Arizona Cardinals Football Team

Lost: Dog tags. Name: Pat Tillman. If anyone knows of the whereabouts of two dog tags that once adorned the neck of a former NFL star who was killed while fighting for his country in Afghanistan, please come forward. His former team, the Arizona Cardinals, play Sunday in the Super Bowl His former Cardinals roommate, Zack Walz, is desperate to wear them again. Walz was given the tags by Tillman as a gift shortly before his death.

Almost two years ago, when he met the current Arizona Cardinals coaching staff, Kurt Warner's squeaky-clean reputation was intact. Which is to say people thought he was thoroughly washed up. That was the vibe the quarterback got, anyway. "For two years, I've been fighting perceptions of what I can't do," Warner said. "I don't believe this coaching staff had any expectations for me. It took time for me to convince them."

Matt Leinart had the resume for it -- three years in the spotlight as quarterback for one of the most talented teams in college football, with a couple of national championships and a Heisman Trophy to show for it. And he had the press clippings -- a magazine spread that placed him among the best-looking celebrities on the planet and a constant stream of out-on-the-town sightings linking him to some of the frat-pack set's hottest stars and starlets. Who could argue the former USC star's Mr.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two promising young quarterbacks. Two teams hoping to be the surprise of this NFL season. And an unusually late kickoff. Monday night's game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers had all the makings of a Cinderella story. By the close of an uneven if not sloppy evening, neither team looked especially primed for the ball, but at least the 49ers had taken a step in the right direction, scrambling back for a 20-17 victory at Monster Park.

PHOENIX -- An already difficult second NFL season came to an end Tuesday for Arizona's Matt Leinart when the quarterback was put on injured reserve because of a broken collarbone. Kurt Warner, 36, who had shared duties with Leinart, moves into the starting job. The team signed Tim Rattay to be Warner's backup. Leinart, a left-hander, fractured his left collarbone when he was sacked by Will Witherspoon in the second quarter of the Cardinals' 34-31 victory over the Rams in St. Louis on Sunday.

Matt Leinart says he's neither Mr. Hollywood nor the latest Mr. Hilton, but merely a rookie quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. And to him, that's a welcome change. "I feel like I'm less in the spotlight," the former USC standout said in a phone interview Thursday, after the Cardinals concluded rookie workouts. "I was just so happy to get out of L.A. I love SC, and I'm from Orange County, so leaving my family was tough.

Matt Leinart isn't too Hollywood after all. As the only unsigned first-round pick in this year's rookie class, the would-be leading man for the Arizona Cardinals is more like a top-notch independent film -- smart, original, and you can't find it playing anywhere.

NEARLY a decade ago, the NFL's hapless Arizona Cardinals, a team that has posted exactly one winning season since moving to the desert from St. Louis in 1988, hired the New York architect Peter Eisenman to design its new stadium. It was a surprising choice.

They happened within 10 minutes of each other, an impressive slice of synchronicity for two Heisman Trophy winners from USC. The first took place Sunday in New Orleans, when rookie Reggie Bush lifted the Saints to victory over Tampa Bay with the first touchdown of his NFL career, a 65-yard, game-winning punt return. Before Bush's vapor trail could evaporate, his former Trojan teammate was scribbling his own bit of personal history.

They cherish theirs in Seattle, curse theirs in Phoenix, and cringe in Foxborough every time theirs takes the field. Keep in mind, of course, this could all change next week. NFL kickers have always been important to the success of their teams, but as games get closer -- a byproduct of the league's competitive balance -- every field goal becomes essential. Last weekend, eight of 13 games were decided by three points or fewer.