Arizona Cardinals starting quarterback Matt Leinart returned to the practice field Thursday morning after an excused absence Wednesday following the birth of his son, Cole, in Southern California Tuesday evening.
“It feels great,” shared Leinart on the joy of being a father. “It was a great experience and the best thing is a healthy boy was brought into this world, and now my other job is to be a great dad.”
Cardinals Head Coach Dennis Green confirmed that he is not worried about the fact that the rookie quarterback missed a day and said, “Family always comes first.”
“He had a day off but he is back and is real familiar with the things we are doing, so we had a sharp practice today,” offered Green following the mid-morning workout.
The former Heisman trophy winner was very impressive in his first two starts, completing 22 of 35 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns against the Chiefs, then week later against Chicago became the first rookie quarterback to start on Monday Night Football since 1999. In both games he helped Arizona jump out to early leads completing a combined 13-13 passes for 142 yards for three touchdowns on the team’s opening drives.
Last week against the Raiders the Cardinals offense struggled across the board.
“There were some things that I did that were just poor decisions but other than that I just think as an offense we just struggled,” confirmed Leinart. “That was really the first game that I felt, kind of, my welcome into the NFL. I was getting hit late and just overall didn’t have a rhythm out there from the first play. It was evident and obvious in how we played.”
“I think it was a combination of a lot of things,” added Green on the Cards performance in Oakland. “We weren’t stopping them. The week before we had 82 plays and last week our defense had 82 plays, so I think when he came on the field we tried to do too much. We didn’t score early and they’re a pretty good defense. If you can’t run and you’re going up against the number one defense against the pass and you’re doing a lot of passing it is not going to go the way you want it to go.”
Leinart completed 13 of 32 passes for 203 yards and had two interceptions. Additionally, the 6-5, 230 pound quarterback took some hard hits through the contest.
“It was the most I’ve felt after a game, hands down,” admitted Leinart. “I’m still feeling it today, but it was good to get that out of the way. I was hit harder than I ever have, but that’s the game.”
Leinart and the Cards will travel to Green Bay this weekend for their second straight road game before heading into the bye week. Sunday will mark Leinart’s fourth career start but he is still looking for his first win as the Cardinals’ starting quarterback and to help his team bounce back and end a six-game losing streak.
“For me it is about keeping my head up and remaining positive,” shared Leinart. “It is difficult when the season is going like this and it is kind of hard to find positive stuff and motivation, but this is the way it works sometime.”
For Leinart, playing at Lambeau Field this weekend against Brett Favre is surreal. The Southern California native was just eight years old when Favre joined the Packers in February of 1992.
“Going against Brett Favre, who is a childhood sports idol of mine, is kind of cool,” said Leinart. “Hopefully my first win will be at Lambeau Field. That would be an awesome thing. We just want to go in with confidence and play. To me, I love that challenge of going on the road. There is nothing better than winning on the road.”