Larry Brown Sports

Carson Palmer is scheduled to miss this weekend’s game between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers after suffering cracked ribs and a bruised lung on Sunday. That means either Matt Leinart or Terrelle Pryor is in line for his first start of the season. Rather than naming a starter earlier in the week, Raiders head coach Dennis Allen has decided to let Leinart and Pryor compete for the spot.

The former USC star does not sound overly thrilled about that.

“I just think in this situation, I think I deserve to play, I deserve to start,” Leinart said according to CBSSports.com. “Not sure what’s going to happen, but that’s all you can do — just keep preparing, keep working hard, be here, be accountable and whatever happens, whatever decision is made, that’s what’s made. You can’t do anything about it.

“So if they want to start Terrelle and evaluate him and see what he can do, then I’ll support that, and I’ll help him this week and help him during the game. But if they make me the starter, I’m just going to go out there and try to capitalize on that opportunity.”

Leinart handled most of the work after Palmer went down in Carolina, and he didn’t exactly make a strong case to be handed the starting job in Week 17. He completed 16 of 32 passes for 115 yards and an interception and finished with a passer rating of 45.7. Pryor took only two snaps.

The difference between Leinart and Pryor is that we know Leinart’s days of being an everyday NFL starter are behind him. He proved on multiple occasions that he is incapable of handling that role. Pryor is in only his second season, so we can’t be certain that he won’t morph into a starter. With the playoffs out of reach and one game remaining, the Raiders have nothing to lose by giving him a chance to state his case.

H/T Pro Football Talk

Terrelle Pryor or Matt Leinart is expected to start at quarterback for the Oakland Raiders at the San Diego Chargers in the team’s season finale on Sunday now that Carson Palmer is hurt.

Palmer got hurt during the team’s Week 16 loss to the Carolina Panthers and is out with cracked ribs and a bruised lung. Raiders head coach Dennis Allen says Palmer was in the hospital for observation after the team returned to Oakland Sunday night, and that he is out for the game.

Leinart was 3-for-3 for 31 yards passing in place of Palmer on Sunday. Pryor completed a pass, caught a pass, and ran for two yards in his action.

“I think we’ll stick with Matt and Terrelle for this week,” Allen said Monday. “We’ll get both those guys reps in practice with the first-team this week.”

Allen wants to see how the two perform in practice during the week before naming a starter.

“We’re not ready to make that decision. Our plan is to work both of them this week and then we’ll see how practice goes. Later in the week we’ll be ready to name a starter.”

Allen said that he thought Pryor “did a nice job” on the three plays he had against Carolina. He also called Pryor a work in progress, and indicated the second-year player may not be ready to lead the team.

“I think he’s still a work in progress,” Allen said of Pryor. “He’s worked extremely hard in practice. I don’t know that he has full command of everything that we’re doing, but I wouldn’t expect a lot different out of any other young quarterback. He’s got to continue to work, and he’s done a nice job.”

Allen did cite Pryor’s athleticism as an intriguing factor.

Based on what the coach was saying Monday, if I had to make a guess, I’d say Leinart will probably start the game, with Pryor still seeing plenty of action. What unfolds at practice during the week could change that. If I were Oakland, I would just give Pryor a shot. You know Leinart is only a second-string QB in the league, so why not give Pryor some game experience to see what he can do?

Below is video of Allen’s comments on Monday:

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Those of you who watch “The Bachelorette” (while I feel badly for you) are likely familiar with Emily Maynard. The most recent season of the show, Season 8, ended with Maynard choosing Jef Holm as her fiance. According to a report from Us Weekly, Maynard and Holm got into an “explosive fight” during a recent family vacation after Maynard was caught exchanging explicit text messages with another man. Now, the magazine is claiming that man was Matt Leinart.

The report also claims Holm had a conversation with his ex-girlfriend Kaylee Shepherd, who said he told her the story about Maynard and the Raiders quarterback is true.

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It’s been a rocky summer for quarterback Matt Leinart. Aside from rumors he may have been dating the bachelorette, everything has been negative. The Cardinals started off by bringing in Derek Anderson showing their lack of confidence in Leinart, and by week three of the preseason, they pissed Leinart off by benching him. Now, the reports are saying the Cardinals are trying to trade Leinart.

