Kurt Warner Not Past His Prime: His Resurgence Key to Arizona Cardinals' Success

Despite losing in Super Bowl XLIII, in which some questionable calls were made that arguably played a factor in the outcome in the Cardinals' loss to the Steelers, Kurt Warner has made a resurgence in the National Football League at the glaring age of 37 years old.

The pro-bowl quarterback has been on three different football teams in the last six years, and has had some ups and downs in his career with the down-part taking place from his later years in St. Louis, to his one year stint with New York, and then on to his first two years with Arizona.

When Arizona drafted Matt Leinart out of USC tenth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft, Warner knew that his time with the Cardinals was either coming to an end, or he was being handed the clipboard.

With the organization going in a different direction with a huge financial investment in the former USC standout quarterback, it didn't look too good for the former MVP who was benched mid-season in 2006 for poor play.

It looked like Leinart with his enthusiasm and upside was going to be just what the Cardinals needed...

Until Leinart flopped, particularly in last years preseason when it was a quarterback battle between him and Warner for a chance to lead the team into the 2008 regular season. Leinart threw three interceptions in Oakland, while looking lost and hurried. Warner was named the starter for the regular season soon after.

No one could really predict what was going to happen with the 2008 Cardinals, who had thought Leinart was going to take them to places that Kurt Warner could not reach considering that he was on the "downside" of his career.

Warner had moved the offense better than Leinart in 2007 having better numbers (27 touchdowns, 17 interceptions) than Leinarts' (two touchdowns, four interceptions) with a quarterback rating of 89.8 to Leinarts' 61.9.

The Cardinals obviously felt better that their backup quarterback could step in and be the quarterback if needed, being that the two years previous when handed the job he collapsed. They felt good enough about Warner that they declared it would be a quarterback battle between him and Leinart going into '08.

Giving Leinart a chance to re-claim his job since he ended the 2007 season on injury-reserve was priority with his cap number and expected stardom coming from USC and being the "can't miss" pick.

As stated earlier, Warner won the job as Leinart choked in preseason and Cardinals fans held their breath as the aging veteran quarterback was given yet another chance to show people he wasn't done in the NFL just yet.

The Cardinals first game came against their NFC West rivals, the 49ers in San Francisco. Kurt Warner was sacked three times, but went 19 of 30 for 197 yards and a touchdown in the win, to start the Cardinals unexpected good start.

Over the next five weeks, the Cardinals went 4-2 as Warner threw 13 touchdowns to 6 interceptions before going into their bye week.

The offense looked very good with Warner at the hands and he seemed to be making a lot less mistakes than seasons previous and making a lot more smart decisions.

The team as a whole looked up to him as their leader, and the rest is history as numerous times in Arizona the fans chanted "MVP," and Warner took it all in stride while really having a remarkable season.

Warner's numbers for the 2008 regular season speak for themselves. He threw for 30 touchdowns, 4,583 yards and just 14 interceptions, with the third best passer rating in the league with 96.9.

His all-pro receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin both finished with 1,000 yards receiving, along with up and coming young receiver Steve Breaston who in the previous season only caught eight passes. That's three receivers on one team that had over 1,000 yards receiving-a shocking stat.

Warner and the Cardinals had a shaky season end as they seemed to be a little less motivated with the postseason within their grasp, as they had the best record in the depleted NFC West throughout the entire season without breaking much of a sweat.

This brought up a lot of question marks going into the playoffs, as many football experts said they were "pretenders" and would probably lose their first game against the new and improved Mike Smith Atlanta Falcons.

Kurt Warner wasn't even sacked in the game, as he threw two touchdowns and the Cardinals handled the young Atlanta team winning 30-24. So much for one and done.

The next game for the Cardinals you couldn't even guess they were deserving of being in the same sentence as the Panthers, because if you tuned in to ESPN or NFL Network for some playoff talk, there were very, very few who thought Arizona could pull off an "upset" in Carolina.

The Panthers were a team that looked atop the NFC finishing the second half of the regular season strong, winning six out of eight games, losing one closely to the Super Bowl XLII winners, the New York Giants.

The Panthers had home-field advantage and were very hot. The Cardinals, at least according to the majority of "experts," had no chance.

Kurt Warner's best play has come in the post-season during his career, which proved to be invaluable to the Cardinals as they looked to him as their unquestionable and much experienced leader.

