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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Cardinals coach Dennis Green has decided who
will start at quarterback against Tennessee, but won't make his
choice public until shortly before Sunday's kickoff. "We basically take the position this week the more we know, the
better for us it is, and the less that Tennessee knows, the better
it is for us," Green said after Wednesday's practice. Green said he told the team who the quarterback will be, but
those sampled Wednesday weren't about to break the code of secrecy. The two candidates, Kurt Warner and Josh McCown, stood side by
side on the podium where the starting quarterback talks to
reporters on Wednesdays. Neither would divulge what they knew. "I have an older brother and every time his friends would get
together and talk about stuff and they wouldn't tell me," McCown
said. "Now I'm in the know and you guys don't know, so that kind
of feels good to me to be on the other side of it." Such was the lighthearted tone of the subject throughout the
locker room. Asked if Anquan Boldin, who by circumstance wound up starting at
quarterback for Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, might be a
candidate, Warner replied, "He can wing it now, he can." "I don't know if he can read anything," Warner added. "The
first receiver better be open, but he can fling it." Tongue firmly in cheek, Boldin said that indeed he would be the
starting quarterback. "I think as the week goes on, I start to progress from the
second and third reads to my flat check. I mean, if I'm in doubt, I
just hit the running back on an angle route or flat rout. It's not
that hard. Playing quarterback is a lot easier than playing
receiver," Boldin said. Even 6-foot-6, 370-pound offensive tackle Leonard Davis got into
the act, saying he wanted to play quarterback. "I'll run the East Coast offense," he said. Whether Green can keep the lid on all week remains to be seen,
but Warner and McCown wouldn't even say whose decision it was for
the two of them to stand on the podium together. Warner, at 34 eight years older than McCown, started the first
three games before going down with a groin strain in Arizona's loss
at Seattle on Sept. 25. McCown, who started 13 games last season,
came on to throw for career highs of 385 yards in this year's
victory, against San Francisco in Mexico City, and 398 in the Oct.
9 home loss to Carolina. No quarterback in the Cardinals' long history had thrown for so
many yards in consecutive games. Yet Green talked about the failure of the team to move the ball
late against Carolina, and the inability to score more points to go
with all those yards. Warner has the experience and MVP savvy. McCown has mobility. Warner said he is feeling healthier each day. "I was a little leery after Monday," he said. "There was a
little bit of pain out there. I was just hoping it was the first
day back and doing some of the reps and some of the things I
haven't done. Today it felt a whole lot better." Both said their friendly relationship makes it easier to root
for the other guy. "I think you see so often around this league that the guys
don't get along, they don't like each other, they make it one guy
against the other guy," said Warner, who lost starting jobs in St.
Louis and, last year, with the New York Giants. "You don't have
that same type of atmosphere (in Arizona). That's what makes it
easier."
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