Matt Leinart News

Matt Leinart was a portrait of poise in his impressive first start as an NFL quarterback. The next test will be considerably tougher, against the brutal Bears in prime time on Monday night. This rookie, though, relishes the bright lights. ``Yeah, it's pretty cool,'' he said after the Arizona Cardinals practised Wednesday. ``It's my second career start and a Monday night game against the Bears. It doesn't get any better ...

Matt Leinart's first NFL game as a starter Sunday had a great beginning, a so-so middle and a nearly fantastic finish. The Kansas City Chiefs have Larry Johnson, though, and his big play made the difference. Johnson rumbled 78 yards on a pass play from Damon Huard to set up Lawrence Tyne's 19-yard field goal with 1:36 to play and the Chiefs rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter to beat the Arizona Cardinals 23-20. Leinart could hardly ...

The starting call has come earlier than expected for Matt Leinart, who went through his first practice as an NFL first-string quarterback on Wednesday. Leinart capped the session with a little extra work on the field with Edgerrin James, then pronounced himself confident for his first start for Arizona on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, although he acknowledged, ``They're probably licking their chops with a rookie quarterback coming in.'' ...