Leinart understands the importance of playing well this preseason

There is just a different mind-set knowing that I am going to be out there Week 1 and be the leader," Leinart said on Page 31 of the team's game-day publication.

Considering Leinart's mixed history, such a claim seems presumptuous, maybe even preposterous. In his first series against the Houston Texans on Saturday night, he tripped over his own feet, leading to a fumbled exchange with running back Tim Hightower. Then he froze in the pocket, and was promptly sacked by Mario Williams.

When Leinart began his second drive with a bounce pass to the tight end, the crowd booed for the first time this season. Alas, it probably won't be the last.

Leinart's performance was so balky in a 19-16 victory that he actually played three series and was on the field in the second quarter. Though he rallied to make some nice throws and finished with decent statistics, it was a scoreless and somewhat unnerving performance, especially with the lack of alternatives in the building.

Derek Anderson has a big arm but lacks touch and steadiness. Both were evident on his second pass of the night, a fastball into a small window that resulted in an interception. Max Hall is a bulldog who has already learned the system, but he's a rookie, and not ready for the big gig just yet.

The job is Leinart's, hands down, and he knows it. Or maybe you missed his description of the No. 2 quarterback earlier in the week.

"A.D.D., man," Leinart said. "He's a character. He's got a unique personality. We're all very similar in age, and it makes it fun for us as a group. He's just Derek. He's got a fun personality, its just all over the place like that."

Sorry, but those are not traits that coach Ken Whisenhunt searches for in his starting quarterback.

"I'm not pleased with how our offense performed in general," Whisenhunt said.

Leinart is not a great practice player. He's laconic, slow-moving and rarely exudes the kind of fire one expects from the position. He's a bright-light, big-game kind of guy, which is why many of us were hoping for a more-inspiring performance in his 2010 debut.

Though there's plenty of time remaining, Leinart understands the importance of playing well this preseason. There is a fair amount of skepticism inside the fan base, suspicions that won't go away until he wins games in the regular season. There are players inside the locker room who are unconvinced that Leinart can be a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback, and that won't be cured by treating offensive linemen to a Hawaiian vacation.

On many fronts, it won't be easy replacing Kurt Warner, a quarterback who made great decisions, threw downfield and always delivered the ball on time.

"I know there's a lot of pressure riding on me from the outside in," Leinart said. "And I'm my own worst critic. I'm hard on myself, but I'm just hoping I can go out there and be able to make mistakes and learn from them and not have to worry about what's said and what's going to happen. You can't play this position like that."

 The Texans D thoroughly dominated the Cardinals' offensive starters as Matt Leinart showed anyone watching why no fantasy football geek in his right mind wants this guy as their starting quarterback. It seems like another life ago, but Leinart was once the biggest USC golden boy going, a seemingly surefire NFL star.

Now ... he'll be lucky to have David Carr's career.

Leniart's final stat line doesn't look that bad: 6-for-7 passing for 49 yards. But his biggest completion of the night was a high throw that almost killed Larry Fitzgerald (the best receiver in football, sorry Andre honks, it's true). He also fumbled a tailback handoff and left the game with his team trailing 10-0.

In fact, Leniart came about as close to scoring as your average BlackBerry user.

He just looks lost. Of course, Mario Williams contributed to Leinart's sense of confusion by sacking him twice, once driving Cardinals tackle Ben Keith backwards, right into the quarterback.

This defensive effort (and not the always reliable Schaub) are the reason to be excited about this game, which ended in a 19-16 fourth and fifth-string future-cuts produced loss that means absolutely nothing (only the truly clueless still put NFL preseason game final scores into headlines). Williams looked quicker than he did almost all of last season.

Of course, he was playing against the Cardinals and Matt Leinart, who possess the quarterback reflexes of an 80-year-old man.