One is a lefty from Hollywood, spotted dancing with the likes of Paris Hilton.
The other is a righty from southern Indiana and a quirky town named Santa Claus, who has spent the past month or so hanging out with his parents at his new Denver-area home.
Wait a minute. Let’s apply the brakes to the preseason hype about young gun quarterbacks Matt Leinart of the Arizona Cardinals and the Broncos’ Jay Cutler.
There’s only so much glitz and glamour that can be applied to any portion of an NFL preseason schedule, especially when it’s the final game that doesn’t count.
There is a more substantive issue confronting the Leinart-Cutler dual. In many ways, it doesn’t really matter whether Leinart, the movie-star handsome former Southern Cal star, or Cutler, the quiet kid from the Midwest with the strong arm, has the better performance in their preseason game tonight at Cardinals Stadium.
On the regular-season schedule, Game 14 for each team, Arizona and the Broncos will play in suburban Phoenix again, that time for keeps.
When it comes to Leinart and Cutler, what people up and down the winter mountain time zone are wondering is, will they meet again this year?
“I think it’s exciting for everyone to see them play (tonight) because neither one may play once the season starts so now’s the time for them to shine,” Arizona coach Dennis Green said.
At the risk of offending all things Broncos, ignore the respective records of the past 18 years and Denver and Arizona have much in common. Each will play its home games in modern facilities – the Broncos at 5-year-old Invesco Field at Mile High; Arizona at brand new Cardinals Stadium.
Both teams will be led this season by veteran quarterbacks – the Cardinals by Kurt Warner and the Broncos by Jake Plummer. And in Leinart and Cutler, each team has a highly touted, rookie quarterback who has played impressively during the preseason.
As for whether Leinart or Cutler will play against each other when it matters on Dec. 17, the same answer applies to both: It depends on the veteran quarterback ahead of them.
“You never know,” Cutler said. “Hopefully, Jake stays healthy and hopefully we keep winning and I can sit back, watch and learn. But this is an opportunity for me to start and play for an extended period of time.”
In Arizona, the concern is whether the injury-prone Warner can hold up for 16 games. In Denver, Plummer has Gumby-like flexibility, but around the country, most notably in Arizona where he played for six seasons, critics wonder how long Good Jake can continue to fend off Bad Jake.
As a sign the Broncos aren’t completely committed to keeping Cutler on the bench this year, he may play up to three quarters tonight, including the first quarter against Arizona’s starters. Through three preseason games, Cutler has completed 27-of-43 passes for 360 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions against second- string defenses.
“This game is going to tell a lot,” he said. “For the time we’re up against their starters, we’ll be able to see exactly where we’re at.”
Green is emphatic that while tonight provides a sneak peak at two potential stars, any evaluation of a rookie quarterback would be classified as premature.
“It’s going to come down to three years from now when they move on to that fourth year: Who’s going to win the most games?” Green said.
Indeed, the season of The Drive, when John Elway officially became John Elway? It was near the end of Elway’s fourth season. So for all the talk that Leinart was the most advanced quarterback on draft day, only to have Cutler demonstrate advanced development during the preseason, the bottom line is both are behind veterans.
“We have a new stadium, we’ve got an expanded fan base so I think we’ve moved into the big time now and hopefully Kurt Warner will stay healthy and help us become a playoff team,” Green said. “Matt Leinart probably moves into that backup role and watch and learn and be alert and recognize that at any given time he could be sent into the game.”
Mike Klis can be reached at 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.
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