Rookie quarterback Ryan Lindley will be the Arizona Cardinals' starting quarterback this weekend against the St. Louis Rams, according to the team's official Twitter account.
Although New Times readers preferred "whatever regular schmo from the Phoenix area can win an open tryout" to Lindley as their choice at quarterback by a four-to-one margin, it can't really get much worse than losing every single game without Kevin Kolb.
See also:
-Who Should Play Quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals?
-Arizona Cardinals Lose to Atlanta Falcons; Things Are Getting So Bad That Ryan Lindley's Throwing Footballs
To Lindley's credit, here's a list of people not named Kevin Kolb (injured) or Kurt Warner (very retired) who have started a game at the quarterback position for the Cardinals since 2003:
- Jeff Blake
- Josh McCown
- Shaun King
- John Navarre
- Matt Leinart
- Derek Anderson
- Max Hall
- John Skelton
Now, the team's rolling with this year's sixth-round pick out of San Diego State University. SDSU doesn't exactly have a reputation as a quarterback school, but that doesn't mean anything, because:
- USC ain't no quarterback school either, huh Leinart? (Or Mark Sanchez, John David Booty, ehh Carson Palmer, Rob Johnson, and Todd Marinovich?)
- Brian Sipe was an Aztec, and he was also a total badass
- These points are totally irrelevant to Lindley, but this was our only chance to call Brian Sipe a badass
- One relevant point: Brian Sipe was Lindley's quarterback coach at SDSU
Does Lindley deserve the start? There's no evidence that he doesn't -- as you may recall, it was just a few days ago that Skelton couldn't throw his way out of a paper bag, and there's no one else to replace him with. He completed two passes in seven attempts, for a grand total of six yards in the loss to the Atlanta Falcons, in which the other quarterback threw five interceptions and got away with it.
Lindley, who replaced Skelton in the second quarter on Sunday, completed nine passes in 20 attempts for 64 yards, with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions.
This week, Lindley will start against the Rams, a team with a middle-of-the-road pass defense on most accounts. The only thing that really stands out is that opposing quarterbacks are completing 67 percent of their passes against the Rams, which is the second-highest percentage in the league. The defense's 13 touchdown passes allowed, however, are the 10th-fewest in the NFL.
Back in college, Lindley threw 23 TDs and 8 interceptions in his senior year, averaging about 242 yards a game. We'll also note that his schedule of opponents included Cal Poly, Army, Air Force, Wyoming, UNLV, Colorado State, and others. His final collegiate game was a loss to the Ragin' Cajuns of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Well, good luck on Sunday, sport.
