How is Leinart's mobility? Is this a strength we can play to?
Honestly, when I watched him in the preseason...he is not very fast and he got chased down very quickly. I can remember one preseason game where he played a lot...granted, it was with 2nd and 3rd stringers alongside him...he would roll out and could barely get to the sideline to throw it away as defnders were hunting him down.
As bad as Schaub is about mobility, I'm pretty sure Schaub is better than Leinart in that category--It's more having to do with timing and trust of the WRs/TEs, and overall awareness...THAT, IMO, is where Schaub is obviously one-up on Leinart as we wait to see how Leinart does out there. Can Leinart hoof it and get out there on the bootlegs (PROPERLY) or does his footwork get sloppy and he lumbers about and ruins the flow of the pass play??? Just read where Leinart says "I've been working on my footwork and it's gotten better" but man oh man he has GOT to be 100% on whether it's improved or not. We're all gonna' find out in two weeks, that's for sure.
If I was McNair, I'm not going to sit and wait to see if Leinart will do OK. Yeah, I'm definitely going to let him play vs. Jax. However, I'm going to go out and get Favre like I should have done a season or two ago when I had the chance to. Because THIS year, a guy like Favre who KILLS defenses when his RBs and o-line are running the ball really, really well (it's the play-action that Favre murders defenses with, duh!) a guy like Favre, if I'm McNair, presents some sort of playoff experience whereby you can try to Kurt Warner this deal and get a ring out of the situation.
Favre is smart. He wants to play, even if I have always ragged on the guy for it. He could take our offense and slay opponents with Foster-Tate-OD/Dreessen-AJ-KW/JJ. SLAY THEM.
If I'm McNair, I call the old man up and tell him we need a gunslinger for hire. We need a hired gun. Do you not think this Texans defense would absolutely go bonkers if they had Leinart and Favre to trust with Schaub being on the shelf for so long? It's not a shot at Leinart, he has to know this is how it goes. This is how it is. This is the NFL, and you do what you have to do in order to field the best team you can no matter the circumstances.
I'm on the phone with Favre right now. I'm telling him he has two weeks to come and learn the playbook. He has the Jax game to sit on the sideline and soak it up even more, and he might get the shot if Leinart is sinking.
I don't wait and see. I see that this as a title that is here for our taking; that we've been held down one way or another for way too long now, and I'm going to lie, steal, cheat or even kill to get the Texans as far as I can.
I won't blame Bob if he doesn't do it. I really won't. But man, I'd go nuts if he pulled off a stunt like this and made it happen. After Leinart, there's who??? I love Yates, rah-rah-rah and all that jazz, but he is who he is...and this season is here for us RIGHT NOW. RIGHT. NOW.
Out of all the out-of-work QBs that I would trust to throw the ball and make things happen, based on what we got for that QB to work with, Old Man Favre has to be the one guy you look at it and think "You know what? The guy can go balls if he has a running game to keep defenses honest." Period.
End of rant.