The Post Mortem

Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt must have been internally smiling after Matt Leinart struggled at Oakland Saturday night, as it gave him the perfect opportunity to give the starting job to Kurt Warner. Because if you blow against the Raiders in the preseason, what hope is there?

The edict to play Leinart likely came from the top of the organization, who wants a return on its investment. But anybody whose job depends on the play of his quarterback would likely opt for Warner.

Tough break for Leinart. You look back at his college career when he didn�t enter the draft following his Heisman Trophy winning junior season. Some blamed an injured shoulder, other found it refreshing that he wanted to go for the �Three-Pete.� Now it�s starting to look as though Leinart just didn�t want to grow up.

And he might get there, but you have to go with Warner right now.

What�s troubling though, it allows analyst such as Jamie Dukes to make moronic insinuations that Leinart is soft because he�s from the West Coast. And that's the kind of thing that would piss you off, but you look at Joey Harrington (Oregon), Alex Smith (Washington), J.P. Losman (Los Angeles) and Tony Romo (born in San Diego). You mother (lovers), you are freaking killing us here. At least we have Tom Brady (Bay Area) and Carson Palmer (Orange County). And we don't have Rex Grossman. (Anybody missing?)

Thankfully, Dukes comments were said on the NFL Network so thankfully, nobody heard them.

Other news from Week 3 of the preseason.

• Shawne Merriman is not going to play this season. He is going to have season-ending surgery and according to Mike Sullivan (one of the area scribes), the Chargers aren�t particularly bummed about it. The Chargers are growing tired of Merriman�s act, as he spent most of the offseason on the red carpet. He�s worse than a reality show media whore, according to Sullivan. The Chargers instead could be turning to Carlos Polk or Jyles Tucker at outside linebacker.

• The Raiders were shutout by the Cardinals, once again showing that they are in preseason form. Would anybody be surprised if Lane Kiffin was fired on Monday? In fairness, they hardly ran Darren McFadden or Justin Fargas. But come on, not a single point against the Cardinals?

• The Chiefs also got shutout by the freaking Dolphins. These teams don�t want to show too much, but how about showing something? Same for the Bengals.

• Raven could be more miserable than we first feared.
  

• Matt Ryan is going to get the start in Atlanta. Not sure if that has more to do with Ryan's ability or how badly the veterans behind him were playing. Not that it matters, the Falcons are going to be terrible.

• Welcome to the J.T. O'Sullivan era in San Francisco. Yes, go ahead and laugh it up right now. But don't be afraid to use a real late fantasy pick on O'Sullivan. Remember, the KWM was a journeyman when he was rescued from the scrap heap by Mike Martz. When Trent Green first went down in preseason 1999, many figured that the St. Louis FC would go to a veteran. Martz turned to Warner and the rest is history. Not saying that O'Sullivan will be Warner, but keep an eye on it.
  

• Sterling Sharpe mentioned, during the telecast of the Bills/Colts, that the new huddle cam takes you where nobody else has before. Well, except for the XFL. But again, this game was on the NFL Network which would love to do XFL television numbers. So how many of the XFL�s innovations have been indoctrinated into the NFL? That sky camera is one. The Bills uniform was an XFL style of uniform. Announcers in the stands have been done. And now the huddle camera. Somebody in the NFL office is lying when they said they weren�t paying attention to the XFL.

OTHER THINGS

• The Angels have to find a way to sign Mark Teixeira. Even if it means letting K-Rod go. The Angels are too good with him. Besides, this guy doesn�t believe that K-Rod is worth the money. BTW, the Angels will clinch the AL West at home against the Yankees on September 10.

• The Olympics are gone and that means a sad goodbye to those beach volleyball cheerleaders. Because if there was one sport that needed more skin. It�s like those Carl�s Jr. hamburgers where they put prime rib and a piece of pizza on a hamburger patty.

AND FINALLY
The season-ending injury to Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora could bring Michael Strahan out of retirement, meaning he won�t be on the FOX morning show.

We will not be that lucky.

Strahan can�t come back because he knows that he will not be nearly as productive without Umenyiora on the other side, exposing him as a big fraud. Thankfully, Stahan isn�t one of these camera-lovers who needs a constant ego stroking.

Oh wait, that�s exactly what he is. Look for this to turn into another Favre-watch. Wonderful.