Kurt Warner Retires After 12 Seasons in NFL
Dennis Dillon - SportingNews.com
Jan 29, 2010
On his first day on the job as Rams offensive coordinator, in January 1999, Mike Martz was unpacking boxes in his office when a young man poked his head in the door and asked if he could help.
Kurt Warner came to the Cardinals in 2005 and was an off-and-on starter before replacing the injured Matt Leinart in the 2007 season.
When they were done, Martz thanked the young man for his assistance. The young man then asked when the meetings were going to start.
"Beg your pardon," Martz said. "And who are you?"
"My name's Kurt Warner," the young man said. "I'm one of the quarterbacks. I was wondering when the quarterbacks were going to start meeting."
As he told the story this week, Martz admitted, "I didn't know who Kurt Warner was."
Few people did back then. But it wouldn't be long before the entire football world knew who Kurt Warner was.
On Friday, one of the unique chapters in NFL history closed when Warner, 38, announced his retirement after playing for three teams over 12 seasons and turning in dozens of outstanding performances. He finished with 2,666 completions in 4,070 attempts -- his .655 percentage is one of the best in NFL history -- for 208 touchdowns and 128 interceptions. His 93.7 passer rating is the third best of all time and his 102.8 passer rating in the postseason is second only to Bart Starr's 104.8.
While Friday marked a bookend to Warner's career, to really appreciate his story you have to go back to the beginning.
On Oct. 10, 1999, the Rams were playing their archrivals, the 49ers, who had beaten the Rams 17 games in a row. At the end of the first quarter, the Rams led, 21-3, and Warner had thrown three touchdown passes.
"I turned to Jim (Hanifan, the offensive line coach) and said, 'Holy mackerel, Jim. This guy can really play.' He (finished) 20 for 23, 323 yards, five touchdowns. That was the fourth start in his career. He was amazing."
That game was Warner's coming-out party. And there was more -- much more -- to come.
Taking over as starting quarterback for the Rams after Trent Green suffered a season-ending knee injury in a preseason game that summer, Warner helped lead the Rams to a 13-3 record, their first divisional title in 14 years and a victory over the Titans in Super Bowl 34.
"His ability to stay poised and stay true in what he believed allowed us to have an awesome regular season and eventually win the Super Bowl," former Rams wide receiver Torry Holt wrote in an e-mail. "Kurt's rags-to-riches football legend is no accident. He earned it."
A star was born -- and an improbable journey took an unexpected but electrifying turn in '99. From grocery store stock boy to Arena League player to Super Bowl MVP. The Kurt Warner evolution set the NFL on fire.
Everyone knows the rest. After directing the so-called "Greatest Show on Turf" to another Super Bowl two years later, a combination of injuries and issues with Martz resulted in Warner's release. He played one year with the Giants, mostly as Eli Manning's backup. He then landed in Arizona and resurrected his career, including taking the Cardinals to the Super Bowl a year ago.
"Last year might have been his best season," Martz said. "He looks better to me than when we had him.
"I don't know if anybody's ever played the game who could see things as quick as he could see things, and react with the ball as quickly as he can. He redefined, to me, how quarterbacks can handle blitzes."
Martz has been a head coach, coordinator and position coach in the NFL, but he's most known for his work with quarterbacks. Is Warner his definition of the perfect QB?
"For me, he is," Martz said. "We pushed the envelope on him so hard. We kept pressuring him. We were always on the edge with stuff in terms of volume and what we were doing. I learned as much from him, if not more, than he learned from me.
"I'd ask him, 'What do you think about this? Do you think we can do this?' He would say, 'Yeah, let's try it.' And he'd take one shot at it and it worked."
Warner had two key assets that separated him from most every other quarterback, according to Dick Vermeil.
"Number one, his accuracy," Vermeil said. "If you're not accurate, you're never a superstar. So he had to have instinctive accuracy. Number two, unbelievable poise under pressure. Almost the bigger the moment, the bigger the game he played."
Arizona fans will remember the second coming of an older, wiser Warner, who led the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl and made football something to get excited about again in the desert. Vermeil and Martz will never forget how the legend began.
"I guess at the time, we were living under a star and we knew it was a special moment in time," Martz said. "We just never wanted it to end."
Dennis Dillon is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at ddillon@sportingnews.com.
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