Warner and the Cardinals beat the Panthers easily, as they were up 27-7 over the Panthers going into the half, and finished them off with a final score of 33-13.

Warner had a completion percentage of sixty-five in that game, throwing two touchdowns, and it only got better for him and his team.

As the postseason continued with the unexpected rise of the Arizona Cardinals, they were about to play their first ever NFC Championship game at home against the the Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Before this game even took place, the over/under was set at forty-seven points, which was laughable once the game was over.

Warner vs. McNabb, two of some of the better quarterbacks in the NFC, and NFL, going head to head in a tremendous offensive football game.

Both had solid defenses, but some questioned if former Arizona defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast could do as much as Philadelphia's Jim Johnson, who is the master of getting his defenses to the quarterback.

By halftime the score was Arizona 24, Philadelphia 6. Kurt Warner had already thrown for three touchdowns and no interceptions, and Donovan McNabb and the Eagles looked somewhat lifeless.

The Eagles made a comeback in the second half however, scoring nineteen points to the Cardinals eight.

The fourth quarter was the tale of two veteran quarterbacks leading their teams, and only one could come out on top as the winner. When the Eagles took the lead after a great drive going up 25-24 over the Cardinals, this was Kurt Warners' time to shine.

He and the Cards went up the field with ease, as Warner got rid of the ball quickly and smoothly (as he did the entire game), ending the drive with his fourth touchdown pass to rookie running back Tim Hightower.

McNabb and the Eagles could not respond, and for the first time ever Arizona not only played in a Championship game but won one, going on to the franchises' first Super Bowl appearance ever thanks to veteran leadership and experience from none other than Kurt Warner, who threw four touchdown passes and no interceptions finishing the game with a seventy-five percent completion rate.

Kurt Warner was once again, back in the Superbowl. His third appearance in his career, and the Arizona Cardinals first, due in part to mostly Warner's success with the firepower on offense and the defense stepping their game up for the post-season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger vs. the Arizona Cardinals and Kurt Warner.

A Super Bowl match for the ages as former Steelers offensive coordinator (who was supposedly first in line to become the Steelers Head Coach after Cowher left) and current Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt sought out revenge against his former team who gave Mike Tomlin the job over him.

Kurt Warner was very, very solid in this game. Despite the interception he threw that was returned for a touchdown by Defensive Player of the year James Harrisson, he did not make mistakes.

Facing the Eagles defense led by Jim Johnson then to go on to the Steelers defense led by Dick Lebeau was by far a great challenge, but who better than Kurt Warner to take it on himself?

In a game where there were a few questionable calls (including the choice by the refs to not look at the replay at the end of the game to determine whether or not Warners' pass was incomplete or a fumble-which should have been reviewed with out question considering it was the Super Bowl), the Cardinals played well, but came up short as the Pittsburgh Steelers won it 27-23.

Although the Cardinals lost the game, no one on that team forgot who gave them that extra push to make it to the big game. Facing two of arguably the best defensive coordinators in the league, Kurt Warner (combined stats) completed 52 of 71 passes thrown (73 percent completion rate) for 656 yards and seven touchdowns, with just one interception.

Those were his numbers against two future Hall Of Fame Defensive Coordinators in Jim Johnson and Dick Lebeau-truly remarkable.

His post-season totals from early 2009 were 11 touchdowns, three interceptions, with a 68.1 completion percentage and 1,147 yards passing. An 112.2 postseason quarterback rating.

The Cardinals were most grateful for Warner's resurgence in the league and showed that they want it to continue granting Warner a new two-year contract worth $23 Million, with $19 Million in guarantees, according to ESPN.

"We're ecstatic about the commitment the organization has made to us," Warner said to ESPN. "Now it's my job for the next two years to go fulfill my part of the deal."

Kurt Warner is one of the most prepared, smart, quick throwing, good-decision making quarterbacks in the league. He showed that with a little team consistency, belief and trust, the unimaginable can happen.

It's worth noting that the losers of Super Bowl XLII were able to go 11-5 (Patriots) and barely missed the playoffs, after teams that had lost in previous Super Bowls before them had a hangover year.

So Kurt Warner and the Cardinals should keep their heads held high and keep plugging away. They alone showed that anything can happen, on any given Sunday.

They may have come up short in terms of a Super Bowl Trophy, but they will have back an all-pro quarterback, their leader, Kurt Warner.