Kurt Warner

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Revision as of 10:56, 26 November 2006 by 24.83.172.99 (talk) (→High School and College Career)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about American football quarterback. For American football running back, see Curt Warner.

Kurt Warner at NFL.com

Kurtis ("Kurt") Eugene Warner (b. June 22 1971, Burlington, Iowa) is a professional American football quarterback, currently on the Arizona Cardinals roster. He is best known for his stint with the St. Louis Rams from 1999 to 2002, which concluded in two NFL League MVP awards in 1999 and 2001, as well as a win and Super Bowl MVP award in Super Bowl XXXIV. Warner also led the St. Louis Rams to Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner is the second highest rated quarterback in NFL history, and holds the distinction of being the most accurate quarterback in NFL history, with a career completion percentage of 65.5%.

High School and College Career

Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and went on to do the same at the University of Northern Iowa. At University of Northern Iowa, Warner watched two quarterbacks battle up until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year. During college, he met his future wife Brenda, whom he married in 1997 and adopted her two children, son Zachary and daughter Jesse. They also have 5 children of their own: sons Elijah and Kade, daughter Jada, and twin girls Sierra Rose and Sienna Rae. Warner and Brenda are both Evangelical Christians.

Arena Football

After college, he attended the Green Bay Packers training camp in 1994, but was released from the team. Later he worked at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee Food Store stocking shelves before being signed by the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League, in 1995. Warner was named to the AFL's All-Arena First Team in 1996 and 1997 as he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons.

St. Louis Rams

1999-2000

Kurt Warner was the backup quarterback for the St. Louis Rams during the preseason of the 1999-2000 season. When starting quarterback Trent Green was injured in the preseason, Warner took over as the starter. With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, Warner completed one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history by throwing 41 touchdown passes and 4353 yards with a completion percentage of 65.1. For this, Warner was named the 1999 NFL League MVP.

With the high-powered offense nicknamed as "The Greatest Show on Turf," Warner became the symbol of the Rams' turn around season in 1999. The offense registered the first in a string of 3 consecutive 500 point seasons, an NFL record.

In the NFL playoffs, Warner led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl XXXIV victory against the Tennessee Titans. He threw for two touchdowns and a Super Bowl record 414 passing yards, including a 73 yard touchdown strike to Issac Bruce when the game was tied with just over 2 minutes to play. Warner also set a Super Bowl record in the game by throwing 45 passes without a single interception.

He was awarded the Super Bowl MVP in 1999, becoming one of the select few to win both the League MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year. The others are Bart Starr in 1966, Terry Bradshaw in 1978, Joe Montana in 1989, Emmitt Smith in 1993, and Steve Young in 1994.

2000-2001

Warner started the 2000 season red-hot, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first 6 games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Also in 2000, former St. Louis Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz replaced the retired Dick Vermeil as Rams' head coach. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the 2000 campaign, but Trent Green was able to step in and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yard total was 5,492, which if held by only one, would easily surpass 5,084 yards, the single-season record set by Dan Marino. For the first time in his short career, though, Warner showed a disturbing tendency to lock onto receivers and force turnovers; he threw an interception in 5.2% of his passing attempts (18 int. in 347 attempts). Still, an injured Warner was one of the most formidable passers in the NFL. Due to a very poor defensive unit, though, the Rams were eliminated from the playoffs in the Wild Card round despite one of the most productive offensive years by a team ever. In response to the poor defensive performance, nine of the Rams' eleven defensive starters would be cut during the off-season.

2001-2002

Warner quickly returned to form in the 2001 season. Though his season lagged behind his fantastic 1999, Warner amassed 36 TD passes and 4,800 passing yards, a total second only to Dan Marino all-time, but lacked the accuracy he showed in 1999 by throwing 22 interceptions. Warner led the "Greatest Show on Turf" to a 14-2 record and led the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2002. For the second time in his career, he was named the league's Most Valuable Player.

In Super Bowl XXXVI Warner threw for 365 yards and a passing touchdown, with 2 interceptions, while also scoring a rushing touchdown. After falling behind 17-3 in the 4th quarter, Warner's fourth quarter touchdowns tied the game. But the Patriots drove for the winning field goal.

2002-2003

Going into 2002, analysts felt that Warner's Super Bowl XXXVI loss was an aberration, but observers noticed a distinct loss of velocity on Warner's throws in the 2002 preseason. Warner went 0-6 as a starter to begin the regular season, again turning over the ball with interceptions on 5% of his passing attempts. On September 29, 2002, Warner broke his finger, effectively ending his season. Having entered the year with a 103.4 career passer rating, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002. Meanwhile, Warner's understudy, Marc Bulger, looked like the Warner of old: accurate, quick to read coverages and deadly in the red zone.

