Kurt Warner, the 36-year-old quarterback who had shared duties with Leinart, moves into the starting job. The team signed Tim Rattay on Tuesday 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. He sat on the sideline in the second half with his arm in a sling.

“We didn’t want to rush him back,” first-year coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “To hold a roster spot for that long is difficult, with some of the areas we are banged, with the hope he can get back in time. I am more concerned about him trying to rush back and maybe jeopardize his future.”

The uncertain timetable was a major reason for calling an end to the young quarterback’s season.

“Whenever you have a fracture there will be six weeks or however long it takes to heal,” Whisenhunt said, “and then, especially because it is his throwing shoulder, you have to do the rehabilitation of it throwing the football. Who knows what it could have been? Could have been 8 weeks, could have been 12 weeks.”

Leinart, the 10th overall pick in the 2006 draft, had been unhappy with the two-quarterback system employed by Whisenhunt. The former Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion at USC has started 16 games for Arizona, including the first five this season.

But Whisenhunt used Warner when the team went to a no-huddle offense that often has been effective.

Warner’s statistics are better than Leinart’s.

Warner has completed 62 percent of his passes (43-of-69) for 580 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception. Leinart has completed 54 percent (60-of-112) for 647 yards, with two touchdowns and four interceptions.

Warner, a former NFL and Super Bowl MVP, is in his 10th NFL season, the past three with the Cardinals. He started the first four games last season before losing the job to the then-rookie Leinart.

Rattay, an eight-year veteran, played in four games last year for Tampa Bay and completed 61 of 101 passes. He played for the San Francisco 49ers for six years before being traded to the Buccaneers.

“He has competed in this league and he has started in this league,” Whisenhunt said. “That will help him pick up the offense. Just the way he understands the game — you see it on tape — that’s why we were interested in him.”

Arizona also signed guard Keydrick Vincent and released center Chukky Okobi.

The injury occurred on a sack late in the first half, and Leinart appeared in obvious pain on the bench before being escorted to the trainer’s room with the game tied at 10-10. He watched the rest of the contest from the sideline with his left arm in a sling.

Leinart was 7-of-13 for 100 yards with one interception in the game. He was replaced by veteran Kurt Warner, who had already been sharing time under center in the last two contests, coming off the bench to lead a no-huddle formation.

Warner finished 14-of-28 for 190 yards, with one TD and one interception.

Not to worry, I won’t be deleting the gallery just yet I’ll still keep that open until the merge has been completed.

Peyton, Eli, Archie and Olivia Manning, along with Matt Leinart, filmed a commercial for Direct TV’s NFL preview package from a home overlooking Lake Chickamauga on Wednesday.

“When they first started this morning, they had stand-ins,” said Bluff View Circle resident Louise Woodruff. “The last couple of hours, it’s been them, shooting inside and out.”

The commercial plays off Eli and Peyton’s success in the NFL, and Archie’s teaching ability in a family atmosphere.

“Peyton and Eli come home and find Olivia cooking or making lemonade,” production assistant Leliah Ayub said. “They say, ‘Where’s Dad?’ She says, ‘He’s in the back yard.’ The two kids exit out the back door.

“And there’s Archie giving quarterback lessons to Matt Leinart going, ‘I always wanted a lefty.’ ”

A sheriff deputy closed the street and quizzed any person who attempted to get close to the set.

Lights, reflectors and other video gear were scattered across the grassy and shaded backyard. Support and production staff scampered between trucks, vans and tents. Neighbors watched from the street sharing stories of what they saw on the closed set.

“It was fun being down there with all the neighborhood,” Woodruff said. “They did several shots of Eli and Peyton coming out of the house with their gear.

“They’d come out, go back in. Come out, and go back in.”

Woodruff’s grandson, 11-year-old Blake Ragsdale, watched from the street and waited more than an hour to get autographs from any of the quarterbacks.

Ragsdale received signatures from Eli and Peyton on a camouflage Bass Pro Shops hat with the inscription, “In memory of Chase,” on the side. The words honor Ragsdale’s late cousin, Chase Benton, who died in an auto accident in September 2005.

“I’m going to wear it all the time,” Ragsdale said. “I’m never going to wash it because the ink might come out.”