Kurt Warner retires

capable_keL · Post by **capable_keL** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:00 pm

hall of fame

rooski · Post by **rooski** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:04 pm

And with that I'm done with the NFL. I've felt the joy of being for a respectable team, if only for two year. I can't go back and I won't.

ric · Post by **ric** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:09 pm

rooski, thats the end for you? you dont think theyll find anybody to fill his shoes? leinarts not exactly the gawd but it seems like they have to be on the lookout for another qb after this....

capable_keL · Post by **capable_keL** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:56 pm

hearing mcnabb to az rumors

just the usual mcnabb offseason talk

GLUS · Post by **GLUS** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:16 am

keL wrote:hearing mcnabb to az rumors

just the usual mcnabb offseason talk

thats what ive been saying
no way a team that close lets leinart fuck it up.
they gotta get mcnabb.

Nl5H · Post by **Nl5H** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:46 am

mcnabb on that team would be scary.

ThaJim2 · Post by **ThaJim2** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:52 pm

Positive A wrote:
keL wrote:2 super bowls
2 mvps
leader in postseason passing categories

if warner isnt elite, who is?
Otto Graham

Please for the love of god do not confuse my hero worship of a legend with Ric's insanity. While I think Graham is without question the greatest ever I am more than willing to say that Warner was an Elite QB and had one of the most unique and great careers in all of sports.

capable_keL · Post by **capable_keL** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:45 pm

my dad cant even recant some otto graham memoirs

how old are ya jim?

an-also · Post by **an-also** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:23 pm

A nice little piece on jesus boy from Peter King

Kurt, we hardly knew ye.

The five things I consider particularly amazing about the Kurt Warner Story:

1. It's the most amazing story in football in a half-century. I don't say that lightly. In 1955, Johnny Unitas, the fourth quarterback in Steelers training camp, was cut by Pittsburgh. He went home to Pittsburgh, worked a construction job, and played semipro football for $6 a game on the weekends. The Colts signed him in 1956. He was the NFL MVP in 1957. He piloted the Colts to a 23-17 overtime victory in the 1958 NFL Championship Game in what writers then and since have called the greatest pro football game ever played.

Warner, an undrafted free-agent in Packers camp in 1994, was cut by Green Bay and went to work for $5.50 an hour stocking shelves in a Cedar Falls, Iowa, grocery store. He bounced around Arena and pro football until earning the backup job in St. Louis in 1999, then ascending to the top job when Trent Green wrecked his knee in the final '99 preseason game. All Warner did was win the league MVP and lead his team to the Super Bowl title. Come to think of it, it might be crazier than Unitas' story.

2. The Rams never signed a veteran quarterback, like Jeff Hostetler, when Green went down. With their jobs on the line, coach Dick Vermeil and offensive coordinator Mike Martz stayed with the unknown, unproven Warner. "Dick looked around the [coaches meeting] room when it happened, and he said, 'Remember, all our jobs are resting on this decision,' '' Martz told me the other night. "But Dick loved him too. Dick thought he was special just like I did.''

That night, or soon thereafter, Martz had a conversation with a skeptical reporter about the decision to play Warner. "The guy said to me, 'How can you possibly think you can win with Kurt Warner?' I said to him, 'Well, we see him every day. We trust him. He can run our offense.' The guy kept going, and I finally, said, 'This discussion is ended.' We just trusted Kurt.''

3. As quickly as he came, he just as quickly vanished. From 2002 to 2006, a five-year window, he was brittle and seemed to fall to earth. With the Giants and Cards, he seemed to settle into a nice little backup role. But inside he seethed and wouldn't accept being relegated to second-string. I call it the five-year Donut Hole in the middle of his career.

4. As quickly as he vanished, he just as quickly climbed to the top of the football world again. Warner won the starting Cardinal quarterback job to the shock of many ... because he beat out bonus-baby and high first-round pick Matt Leinart for the job. And he quite nearly led the Cards to their first Super Bowl win.

5. Two rotten franchises, the Rams and Cards. Two makeover jobs. Quickly. Both led by Warner.

Lucky break number one came in the form of an injury.

"I'll never forget when Trent got hurt,'' Warner said by phone Friday, after his retirement news conference. "There was a lot of emotion, a lot of fear, in the locker room because of the way Trent was playing. He was so well thought of by the guys in the locker room, everyone felt awful for him. But for me, as unfortunate as it was for him, it was the opportunity that comes sometimes in football when you least expect it. It was the chance I'd been waiting for my whole life -- to be able to start for a team in the NFL. Now I could never say anymore, 'Nobody ever gave me a chance.' Now I was going to know if I could really do it or not.