2003-2004

Naturally, controversy brewed in St. Louis after the season over which QB should lead the Rams in 2003. Martz stood by the erstwhile Warner despite fans' calls to replace him with Bulger and an embarrassing situation in which Warner's wife, Brenda, called a local radio station to complain that the Rams organization and Martz did not provide Warner sufficient medical care when his hand was broken. In fact, Brenda stated that she (as a registered nurse) was the one who told Warner he had to go to an orthopaedist and get a second opinion. These actions led to a major controversy that Warner had to play down. Nonetheless, Martz supported Warner and gave him the first start of 2003, against the New York Giants. Warner had decent stats, throwing for well over 300 yards and a touchdown, but he also had an interception, was sacked six times, and fumbled on every sack. It was later learned that he had played the game with a concussion. Even though Warner declared the next week that the concussion was a minor one and he was fine, an opinion also backed up by the medical staff, he would not see action again until the final game of the season. This was despite Mike Martz stating prior to the season in a Sports Illustrated article that Kurt Warner would remain his starter even if he faltered.

New York Giants

The Rams released Warner for salary cap reasons on June 1, 2004. Two days later, he signed a two-year deal with the New York Giants.

Warner started the 2004 season as the starting quarterback, winning five of the first seven games, but following several poor performances in a two-game losing streak, rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. Warner was again relegated to the bench. Giants Coach Tom Coughlin later stated that he regretted starting Warner and should have played Manning from the start in order to give him experience and build his confidence. However the Giants had a 5-4 win-loss record at the time, but finished with a 6-10 record.

Arizona Cardinals

In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by Coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three very mediocre games before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown played in two games including the NFL game in Mexico against the San Francisco 49ers. He had terrific numbers and, given the fact that Warner had not won a single game, Coach Dennis Green named McCown the starter and relegated Warner to the backup role.

The change in Warner's status led many sports analysts (including Dan Marino) to conclude that Warner's days of being a starting quarterback in the NFL were over. But after McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two losses (including passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner proved he could still be successful by defeating his former team, the Rams, 38-28, in St. Louis. He passed for 285 yards, three touchdowns, and posted a quarterback rating of 115.9 for the game and was named the NFC FedEx Express player of the week. Warner's season ended in week 15, when he injured his knee and an MRI revealed that he had a partial tear of the MCL.

Warner signed a three-year deal with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006 following the 2005 season.

In week one of the 2006 NFL season Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 311 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later Warner passed the 20,000 yard milestone in his 76th game, one game more than record holder Dan Marino.

After three consecutive subpar games in Weeks 2-4 of the 2006-2007 NFL season, Warner was replaced at quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of Week 4. Coach Dennis Green stated that Warner will be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season.

On October 12, 2006, Warner said in an interview that he may consider retirement in the offseason. Warner has said before that when he no longer thinks he can play at a high level, he will retire. He also said that he still believes that he can still play at that high level, and at the end of the year he will discuss the situation with his family and look over his options.

Trivia

Warner's number 13 was retired by the Iowa Barnstormers during halftime of a 2000 home game against the Tampa Bay Storm.
Warner's number 13 was retired by the Amsterdam Admirals before the 2003 season started.
Warner's number was actually 12 in high school, as his favorite quarterback growing up was Roger Staubach.
Warner's career quarterback rating of 93.5 is third highest only to Steve Young and Peyton Manning among NFL quarterbacks all-time.
On October 24, 2006, Warner was featured in a political advertisement opposing a bill supporting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in Missouri. The ad was in response to a pro-research ad featuring Michael J. Fox.

External links

Preceded byTony Banks 1998 Trent Green 1999	St. Louis Rams Starting Quarterbacks 1999-2001	Succeeded byMarc Bulger
Preceded byKerry Collins	New York Giants Starting Quarterbacks 2004	Succeeded byEli Manning
Preceded byJosh McCown Shaun King	Arizona Cardinals Starting Quarterbacks 2005-2006	Succeeded byMatt Leinart
Preceded byJohn Elway	NFL Super Bowl MVPs Super Bowl XXXIV, 2000	Succeeded byRay Lewis
Preceded byTerrell Davis	NFL Most Valuable Player 1999 season	Succeeded byMarshall Faulk
Preceded byMarshall Faulk	NFL Most Valuable Player 2001 season	Succeeded byRich Gannon

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