Leinart learning lessons on time off
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 13, 2007 10:58 PM
Let's put the disclaimer up high instead of burying it in fine print on the jump page.
No one in the Cardinals organization is saying it's a good thing that, on the afternoon of Oct. 7, Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon came through clean on a blitz, blasted quarterback Matt Leinart and fractured his left collarbone.
Leinart, the 10th overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft, needed to play, and no one is foolish enough to say that the season-ending injury was the best thing that could have happened to Leinart. A quarterback always learns more on a field on Sundays than he does in a dark film room on Wednesdays.
Yet everyone involves seems to agree that the season has not been a wasted one for Leinart, even though he was injured in the fifth game. By all accounts, he has worked diligently at rehabilitation and learning the pro game.
"I've tried to take this whole season, what I went through when I was playing and after I got hurt, as a positive and as motivation to be a better football player and quarterback," Leinart said. "By no means am I close to where I want to be."
Leinart has found that you can learn while not playing. He has a better grasp of coach Ken Whisenhunt's offense and understands defenses better. He watches his former backup, Kurt Warner, and picks his brain.
"As a backup, you do learn, especially from a guy like Kurt, who is so smart," Leinart said.
Leinart doesn't attend many practices, but he's involved in meetings and travels to games. During the week, he helps break down opponents' video for coaches and studies the game plan. He is starting to lob passes about 10 yards, but the whole rehab process has been slower than he wants.
The time off has not only helped his mental outlook on the field, but off the field, too. Without the pressure of being a starting NFL quarterback and the face of a franchise, Leinart has been able to smooth the rough spots in his personal life.
Earlier this season, he was in the midst of a very public disagreement with the mother of his son over visitation and support issues. That, combined with the pressures of starting in the NFL, sometimes were too much for the young quarterback.
"Me, just personally, not speaking for Matt, I think there were times it was overwhelming," Warner said, "with off the field stuff and on the field stuff . . . just the personal issues he was dealing with kind of met together and made it a struggle for him."
For the most part, Leinart declines to discuss his personal life these days, but he acknowledges that it was stressful.
"I was never at a point where I had a stress-free mind-set," he said.
He's at that point now. He and his former girlfriend, Brynn Cameron, settled their differences, and Leinart has a regular schedule for seeing his son, Cole.
It was important, Warner said, for Leinart to get that peace of mind.
"I always see him writing down schedules and trying to come up with something for the off-season," Warner said, "He's doing a great job of using this time to say, 'I'm going to get everything handled. I'm going to get everything taken care of, so now I'm not having to react and respond to all different kinds of stuff that I don't know how to handle.' That's something that would be hard for anybody."
While Leinart's personal life played out on celebrity Web sites and publications, he was dealing with professional pressures, too. There was no coddling from Whisenhunt, who pushed him to work harder and play better.
Then Leinart had to share time with Warner, who was directing the team's no-huddle package, and that prompted many fans to wonder if the veteran should be starting.
Leinart voiced his displeasure with the arrangement to a national columnist, creating another fire that the young quarterback had to douse the next day, saying some words were taken out of context.
That minicontroversy seems like it happened years ago now. Leinart has been out of the limelight for weeks, with the exception of a weekly radio show he co-hosts with his friend Bron Heussenstamm, a surfer, on KTAR-AM.
Again, no one is saying the fractured collarbone was a good thing, but it did take the bright lights off a young quarterback and allowed him to be an understudy instead of the marquee guy. The time, Leinart said, has been used wisely.
"I've used the time to prepare in the film room and read defenses better," he said. "You can sit and sulk and not get any better, or you can work."
I've always wondered the same thing.