"What was perfect for me was that Mike [Martz] drew the game up exactly the way I always wanted to play football -- with a lot of quick decisions to be made. He wanted to play decisively, not be afraid to make decisions and live with them. And I had the great toys at my disposal in that offense. I played exactly the way the offense was drawn up by Mike. It was a perfect marriage.''

Lucky break number two came because Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt did exactly what he said he was going to do in 2008 -- he played the best player in training camp between Warner and Leinart.

"No question I was skeptical I'd get the job,'' Warner said. "I'd heard it before -- the best man will win -- but sometime it hadn't happened. Here, I knew without a doubt I was the best man for the job. That's not a cut on Matt [Leinart]. And it wasn't a cut on Eli [Manning] when I was with the Giants. But I felt like there were times in my career where it didn't matter what I did, I wasn't going to get the job. And when Coach Whisenhunt called me into the office and gave me the news I'd be starting ... I don't want to say I was shocked, but I knew I was in the right place. I was playing for a coach who thought outside the box. He was willing to follow his gut.''

Players need coaches to show faith in them. Coaches need players who reward their faith.

"I knew we had something great,'' said Martz. "I'll never forget a pass Kurt threw against the Giants. It was about third-and-15. He was back to pass, and a tackle and linebacker came free. They were inches from hitting him. It's a sack. Easy sack. Kurt's got Isaac Bruce in the middle of a route and throws to the exact spot where he'd be cutting, like five yards down the field. The second Isaac turns his head on the cut, the ball's on him. Just about right on his helmet. First down. Kurt just raised the standard for everything we did.''

There's a special place in football lore for Warner. And there's a special place in football history for a player who came out of nowhere and ran an offense no one could stop for three years -- and had a two-year career rebirth when he was almost as great. He was a meteor across the NFL sky. Twice.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/w ... z0eLTJ6JgL
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Reason · Post by **Reason** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:33 pm

^^
peter king's mmqb is always amazing

ric · Post by **ric** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:08 am

ThaJim2 wrote:
Positive A wrote:
keL wrote:2 super bowls
2 mvps
leader in postseason passing categories

if warner isnt elite, who is?
Otto Graham
Please for the love of god do not confuse my hero worship of a legend with Ric's insanity. While I think Graham is without question the greatest ever I am more than willing to say that Warner was an Elite QB and had one of the most unique and great careers in all of sports.

interesting career, sure. a great story. lets agree for now that he was at the top of the game (top 5) when he played well for the rams and then the cards. doesnt excuse 5 shit years that everyone conventiently forgets about when discussing how great he was. doesnt excuse those 11 INTs and 3 TDs in 7 games in 02 - most of which were committed in the first few games of the season if i remember correctly. the next few years he plays like a below average mule and doesnt really start (and when he does start its NOT dazzling) then magically the cards open up their offense, leinart is found to be subpar and warner is a star again.

im not saying hes bad. im not saying anything about the system but hall of fame? please. name me a current hall of fame player that played as sub-average as warner did for 4/5 straight years and i might agree that he deserved a bid. something everyone can agree on i think is that the hall of fame is where the nfl should put players who have exemplary and ideal careers, so that others my be inspired. 11 interceptions in like 3 games and then 5 years of less than mediocre gameplay is NOT ideal. meanwhile there are plenty of guys who ARENT currently in the hall of fame who may actually deserve to be there.

an-also · Post by **an-also** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:32 am

Ric, lets compare some HOF qbs to Warner shall we. I'm excluding some of the older qb's because its tough to compare stats because the ball has been thrown a lot more since the late 70s than in the 40s-60s.

I dont also see why Kurt having a few bad years in the middle of his career should diminish what he did. He was great at the start of his career, middle was a write off and the end was great. I dont see what the difference between someone like kurts career and a qb who had a shitty start of a career, has a great middle, and ends shitty. When you compile it up, it shoudnt matter where and when the qbs prime was.

Dan Fouts is in the HOF. Out of the 15 years he played, he only had 3-4 great years. Kurt has had 5-6 great years in his 12 year career. Kurt Warner's career stats trump Troy Aikmans stats and hes in the HOF. Aikman has never had a year close to some of the best years Warner has had. Kurt has 4 fewer TD's than Bradshaw and 82 less interceptions. Warner's playoff stats are pretty great as well. He's been to 3 superbowls. Won 1. Is a 2 time MVP.

Hes a HOF.

ric · Post by **ric** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:06 am

i will say at the outset that i am a HOF stickler.

but with fouts, although i never saw the man play, it seems like he had a maturation of 4 ish years (what was 77 all about, injury?) and then he actually played good ball for the rest of his career with 4 standout years and maybe a not so great last couple years compared to warners horrible 5 years wherein he has one average year.

warner has 5 great years and 5 horrible years in 10. half is career was horrible. its not even average like you might say about fouts. its horrid.

that said, i dont think it makes sense to compare bradshaws td and int numbers with warners.