Injury ends Leinart's season
An already difficult second NFL season came to an end for Arizona's Matt Leinart on Tuesday when he was placed on injured reserve with a broken collarbone.
Kurt Warner, the 36-year-old quarterback who had shared duties with Leinart, moves into the starting job. The team signed Tim Rattay on Tuesday to be Warner's backup.
Leinart, a left-hander, fractured his left collarbone when he was sacked by Will Witherspoon in the second quarter of the Cardinals' 34-31 victory over the Rams in St. Louis on Sunday. He sat on the sideline in the second half with his arm in a sling.
"We didn't want to rush him back," said first-year Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt. "To hold a roster spot for that long is difficult, with some of the areas we are banged, with the hope he can get back in time. I am more concerned about him trying to rush back and maybe jeopardize his future."
The uncertain timetable was a major reason for calling an end to the young quarterback's season.
"Whenever you have a fracture there will be six weeks or however long it takes to heal," Whisenhunt said, "and then, especially because it is his throwing shoulder, you have to do the rehabilitation of it throwing the football. Who knows what it could have been? Could have been 8 weeks, could have been 12 weeks."
Leinart, the 10th overall pick in the 2006 draft, had been unhappy with the two-quarterback system employed by Whisenhunt. The former Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion at USC has started 16 games for Arizona, including the first five this season.
But Whisenhunt used Warner when the team went to a no-huddle offense that often has been effective.
Warner's statistics are better than Leinart's.
Warner has completed 62 percent of his passes (43 of 69) for 580 yards, with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. Leinart has completed 54 percent (60-of-112) for 647 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
Warner, a former NFL and Super Bowl MVP, is in his 10th NFL season, the past three with the Cardinals. He started the first four games last season before losing the job to the then-rookie Leinart.
Rattay, an eight-year veteran, played in four games last year for Tampa Bay and completed 61 of 101 passes. He played for the San Francisco 49ers for six years before being traded to the Buccaneers.
"He has competed in this league and he has started in this league," Whisenhunt said. "That will help him pick up the offense. Just the way he understands the game -- you see it on tape -- that's why we were interested in him."
Arizona also signed guard Keydrick Vincent and released center Chukky Okobi.
Bucs place Simms on IR: Chris Simms' season will end without him taking a snap in a game.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to place the backup quarterback on injured reserve Wednesday, creating room on the roster to bring in a replacement for injured running backs Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Michael Pittman.
Simms had his spleen removed after taking several hard hits in the third game of last season and has struggled to regain his form. He took only a few snaps during the preseason, however the Bucs retained him as the fourth quarterback in hopes that his performance in practice would improve by now.
The Bucs lost Williams, the 2005 NFL offensive rookie of the year, to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago. Pittman started last Sunday against Indianapolis, but was carted off during the second quarter with a high ankle sprain that's expected to sideline him 6-8 weeks.
Bengals' Joseph suspended: The NFL has suspended starting cornerback Johnathan Joseph for Sunday's game at Kansas City, the Cincinnati Bengals said Tuesday.
Joseph will forfeit his salary for both this game and the Jets game on Oct. 21, the club said. He was suspended for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
The second-year pro was arrested in northern Kentucky on Jan. 22 after a Boone County sheriff's deputy stopped a vehicle he was a passenger in and smelled marijuana, according to the police report. Joseph told the deputy he had marijuana in his Super Bowl backpack, where it was found, the report said.
He was placed in a diversionary program open to first-time offenders and the Bengals said Tuesday he complied with all league and law-enforcement obligations to resolve the case.