Kurt Warner gets yet another life

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, February 15, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Arizona Cardinals
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He's down. He's up. He's down. He's up.

Like Rocky Balboa, you can never count Kurt Warner out for long. Just when his NFL career seemed to have finally reached a dead end -- or, a dead arm -- two years ago, the former Arena Ball star was taken in as a stray by the Arizona Cardinals.

Warner rewarded them with 2,173 passing yards and 11 touchdowns in 2005, despite the conspicuous lack of a running game. And this week, the Arizona Cardinals rewarded Warner with a three-year contract worth $18 million, plus incentives.

It was yet another in a series of remarkable reversals for the Northern Iowa product, who was cut by the Green Bay Packers out of college in 1994. Unwilling to quit on his dream, he hooked up with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League, earning all-league honors while stocking shelves in a Cedar Rapids Hy-Vee grocery store during the day.

Word got around about the unknown kid with the remarkably accurate right arm, and the St. Louis Rams eventually signed Warner and sent him to Amsterdam, where he dazzled NFL Europe and earned a promotion. Yet he was still the Rams' third-string quarterback at the start of 1999, earning a chance to play only when starter Trent Green and backup Paul Julian got hurt. The rest is NFL legend: 4,353 passing yards, 41 touchdown passes, the MVP award in a 23-17 Super Bowl victory over Tennesee for what had become "The Greatest Show on Turf."

Just two years later, however, Warner's career seemed to have flamed out as quickly as it had ignited. The Rams started out 0-6 on his watch in 2002, with Warner throwing nearly four times as many interceptions as touchdown passes (11-3). Obviously, something had to be done, and coach Mike Martz plugged in Marc Bulger. Then Warner broke his right pinky to make the whole quarterback controversy moot.

Still, Martz started Warner in the first game of 2003 against the Giants, only to see him fumble six times. Bulger blossomed that year, and Warner was eventually released -- but not before his wife Brenda began calling local radio stations to plead his case.

Amazingly, it was the New York Giants, of all teams, who took a chance on Warner in 2004, and he led them to victory in five of the first seven games. Then a brief losing streak ensued, and Giants' coach Tom Coughlin decided it was time to test No. 1 draft pick Eli Manning. Exit Warner, who then hooked on with the Cardinals.

Even that was not a relationship made in heaven. Warner got off to a rocky start in Arizona before injuring his groin and being replaced by Josh McCown. But McCown had troubles of his own, and Warner got another shot. This time, he somehow summoned the old magic, leading the NFL with five 300-yard yard passing games and becoming the all-time NFL leader in pass completion percentage.

Now, he's a starter again -- with probably a couple of lives still left.
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