TEMPE, Ariz. -- Kurt Warner always wanted one more shot as an NFL starting quarterback, and now he's got it.
He's sorry it came at Matt Leinart's expense.
Been here before
Kurt Warner will be the full-time starter now that Matt Leinart is out for the season with a broken collarbone. But Warner has been here before, as his Cinderella career launched when he replaced the injured Trent Green in St. Louis -- incidentally, the place where Leinart suffered his season-ending injury. Warner capped that storybook season with a Super Bowl victory. Arizona fans probably wouldn't mind a sequel.Leinart placed on IR. | Warner's bio
With Leinart out for the rest of the season due to a fractured left collarbone, the 36-year-old Warner has become the first-string quarterback for the first-place team in the NFC West. Arizona (3-2) is off to its best start since 2002 and is tied with Seattle for the division lead.
The Cardinals signed free-agent quarterback Tim Rattay on Tuesday to backup Warner.
"This is what you want to do every time you enter a season," Warner said. "Every time you come back to play, you want to be in there playing every snap. So I'm excited about that part of it, relatively speaking. Obviously, I'm disappointed for Matt. You never want to get this position and take over a job due to an injury."
Leinart was hurt on a sack by St. Louis linebacker Will Witherspoon in the second quarter of Arizona's 34-31 victory at the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday. The Cardinals said Leinart was to undergo more tests on Monday, and they did not know when he might return. It's likely he'll be out several weeks.
Arizona had only two quarterbacks on its roster, so general manager Rod Graves spent Monday trying to find another backup. If Warner had been injured in St. Louis, wide receiver Jerheme Urban would have taken snaps.
"Obviously there's not a lot of guys out there that you feel comfortable with, or they would be with a team," coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
This was the scenario the Cardinals envisioned when they decided to keep Warner even after drafting Leinart in the first round in 2006. Warner is in the second year of an incentive-laden three-year deal that could be worth between $15 million and $22 million.
Leinart's loss isn't catastrophic to the Cardinals because Warner had been more effective this season, seeing significant action each of the last three weeks in a no-huddle package.
Warner has completed 62.3 percent of his passes this year with four touchdown passes and one interception. Leinart has completed 53.6 percent, with two touchdown passes and four picks.
Leinart was not available to the media on Monday. Warner said he sympathized with his teammate.
"This is going to be hard," Warner said. "This is going to be probably the toughest thing he's gone through in his career."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
