During this week's exceptionally entertaining Monday Night Football game matching the Arizona Cardinals against the San Francisco 49ers, Kurt Warner amassed 300 passing yards for the 46th time in his illustrious career.
This has happened in 45 percent of his starts which eclipses Hall of Famer Dan Fouts' mark of exceeding 300 yards 28 percent of the time. With this said, it's obvious to me that Warner is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, but as recently as the 2008 preseason, Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt said the starting quarterback job was Matt Leinart's to lose.
Well, obviously, Leinart isn't under center, but the Cards are having their finest season since migrating to the greater Phoenix area in 1988. Incidentally, Warner is setting lofty marks this season even when one considers his previous excellence in St. Louis.
This season, Warner is amassing just under 307 passing yards a game which is his best mark since he tossed for 311.7 yards a contest in 2000 when the Greatest Show on Turf was at its zenith. Furthermore, in the season's first 10 weeks he has thrown for 2,760 yards, 19 touchdowns and only six interceptions while completing almost 71 percent of his passes.
Obviously, his talented targets Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin deserve much of the credit, but undoubtedly Warner is the trigger man who makes it all possible. Even after he led the Rams to an improbable Super Bowl championship in 1999, he was considered in some circles to be a fluke, but no one can dispute his career results at this point.
For a sampling of what I mean, here's a few tidbits appertaining to Warner's excellence: he is second all-time in career completion percentage as he has completed 65 percent of his tosses. For added perspective, he has a much stronger arm than the current all-time leader, Chad Pennington of the Miami Dolphins, who checks in at 65.5 percent.
Other statistical categories rank him near the likes of Dan Marino and Peyton Manning, who I believe will one day take his place in Canton as the greatest signal-caller the game has ever seen.
Still, notwithstanding the fact that the nation watched the Cardinals take complete control of the NFC West with their goal line stand against the 49ers, Arizona was not the talk of the town on the national airwaves.
Thus, much like their impressive quarterback, the Cardinals continue to excel in relative obscurity. However, the most dangerous assassins are those who stealthily succeed and stun the entire populace. That's precisely what Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals could do this season. Stay tuned.
6 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Alexeiv Goodenov 7 months ago
The NFL is all about money.
Why do you think Doug Flutie got benched in the 00 AFC Wild Card game against the Titans in favor of Rob Johnson who had only played a meaningless season ending game......
Money.
This is why we have so many busts, this is why I have low expectations for most 1st Round QBs.
Warner? Oh he's just an old guy............
I picked him up in all my fantasy leagues in low rounds, because I could tell from last season he was back in top form.
He suffered from multiple cuncussions and played through them in the opening game for the Rams in 2003.
And he led the 04 Giants to a 5-4 start, in a season where two 8-8 teams made the playoffs, but was benched because had he started his 10th game he would have had to be paid bonus.
It's all crap.
Warner never went away, he was an old guy in a rich pretty boy league.
He should be in the Hall of Fame, and so should Flutie and Damon Allen god damnit.
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Ray Bogusz 7 months ago
Yeah, Warner is pretty much the spark plug.
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Brad James 7 months ago
Thanks Ray. Your comments are always welcome.
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Brad James 7 months ago
Yes. I agree. Obviously, Eli Manning has panned out, but Rob Johnson starting ahead of Flutie was asinine. Damon Allen was great in the CFL for the Argos. Thanks for your comments.
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Andrew Glenn 7 months ago
Kurt Warner is on the top of my list when it comes to the MVP race. Hands down! I was reading an article about Warner after the injury to Anquan Boldin saying that after seeing that he was on the verge of retirement. Although the hit almost stopped my heart, it was retrived when I read Kurt say that seeing that injury made him think about his family and was inches to not throwing a football again shows his passion to family and life.
I think what makes him special is that same passion and life he brings to the field. Everyone talks about the explosive Wideouts Arizona has, but its Kurt that really is explosive.
As we think about these sparking "old" quarterbacks, Warner and Farve, you can't help but smile to see such seasoned guys still sticking it out to strive to get a championship the same way they did it before. Great article Brad!
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Matt Eichel 7 months ago
I still remember watching Warner during both his Super Bowl appearances and how well he played under pressure. I read his auto-biography "All Things Possible" and then watching him play on the highest level of sport just made me appreciate even more how hard it was for him to get to the NFL.
Now seeing his career revived as an older age gets me just as excited as I was then. Great read!
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