Missing It by That Much

Something looks different, slightly off.

After engineering one of the most dramatic drives in USC football history and scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against Notre Dame, even Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart acknowledged that something was not quite right.

“I don’t know exactly what it is -- you can’t pinpoint one thing, but I think I can be playing better,” the senior quarterback said this week.

The comment came off neither as false modesty nor a rote monologue about his continual quest for improvement.

After a spectacular start in the first two games of the season, Leinart’s overall performance has been off -- or at least below the standard he had established.

The sharpness Leinart displayed in routs of Hawaii and Arkansas waned in a comeback victory over Oregon. After he took a ferocious hit, it eroded more in a comeback victory over Arizona State. And it continued at times against Arizona and through the first 50 minutes against Notre Dame.

Coach Pete Carroll this week attributed Leinart’s struggles in part to the media crush and burden of expectations that Leinart has shouldered since January, when he announced he would forgo instant millions in the NFL and return to try to help the Trojans win an unprecedented third consecutive national title.

Others cite the number of times Leinart has been hit this season, or the subtle changes in the Trojans’ offense under assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.

But former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason says Leinart is doing just fine and compares him to the only undefeated quarterback in the NFL this season. “He’s not pinpoint and perfect; it looks like he’s grinding a little bit,” Esiason said. “He had such a fantastic year last year, it’s kind of like what Peyton Manning is going through this year.”

In 2004, Manning threw an NFL-record 49 touchdown passes; he has only nine this season, but the Indianapolis Colts are 6-0.

Despite a sore left elbow and a hernia, Leinart last season completed 65% of his passes for 3,322 yards and 33 touchdowns with only six interceptions.

He had elbow surgery in January and also undertook a rigorous spring conditioning program to strengthen his abdominal muscles. He insists that neither his throwing arm nor the hernia is bothering him.

And as top-ranked and unbeaten USC begins the second half of its season Saturday at Washington, some of the numbers say Leinart is playing better than he was at the same point in 2004.

After six games last season, Leinart had completed 112 of 172 passes (65.1%) for 1,411 yards with 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. His highest yardage total was 284 yards.

This season, he has completed 125 of 198 passes (63.1%) for 1,947 yards with 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has eclipsed the 300-yard mark five times.

But Leinart struggled with touch and accuracy the last three games.

Against Arizona State, he finished without a touchdown pass for only the second time since becoming the starter in 2003. The next week against Arizona, he missed several throws.

The fourth-quarter heroics against Notre Dame overshadowed that Leinart completed only 53% of his passes -- his lowest percentage in 30 regular-season games -- had two passes intercepted and again finished without a touchdown pass.

It did not help that Trojan receivers dropped four passes.

Pass protection also has been an issue.

Though Leinart has been sacked eight times -- three fewer than at this point last season -- he has been hit more in recent games. He also has been hit more violently.

“He’s had two or three statement hits,” Carroll said. “Guys are willing to hit him late.”

Arizona State linebacker Robert James delivered the biggest blow when he nailed Leinart late on a rollout.

Leinart missed only two plays, but afterward he said, “I don’t know if I was all there the whole game.” Three days later, he said he had suffered a mild concussion.

“I’m getting hit, but that’s just the game, that’s the position of quarterback, you’re going to get hit back there,” Leinart said this week. “You’re going to be vulnerable at times throwing the ball and getting hit late, or throwing the ball and getting hit right when you throw the ball.”

Notre Dame sacked Leinart twice and also got to him on at least three other plays.

Offensive line coach Pat Ruel said Leinart has been hit too often.

“A lot of it is really correctable,” Ruel said. “It’s guys paying attention to detail and taking care of their business.”

To that end, right guard Fred Matua and right tackle Winston Justice had long post-practice discussions this week with Carroll and Ruel, respectively.

Leinart’s struggles also might be attributed in part to the Trojans’ more aggressive offensive approach and the way opponents have tried to stop them. For much of the previous two seasons under coordinator Norm Chow, Leinart connected with flankers and split ends on short slant patterns and with running backs on screen passes.

This season, the Trojans have often tried deeper routes.

“Last year was different because we were a lot more conservative and the offense was a lot different,” Leinart said. “I mean it’s the same, but there’s a lot of different things as well because we’re more experienced.”

Sarkisian said Leinart’s touchdown-pass production has been affected by USC’s running game, and the ability of Reggie Bush and LenDale White to score from within the 20-yard line. He also says the Trojans are simply taking advantage of what the defense presents.

“In a perfect world, you’d want all of it: You want the quick game and the short game and the deep game, and we’ve gotten some games like that and we’re striving for that,” Sarkisian said. “But I’m not going to complain about 40-yard completions to [flanker] Steve Smith down the middle.”

Kiffin said the Trojans have changed their approach during some games to take pressure off Leinart. But he said there would be no major shift during the second half of the season in how the Trojans protect the quarterback.

“We know the system and the blueprint we have for this offense is extremely effective,” Kiffin said. “So we’re going to stay with that and just do things better.”

Despite any recent struggles, Leinart’s NFL stock appears to be holding steady, if not increasing.

The final scoring drive against Notre Dame included a 61-yard pass to split end Dwayne Jarrett on a play in which Leinart called an audible on fourth and nine in the final two minutes.

“There’s no question the kid has guts; that’s what makes a great quarterback,” said Mike Giddings, a former USC assistant who runs a service that evaluates pro football players for NFL teams. “That last drive was a classic.”

Gil Brandt, a longtime NFL personnel executive, said Leinart’s maturity and knack for winning already made him a top prospect. The drive only added to his resume.

“Anybody who wouldn’t want him for that final drive, I guess they’re looking for something else,” Brandt said.

Esiason agreed.

“Every coach in the NFL wants a guy that can do that in the heat of the battle,” he said.

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Leinart, then and now

Matt Leinart’s first six games of 2004 and 2005:

*--* 2004 Opponent Att. Comp. Yards TD Int Sacks Virginia Tech 29 19 272 3 0 2 Colorado State 31 20 231 2 0 0 Brigham Young 34 22 236 2 1 2 Stanford 30 23 284 1 1 2 California 24 15 164 2 1 4 Arizona State 24 13 224 4 0 1 Totals 172 112 1,411 14 3 11 2005 Opponent Att. Comp. Yards TD Int. Sacks Hawaii 24 18 332 3 1 1 Arkansas 24 18 381 4 0 1 Oregon 39 23 315 3 1 1 Arizona State 39 23 258 0 0 2 Arizona 40 26 360 2 1 1 Notre Dame 32 17 301 0 2 2 Totals 198 125 1,947 12 5 8

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