer
Weinke
Wuerffel
Charlie Ward
Toretta
Detmer
Ware
Testeverde
Flute
My theory is announcers overplay their talents giving them far too much credit for the success of big time winning programs. Three of the last few came from USC.
Nick Lachey. He’s destroyed everyone that’s come close to him.
Those who draft in the NFL are not free from the hype that TV and the net produce over the QBs an the top teams. They get suckered into wasting their choices on a guy who plays at a top program . Your grandmother could pass for 50 percent for USC against many of the teams they played.
TV loves to talk about how the QB is a winner. Most of them were far above their competition in high school. They won a lot . Then they get picked up by a powerful program and are assured to win. But the NFL is full of players that won a lot.
Bart Starr may be the poster child for late-blooming quarterback stardom (he was second or third string for several years with the Packers).
I heard Petros Papadakis on the radio the other morning (former USC player, and now sportscaster, covers USC football)
Anyway he was asked about Leinart. In short his answer was that ML has the biggest sense of entitlement that PP had ever come across, and was in general an all around pretty much a schmuck.
Sounds like his cutting was a self inflicted wound to me.
Quite a few, actually. Aaron Rodgers is the poster boy, but there was also “Captain Comeback” Steve DeBerg, Steve Young, Elvis Grbac, Mitch Gannon, etc.
Mitch?
Have you even read this thread, Superhal? Because if you’d had, you might’ve already seen a few of your mentions discussed. Also, Steve De Berg started 11 games in his rookie year, Elvis started 5 games in his second.