In which I criticize Football Outsiders

I love Football Outsiders and all of the work they do, but they keep saying something that is a gross mischaracterization, and frankly is revisionist history. Here's what it is:

"Most quarterbacks in the league would lose their jobs to Kurt Warner," Barnwell said. "We think he'll be a lot better than people are projecting."

They're talking about Matt Leinart, and how he'll do replacing Kurt Warner this season. This quote makes it all seem pretty innocent, right? Leinart was good, but Warner was great so he got the job. Uhh, no, that's not the case at all. This is such a blatant lie that I'm ashamed these very smart people believe it.

Matt Leinart did not lose his job to Kurt Warner because Warner was so great (which he was). Leinart lost his job because he played poorly, and two years ago had such a horrific preseason game against the Oakland Raiders that the Cardinals could not, in good faith, give him the starting job.

You have to remember, Matt Leinart was a first round pick by the Cardinals, so they desperately wanted him to succeed. Teams give former first rounders an obscene amount of chances to succeed, and the Cardinals were no exception. In 2007, Kurt Warner posted a 89.8 QB rating, while Leinart had a 61.9 QB rating. And yet during the 2008 preseason, the Cardinals continued to try and give Leinart the starting job. It wasn't until he threw three picks in a preseason game against the Raiders (that's one half of play, mind you) that they finally gave the job to Warner.

Let's compare Matt Leinart to the oft-criticized Tarvaris Jackson. Do you suppose the guys at Football Outsiders would say, hey, anybody would lose his job to Brett Favre, we still think Jackson is a good player? Uhh, no, nobody would say that. And rightfully so, just as they shouldn't be saying that about Leinart. Career stats:

Leinart:
595 attempts, 57% completion percentage, 14 TDs, 20 INTs, 6.5 yards per attempt, 70.8 rating
Jackson:
545 attempts, 58% completion percentage, 21 TDs, 18 INTs, 6.7 yards per attempt, 77.9 rating

In no way, shape or form has Leinart been better than Jackson, who everyone thinks is a bum who doesn't belong in the NFL. Jackson has been slightly more accurate (let that sink in), more TDs, fewer INTs, better yards per attempt, and a better QB rating. And also keep in mind that Leinart posted those numbers throwing to Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, while Jackson posted most of his numbers throwing to guys like Bobby Wade and Troy Williamson.

This is not to say that Jackson is a viable NFL starter, because he isn't. What it is to say is that Leinart also is not a viable NFL starter, and on top of that it's irresponsible of Football Outsiders to tell people that Leinart lost his job simply because Warner was so good. That wasn't the case at all; he lost it because his play sucked.

Football Outsiders is a smart website, and these guys know better. They're blindly accepting Leinart's hype from college, which is the antithesis of what they preach. Frankly, I'm ashamed of them for doing this. They're supposed to be objective, and here they are quite clearly not being objective at all. Objectively speaking, Leinart has been worse than Tarvaris Jackson playing in a better offense.