The most significant development in the Cardinals search for their 2010 starting quarterback came not from anything Matt Leinart or Derek Anderson did on the field.

It came from what the 2009 quarterback, Kurt Warner, tweeted off of the field:

@kurt13warner OK, y’all… I am watching game… I am not coming back… and I would still appreciate your help! LOL, sorry guys, u know def of ‘retire’?

@kurt13warner Shout out 2 my guys Jaws, Coach G, and Mike Tirico thanks for the love! Sorry, but I am done, maybe I will join u in the booth sometime! LOL

Governor Jan Brewer passed SB 1070 and disposed of photo radar on the freeways. Surely she has the power to force #13 out of retirement. Can we poison the water supply in the Warner household with the same Kool-Aid that Brett Favre has been drinking for the last three years? We’ve already seen one NFL team reduced to begging for the return of their king…what’s wrong with two?

Of course, Warner’s busy iPhone fingers weren’t the story of the night. Rational fans know just as well as I do that he is not coming back, he was never coming back.

The story is the quarterback question, as in, do they have a quarterback?

The offense looked anemic under Leinart: zero first downs, protection issues, no run game, etc. Things briefly perked up under Anderson but then he displayed the lack of accuracy that cost him a starting job in Cleveland. Not one but two bad throws into the end zone, he threw high on one, behind on the other. If he completes either one of them we’ve got a full blown controversy on our plate.

Instead we’ve got this big empty feeling, like winning the consolation prize on a game-show. The 2010 Arizona Cardinals board game. Or is it bored game?

I know it’s just the preseason. I know that even the great Kurt Warner struggled in last year’s preseason. I understand that what I’ve seen so far hardly counts as evidence that Leinart or Anderson can’t get the job done. And I trust Ken Whisenhunt. Implicitly.

Even the vanilla preseason has to have some flavor to it. I’m waiting for Leinart, or Anderson for that matter, to show me SOMETHING this preseason. This was supposed to be Leinart’s moment. Monday Night Football vs. Vince Young. The moment where the “gamer” (stole that from Ron Wolfley) showed up. Instead, they’re off to watch more film.

Earlier on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said that Anderson has outplayed Leinart all camp long and suggested it was only a matter of time until Anderson unseats Leinart. Anyone who had spent any length of time at Camp Cardinals can easily refute the first claim but at this point I couldn’t tell you who the leader in the clubhouse is for the starting QB job.

Leinart isn’t doing anything to keep it. Anderson isn’t doing anything to take it. And in that void we’ve been reduced to reading twitter to find the answers. Like this gem from Peter King of Sports Illustrated (@SI_PeterKing):

Probably not a good idea to take Matt Leinart in your fantasy draft. You can’t take Anderson either. The cards are in big offensive trouble.

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