Friday, January 29, 2010

Kurt Warner Retires

One of greatest QBs I've ever seen (behind only Joe Montana, IMO), and one of humanity's most decent representatives, decided to hang up his cleats today.

We all know his story. He went from a mid-major college starter, to an Arena League standout and grocery stockboy. He met his current wife when he was stocking shelves and she was a cashier. They are still together. He replaces the injured Trent Green in 1999, when Green was touted as the savior of the lowly St. Louis Rams franchise, and rallies them to a 13-3 record and a victory in one of the best Super Bowls ever played.

He would go to two more Super Bowls (Rams vs. Patriots, and last year he took the Cardinals to the Big Game vs. the Steelers), falling short to the two best teams of the decade. A devout Christian, Warner was never caught in a scandalous position, and never complained when coaches tried to replace him with the "next big thing" (Marc Bulger in St. Louis, Eli Manning in New York).

In his 12 seasons with the Rams, Giants, and Cardinals, Warner threw 208 touchdowns with a completion percentage of 65.5% and a career QB rating of 93.7...but his stats may have been even more prolific had he not been used as a backup QB for a few years. He had an overall winning percentage of 58.0% as a starter, including winning nearly 73% of the time in the playoffs.

I raise my evening spirit in toast to Kurt Warner. A great QB and a hell of a role model.

1 comment:

http://www.ehow.com/members/stevemar2-articles.html said...

Warner had a great career in the NFL. It would have been better if he had started his first game at age 22 or so, instead of age 28. I hope he enters the Hall of Fame one day.