It’s becoming increasingly clearer by the day that Matt Leinart’s days in Arizona are finished. The Cardinals reportedly have him on the trade block and while a deal is unlikely at this point (what team is going to take on his contract?), the bottom line is that Derek Anderson is being viewed as the starter this season.
Anderson is most known for his 2007 season in Cleveland, in which he threw for 3,787 yards and 29 touchdown passes to nearly lead the Browns to the playoffs. At 6’6” and 235 pounds, he has the size and arm strength that teams covet in a starting quarterback, but he has struggled mightily since that excellent ’07 campaign in Cleveland.
In 10 games in 2008, Anderson threw just nine touchdown passes compared to eight interceptions. In eight games in ’09, he was a complete disaster while compiling a QB rating of 42.1 and throwing 10 picks to just three touchdown passes.
And now, he finds himself a starter once again, this time in Arizona. While he may be a better fit for the Cardinals’ offense than Leinart is, there’s still plenty of reason to doubt that Anderson can lead Arizona to the playoffs – especially considering how bad the offensive line has looked in preseason.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have the Cardinals going off at 55/1 to win the 2011 Super Bowl, which some may view as a value seeing as how Arizona is just two years removed from playing in the Super Bowl.
But with Anderson under center, there are a lot of doubts about this team’s ability to contend for an entire season.