Last night the series continued with "A Football Life: Kurt Warner." It was a good look at the most improbable of NFL careers, from a guy who was stocking shelves at a grocery store to becoming the NFL and Super Bowl MVP a few years later. Warner's story is truly remarkable and his career is truly amazing. The fact that he's also raised seven children in the process and lived an open Christian life that has inspired millions of people adds to the story line.
I liked it and recommend that you see it if you have time.
But I also have to comment on Warner's career. There is so much talk about him being a future Hall of Famer and in some ways I thought the same thing until I really analyzed his career. When you look at his timeline, you see a guy who got his first NFL action in 1999 and won the league and Super Bowl MVP award. He then had a tough 2000 season before rebounding in 2001 and leading the Rams back to the Super Bowl.
But after an injury-riddled 2002 campaign, Warner was replaced by Marc Bulger and eventually moved to New York in 2004, where he started the first half of the season before giving way to Eli Manning. He then went to Arizona in 2005 to mentor Matt Leinart before finally taking over the starting job in 2007. He was fantastic down the stretch that year and then led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl in 2008 where they lost in dramatic fashion to the Steelers. Warner was marvelous in that game and he was stellar in 2009 as well, leading the Cardinals past the Packers in the wild card game when he had almost the perfect game, finishing with more touchdown passes than incompletions. He took a beating in the second round loss to New Orleans and announced his retirement shortly after that.
His career was amazing, but was it Hall of Fame caliber? Can a QB who started 16 games in only three seasons really be in the Hall of Fame? Can a QB who played in only 10 or more games in eight seasons really be in the Hall of Fame?
I guess so, but in this pass-happy sport his final numbers are going to be dwarfed in a hurry. He finished with 208 career TD passes, which currently ranks 27th, tied with Kerry Collins. Today's QBs will surpass that number easily. He did finish with 32,344 passing yards, a 65.5 percent completion mark and a QB Rating of 93.7. All are solid. However, he also threw 128 interceptions and took 260 sacks for a loss of 1,669 yards.
There's no doubt that when healthy he was one of the best QBs of all-time, a player who led three teams to the Super Bowl. He has the Super Bowl title, the MVPs and the story. I'm just wondering if it's enough to be in the HOF.
Here's his career stats:
Year Team G Att Comp Pct Att/G Yds Avg Yds/G TD TD% Int Int% Lng 20+ 40+ Sck SckY Rate
2009 Arizona Cardinals 15 513 339 66.1 34.2 3,753 7.3 250.2 26 5.1 14 2.7 45 42 3 24 172 93.2
2008 Arizona Cardinals 16 598 401 67.1 37.4 4,583 7.7 286.4 30 5.0 14 2.3 79T 50 12 26 182 96.9
2007 Arizona Cardinals 14 451 281 62.3 32.2 3,417 7.6 244.1 27 6.0 17 3.8 62 44 5 20 140 89.8
2006 Arizona Cardinals 6 168 108 64.3 28.0 1,377 8.2 229.5 6 3.6 5 3.0 64 15 5 14 104 89.3
2005 Arizona Cardinals 10 375 242 64.5 37.5 2,713 7.2 271.3 11 2.9 9 2.4 63 37 4 23 158 85.8
2004 New York Giants 10 277 174 62.8 27.7 2,054 7.4 205.4 6 2.2 4 1.4 62T 24 6 39 196 86.5
2003 St. Louis Rams 2 65 38 58.5 32.5 365 5.6 182.5 1 1.5 1 1.5 37T 3 0 6 38 72.9
2002 St. Louis Rams 7 220 144 65.5 31.4 1,431 6.5 204.4 3 1.4 11 5.0 43 15 1 21 130 67.4
2001 St. Louis Rams 16 546 375 68.7 34.1 4,830 8.8 301.9 36 6.6 22 4.0 65T 81 11 38 233 101.4
2000 St. Louis Rams 11 347 235 67.7 31.5 3,429 9.9 311.7 21 6.1 18 5.2 85T 49 14 20 115 98.3
1999 St. Louis Rams 16 499 325 65.1 31.2 4,353 8.7 272.1 41 8.2 13 2.6 75T 60 16 29 201 109.2
1998 St. Louis Rams 1 11 4 36.4 11.0 39 3.5 39.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 21 1 0 0 0 47.2
TOTAL 124 4,070 2,666 65.5 32.8 32,344 7.9 260.8 208 5.1 128 3.1 85 421 77 260 1,669 93.7
I'm just starting a fun argument on a Friday morning. Any thoughts either way from the peanut gallery?
Either way, check out the piece on the NFL Network and let me know what you think. And then add some points about Warner and his HOF chances. Thanks.