Leinart says the benching was unfair and that he’s outperformed the other quarterbacks. He thinks Coach Ken Whisenhunt has something against him personally. Leinart’s supporters cite the quarterback’s high completion percentage and impressive quarterback rating this preseason as evidence he didn’t get a fair shot. While I can’t argue that those particular stats look good, I do agree with Whisenhunt’s decision and handling of the situation.

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Derek Anderson is going to start at quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals in the all-important third preseason game on Saturday night against the Chicago Bears.  From a fan’s standpoint, the NFL preseason is meaningless.  For a player, there are certain moments that are crucial.  The third preseason game is one of those moments, as it represents the game that is most closely treated like a regular season game where the projected starters get the most playing time.

If you start the third preseason game, there’s a good chance the position you start at is yours to lose.  With that in mind, it’s understandable that Matt Leinart is frustrated he has been benched.  To the outside viewer, it’s hardly a surprise.  We knew the Cardinals weren’t comfortable with their quarterback situation when they brought Anderson in this past off-season and explored adding Marc Bulger.  I don’t know if it’s the former Heisman winner’s absence of effort or his attitude, but the Cardinals have never seemed enthusiastic about him as the starter.  Based on his recent comments to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a combination of the two.

I’m disappointed. I’ve done everything to this point that they’ve asked me to and more. I’ve worked hard and been a leader. I’m trying to be that guy in this new role. I have high expectations for myself.”

“I feel I’ve been efficient. I’ve been accurate. I haven’t turned the ball over. I don’t know how we judge performance when you have 13 pass attempts to the other guy’s 40. I’m not going to sit here and complain and point the finger. I have to get better and I’m going to get better.”

The only problem with his logic is that talking about how you haven’t gotten enough snaps and essentially whining about not being given a chance can easily be construed as complaining.  At this point we have no idea who the starter will be come the first game of the regular season.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it were Leinart.  I also wouldn’t be surprised if he were no longer on the Cardinals roster.

Sources:
Leinart talks about demotion [Arizona Republic]
Matt Leinart bristles at his benching [Pro Football Talk]

It’s been a relatively quiet off-season for Matt Leinart and that’s a good thing lest he become the answer to another Jeopardy question. While things in Arizona have centered around how well the former Heisman will be able to replace the recently retired Kurt Warner, Leinart’s name managed to sneak into the gossip rags everywhere else. According to Star Magazine, Leinart was spotted spitting game to The Bachelorette, Ali Fedotowsky:

When Ali and Matt met on July 15 at a charity event, sparks flew — especially after they had time to talk by themselves. By the end of the night, the jock scored Ali’s digits.

“Matt finally asked for Ali’s phone number and she happily gave it to him,” an eyewitness tells Star. “He promised that he’d call her

Hopefully Matty acted quickly knowing that training camp was coming up. Much like the way Chad Ochocinco’s close relationship with dance partner Cheryl Burke ruined his dating show, this news is screwing up the final episode of The Bachelorette where Ali is supposed to choose her suitor. Maybe in a few months we’ll see Fedotowsky holding it down in a luxury box at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale cheering on her new man.

ALI FEDOTOWSKY PICTURES

Sources:
Ali Fedotowsky’s Hot Night with Matt Leinart [Star Magazine]

As we inch closer and closer to training camp and NFL rosters start shaping up, we get a better sense of teams’ needs — or at least their perceptions of their needs.  At this point in the off-season, it would appear the Arizona Cardinals aren’t exactly feeling confident with the quarterbacks they currently have on their depth chart.  Matt Leinart’s motivation is questionable, and he was terrible in place of Kurt Warner last season with no touchdown passes and three interceptions to go along with an embarrassing passer rating of 64.6.  Leinart has never thrown more touchdowns than interceptions in a season with the Cardinals, and his passer rating has never exceeded 80.2, which he finished with in 2008 after only playing in four games.  Whether or not he’s ready to take the next step remains to be seen, but thus far the former Heisman winner has an unimpressive resume.  I highly doubt his attempt at MMA training is going to get him there.

Derek Anderson — who the Cardinals signed to a two-year free agent deal in March — has been a model of inconsistency throughout his young career.  He followed an impressive 2007 — in which he threw 29 touchdown passes — with passer ratings of 66.5 and 42.1 in 2008 and 2009.  If 2007 Derek Anderson were to show up, he’d almost certainly be the starter in Arizona.  The chances of that happening seem slim at this point, and if the season started today the Cardinals would seemingly be best off flipping a coin to decide on a starter.

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