What about Bob?

Now that Matt Leinart is officially ticked at the idea of platooning with Kurt Warner at quarterback, it hit us that it's somewhat similar to what Ray Handley was thinking during his first season as the Giants' head coach in 1991.

Now, the backdrop was entirely different, because Handley had inherited a Super Bowl championship team that won with Jeff Hostetler filling in for the injured Phil Simms. But it was Handley's idea of a quarterback rotation that got us thinking about the Leinart-Warner system that Ken Whisenhunt now employs in Arizona.

Handley had the nearly impossible task of choosing between Hostetler, the more mobile quarterback who was extremely popular during his incredible Super Bowl run, or Simms, the iconic quarterback who still had a portion of the fan base on his side, but had seen his star fall somewhat from his earlier days.

During his deliberations, Handley came up with the idea of a quarterback rotation. He'd considered alternating starters, and then putting Hostetler or Simms in for a given series based on how things were going in a game. Handley ran the idea past his quarterbacks, but Simms was furious with the plan.

He told Handley he would not participate in a rotation, and that if Handley still wanted to do it, then Simms gave strong indications that the coach should go with Hostetler as the starter. Which is what Handley eventually did.

Memo to Whisenhunt: Handley lasted two years in New York.

PS: I honestly don't mind what Whisenhunt is doing. In fact, I kind of like it. I don't think it's a bad thing that Leinart gets his comeuppance because he's a cocky kid who needs to pay his dues in a league where you don't get to play Washington State every year. And the fact is the Cardinals have a better chance to win when Warner, who is more comfortable with the setup, plays his role. I don't see Whisenhunt doing this indefinitely, either.

(If you're wondering about the picture, no, it's not Ray Handley. Fact is, we couldn't find a picture of Handley when we Googled him. Lucky he coached back then. This picture did come up on a Ray Handley image search, however. It was donated by a Mr. and Mrs. Ray Handley to a museum in San Francisco. And in some twisted way, the expression on this picture seems to match what Giants fans felt about the beleaguered coach. As if a psychologist said to a hopelessly obsessed Giants' fan during the team's 6-10 season in 1992: Draw me a picture of how you see coach Handley on the sidelines. Or could it be a self portrait?)