Leinart needs to make most of chances

The holiday season is here as we set off to find the perfect gifts for our families and friends. Since we're in the gift giving season, this would be a good time to examine the Arizona Cardinals and their "gift fom heaven" from four seasons ago.

The Cardinals were giddy with excitement to see quarterback Matt Leinart still on the draft board when their spot at number 10 came up in the 2006 NFL Draft. The Cardinals took Leinart to be their franchise quarterback despite him having serious question marks about maturity and work ethic. I admit I was on board with this decision as everyone else was as this franchise had never really had a franchise quarterback to grow with. Sorry my ASU brethren, but I don't count Jake Plummer. The Cardinals didn't seem to consider why so many teams passed on Leinart and showered him with a lavish $50 million contract to lead the franchise to the top.

Leinart has been with the Cardinals for four seasons now and is no closer to proving he is or will become the franchise quarterback the team envisioned when they drafted him.

Leinart's rookie season started out promising getting in 12 games and starting 11 with decent numbers of 11 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions before he suffered a sprained throwing shoulder. The next season as the starter was derailed when he fractured his collarbone and was lost for the season.

Since then, Leinart has been mirred in off-field distractions and less than impressive performances on the field. He lost his status as the starter to Kurt Warner in training camp in his third season in 2008 and has only seen mop-up duty the past two seasons.

During his time as Warner's under-study, Leinart has still been seen as the future at quarterback for the Cardinals, but recent appearances has started to tilt the public perception that Leinart will never be successful as a starting quarterback.

Cardinals' coaches have praised Leinart for his improved work ethic and maturity this past season, but it hasn't translated to success on the field.

Leinart entered the game last weekend against the St. Louis Rams after Kurt Warner had been knocked out of the game. The Cardinals held a dominating 21-3 lead when Leinart entered the game, but eventually the game turned close because Leinart was unable to score any points running the Cardinals offense.

Leinart's final numbers were 10-of-14 for 74 yards, but even those numbers are deceiving. Most of his completions were short little dump-offs and his average completion was only 5.3 yards per attempt. He appeared tenative and unsure of how to move the offense down the field. When he did try to stretch the field, most of his throws were off sailing high over his receiver's heads.

This game represented a real opportunity for Leinart to showcase himself that he was or would be ready whenever Kurt Warner decides to retire. Instead, the Cardinals brass must be starting to wonder if they should look into drafting another quarterback in the upcoming draft.

People have said it's unfair to judge Leinart on his limited opportunites to prove himself. They bemoan he doesn't get the reps in practice to keep himself sharp or that it's hard to come into the middle of a game cold and produce results.

I'm tired of hearing all these excuses for Leinart's poor performances. Even Leinart himself was quick to excuse himself after the game that it was tough because he hadn't seen any significant game action in two-and-a-half years. What Leinart doesn't get is that opportunites to be a starter aren't handed to you. They have to be earned.

There should be no excuses for getting to run one of the best offenses in the league. The Cardinals have two Pro Bowl caliber wide recievers in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. They also have solid complimentary receivers like Steve Breaston. Recently, the Cardinals have been able to establish a running game behind the combo of Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower. This is a plethora of talent and weapons for any quarterback to succeed with. Any quarterback in the league would be gushing with excitement with what he has to work with in Arizona yet in three appearances of game action this season, Leinart has been unable to score any points. He is clearly regressing from what we saw in his rookie season.

Having said all this, I still believe that Leinart should be given a chance once Warner hangs up his jersey. The Cardinals have invested too much time and money just to cut Leinart loose, but he needs to start delivering soon or he will go down as one of the biggest busts in franchise history and that's saying something because we have had a lot of them.

Either way, the team needs to be prepared for Leinart to struggle. Whether that means drafting another quarterback to provide tougher competition than Brian St. Pierre can offer or signing another veteran like Warner was when he came to the team, the Cardinals need to take steps to protect themselves going forward. This team has been carefully constructed to be successful going forward for years to come. The team won't have any significant holes to fill except for the quarterback position in the coming years. Eventually, father time is going to catch up to Warner and the Cardinals will be looking for the next quarterback to lead this team to the playoffs.

For Leinart's sake, the time to start delivering is now. He better start showing us something or he will have plenty of time for the extracurricular activities that surfaced on TMZ and thedirty.com.