NFL notebook: Leinart battling for job

A year ago in training camp, Matt Leinart was trying, and ultimately failing, to keep the Arizona starting quarterback job.

Now he’s in a fight to remain No. 2.

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt assured Brian St. Pierre that he’d get a shot at the backup job to Kurt Warner, and he hasn’t backed off that pledge in the first week of camp.

“I think they’re just pushing me, as they’ve been doing for a long time now,” Leinart said in an interview on Tuesday.

Leinart says he’s confident in his abilities – and he laughs off suggestions that this is another sign that his NFL career is a bust.

“For me, it’s just nonsense,” he said. “I’ve learned you don’t pay attention to that stuff. Guys are going to try to create controversy and all that kind of stuff.”

Whisenhunt brushed aside the situation as a non-story.

“To be talking about a competition at the second-team quarterback to me just means there’s not a whole lot else going on,” he said, “because nobody talks about the battles for the second-team running back or the second-team linebacker and there’s no difference in my eyes.”

Except when the name is Leinart, who won the Heisman Trophy and directed USC to two national championships before coming to the Cardinals. A year ago, Leinart and Warner had a tough fight for the job before the veteran was named the starter after the last preseason game.

What followed was a Pro Bowl season for Warner and a spectacular run to the Super Bowl, with Leinart watching from the sidelines. The young quarterback never complained, and he isn’t complaining now with St. Pierre in the picture.

“It doesn’t bother me at all because I know what I need to do just to continue to have a chance to play and that’s all I’m really worried about,” he said. “I welcome competition.”

Pierce has no regrets

New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce has no regrets about helping Plaxico Burress after his former teammate accidentally shot himself in the leg last November.

Speaking a day after a Manhattan grand jury decided not to indict him on charges of carrying Burress’ unlicensed firearm in the aftermath of the nightclub shooting, Pierce said he acted reasonably, responsibly and instinctively in coming to the aid of a wounded teammate.

Pierce, who has been silent about the shooting for the past nine months, declined to discuss any details of the incident.

Packers eyeing Vick?

The Packers aren’t ruling out Michael Vick.

Asked whether Green Bay might be interested in the scandal-tainted quarterback, general manager Ted Thompson didn’t rule it out.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Packers are in hot pursuit of Vick. Thompson is notoriously coy about the team’s plans, so it wasn’t immediately clear whether his comments indicated a sincere level of interest.

“What is the answer that we give to questions like this? We’re always looking to improve our team,” Thompson said.

Around the league

The Kansas City Chiefs signed former New York Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer to a one-year deal. … Houston Texans starting cornerback Jacques Reeves and starting center Chris Myers will miss time from injuries sustained in practice. Reeves fractured his left leg in a collision with receiver Andre Davis and is expected to be out 6 to 8 weeks. Myers sustained a high ankle sprain and will be out indefinitely.