San Francisco ? Alex Smith and Matt Leinart attended some of the same football camps while they grew up about 80 miles apart in southern California. Both have had the honor of handing off to Reggie Bush, and both developed into high NFL Draft picks.

They’ve become off-field buddies since both quarterbacks landed jobs in the NFC West, and the high-profile Leinart’s friendly rivalry with a low-key Smith could develop into something special as the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals rebuild their franchises.

But tonight, both quarterbacks’ biggest goal is to coax a good start out of two teams with high hopes for this season, but multiple consecutive losing seasons behind them.

“We’re both trying to do a lot of the same things,” Leinart said. “We’re coming into the season with a lot of the same goals, and hopefully it’s the start of a really good matchup.”

Smith knows his Heisman Trophy-winning counterpart came into the NFL with more fanfare, even though Leinart was drafted a year later and nine spots lower than him. Smith also realizes he’ll be compared to Leinart for years, particularly because San Francisco’s fans were pining to pick Leinart with No. 1 overall choice in 2005 – but Leinart stayed in school.

“I don’t think any scrutiny compares to becoming the first pick and what comes with that,” Smith said. “I think it’s all downhill since then, but I would kind of expect it. We both play in the same division, both young teams. It comes with the position. As a quarterback, I think you’re constantly evaluating and comparing, just by nature of being competitive.”