Matt Leinart Has Thrown Less Touchdown Passes in the NFL Than His USC Back-Up Matt Cassel
If someone would have told you in 2005, when Matt Leinart concluded his amazing quarterback career at USC with 807 completions in 1245 attempts, a 64.8 passing completion, 10,693 yards passed, 99 touchdown passes, only 23 interceptions and 159.5 rating over 4 seasons, leading USC to a 37-2 record as a starter, that after 3 seasons as a pro, his USC back-up Matt Cassel who in 4 USC seasons completed 19 of 33 passes for 192 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception and never started a game, would be in the NFL and have more pro touchdown passes than Leinart, you would think I was on crack! While I think in a few years Matt Leinart will have many more pro touchdowns than Matt Cassel, it just shows how utterly unpredictable it is predicting college quarterbacks futures in the NFL.
As of November 23, 2008, these are Matt Leinart’s and Matt Cassel’s individual pro football statistics:
Completions Attempts Passing % Yards Touchdowns Interceptions
Matt Leinart 275 491 56 3209 13 16
Matt Cassel 260 398 65 2868 15 10
In all fairness to Matt Leinart, the only reason Matt Cassel is starting at Quarterback this year and accumulating statistics is that Tom Brady was injured for the year. In fact, many people thought Cassel was going to be cut from the New England Patriots this year because he performed lousy in the NFL exhibition games. If you want to take it even further, Cassel was a surprise NFL draft pick. So you’re talking about someone who certainly over exceeded his potential. Matt Leinart on the other hand was the 10th pick in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals and won the starting quarterback job mid season in 2006 over NFL great and veteran Kurt Warner and performed very well. The next year Leinart got injured and only played 5 games and this current year Kurt Warner was named the starter and has performed so well Leinart has only played for a few minutes in 1 game. Kurt Warner is having an incredible year and the only way Leinart is going to see some action soon is if the Cardinals clinch the playoffs or Warner gets injured.
The New England Patriots are 7-4 for the year as Matt Cassel has played really well and much better than anyone expected, but without meaning to detract from his performance, I think if the New England Patriots had any other NFL back-up quarterback they’d be just as good if not better because they are a great team period. I consider Matt Cassel a caretaker quarterback who will for the most part neither win or lose a game because of his individual performance yet the Media seem to think he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread and think he’ll be making over 9 million dollars a year as he becomes a free agent after this season. Good for him but in my personal opinion, any team that signs Matt Cassel up to be their starting quarterback is in left field looking at right.
I think once Matt Leinart becomes the starting quarterback whether it be with the Arizona Cardinals or any other NFL team and he’s basically told its his team and he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder, he’ll be an excellent pro football quarterback. Put it this way, I doubt any NFL team would trade Matt Leinart even up for Matt Cassel. I do commend Matt Cassel for having an excellent year and proving he belongs in the NFL.
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