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http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_561f3c8d-2dff-509f-8b19-25735d4b3e44.html
PHOENIX • There are 25 quarterbacks in the NFL Hall of Fame, but there have been no inductees at the position since Troy Aikman and Warren Moon in 2006.
Dick Vermeil has no doubt the nine-year drought ends Saturday with Kurt Warner.
“I’m confident for sure that Kurt will go in,” said Vermeil, Warner’s coach on the Super Bowl XXXIV championship Rams. “It’s almost impossible to leave him out.”
Given his unusual background and the totally unforeseen start in the NFL, Warner’s accomplishments “will never be done again,” Vermeil said. “What other qualification do you need?”
Well, there were the two NFL MVP honors. The gaudy numbers. Guiding a pair of woebegone franchises to the Super Bowl — the Rams (twice) and the Arizona Cardinals (once).
His playoff numbers deserve special emphasis. Warner is the only player to throw for 300-plus yards in three Super Bowls. Included in that trio of games is a record 414 yards passing in that Super Bowl XXXIV victory over Tennessee to cap the 1999 season.
“His playoff numbers, his quarterback efficiency rating, are better than anybody that’s in the Hall of Fame,” Vermeil said. “And if you took all the quarterbacks that are gonna be Hall of Famers in the future and included his quarterback efficiency rating in playoff games, yards thrown and everything, it’s better than those guys. It’s better than Tom Brady’s, it’s better than anybody’s.”
Mike Martz, Warner’s offensive coordinator in ‘99 and then his head coach, feels the same way about his first-ballot chances.
“How could he not?” Martz said. “He’s a two-time MVP. Took two teams, went to three Super Bowls. Won one. How could he not? And you know, the two that he lost were lost on the final play of the game.”
But there are some voters who wonder about the so-called “hole” in his career, specifically the 2004 season with the New York Giants that bridged the time between his Rams’ tenure (1998-2003) and his Arizona stint (2005-09).
Warner began that Giants season as the starter and played OK, but then was benched in favor of rookie and No. 1 overall draft pick Eli Manning.
“That’s been held against him a little bit from rumors I’ve heard,” Vermeil said. “But if that’s true, then my gosh you’ve got to eliminate everybody. Then neither one of the coaches going into this Super Bowl game can go (to the Hall of Fame) because they’ve been fired before. One of them (Pete Carroll) was fired twice.
“And (wide receiver) Cris Carter, who’s all-everything on television now, was run out of Philadelphia for criminy sakes — for bad reasons. And he’s already in the Hall of Fame.
“So it doesn’t make really good sense. There are no legitimate negatives against Kurt going in.”
Truth be told, a chronic thumb injury from his Arena Football League days contributed as much as anything to Warner’s mid-career lull. It worsened over the years and affected his grip — leading to fumbles — and affected his accuracy.
His career revival in Arizona came after he started to wear a glove on his throwing hand, improving his grip on the football.
“Wearing that glove really helped him,” Martz said.
And whether it’s this year, or sometime in the future, deciding to wear that glove will get him in the Hall of Fame. Because as Marshall Faulk said, leading a Rams offense brimming with playmakers to a pair of Super Bowls was one thing. Doing it again with a less-talented cast in Arizona was another.
“What solidified his Hall of Fame career ... is when he went to Arizona and took that organization to a Super Bowl,” Faulk said.
Even Warner realizes the success in Arizona, coupled with what he accomplished with the Rams, is a key part of his Hall of Fame resume.
“I take great pride in that part of things,” he said. “Just being able to be a part of two organizations — like you said — the losingest team in the ‘90s (the Rams, until early in the ‘99 season).
“And the Cardinals, the losingest team over the last half century. To be a part of taking them to places that they’ve never been before to me is what puts the stamp on my career.
“Whether that has anything to do with the Hall of Fame or anything, that’s who Kurt Warner was. I think that’s the epitome of it. And I’m gonna always look back at that with great pride.”
The fact that the Super Bowl and the Hall of Fame voting is taking place in his adopted hometown of Phoenix has made this an unusual week for the always-busy Warner.
He’s working here this week as an analyst for the NFL Network. But he’s also “working” at home, which means running his kids all over the place. Waking them up in the morning, getting them off to school.
After his Super Bowl Media Day obligations Tuesday, he also coached a son’s flag football team and played spectator at a youth basketball game.
“That’s kind of the coolest part,” Warner said. “If you’re on the road in a hotel, you’re probably thinking about the Hall of Fame even more. People are asking you about it. You’re doing more media stuff.
“Here at home, I get to kind of be normal. I come do my little media stuff for a couple hours, then I go back to being normal.”
But come Saturday morning, Warner says the anxiousness will set in as he awaits the Hall of Fame verdict for 2015.
“You’re gonna start to realize how much more it means to you when you get to those moments,” he said. “But a key for me is I don’t by any means want Saturday to be a negative in any way.
“If I don’t get the call or the knock on the door — however they do it — I don’t want to look at it like, ‘Oh I didn’t make it!’ Or I was defeated in any way. Because this is a tremendous honor to be right in this place.
“And there’s a lot of unbelievable guys that are up for it this year. If I don’t get in, I still want to celebrate the process and celebrate where I’m at, and maybe more importantly, celebrate those five that go in.”
PHOENIX • There are 25 quarterbacks in the NFL Hall of Fame, but there have been no inductees at the position since Troy Aikman and Warren Moon in 2006.
Dick Vermeil has no doubt the nine-year drought ends Saturday with Kurt Warner.
“I’m confident for sure that Kurt will go in,” said Vermeil, Warner’s coach on the Super Bowl XXXIV championship Rams. “It’s almost impossible to leave him out.”
Given his unusual background and the totally unforeseen start in the NFL, Warner’s accomplishments “will never be done again,” Vermeil said. “What other qualification do you need?”
Well, there were the two NFL MVP honors. The gaudy numbers. Guiding a pair of woebegone franchises to the Super Bowl — the Rams (twice) and the Arizona Cardinals (once).
His playoff numbers deserve special emphasis. Warner is the only player to throw for 300-plus yards in three Super Bowls. Included in that trio of games is a record 414 yards passing in that Super Bowl XXXIV victory over Tennessee to cap the 1999 season.
“His playoff numbers, his quarterback efficiency rating, are better than anybody that’s in the Hall of Fame,” Vermeil said. “And if you took all the quarterbacks that are gonna be Hall of Famers in the future and included his quarterback efficiency rating in playoff games, yards thrown and everything, it’s better than those guys. It’s better than Tom Brady’s, it’s better than anybody’s.”
Mike Martz, Warner’s offensive coordinator in ‘99 and then his head coach, feels the same way about his first-ballot chances.
“How could he not?” Martz said. “He’s a two-time MVP. Took two teams, went to three Super Bowls. Won one. How could he not? And you know, the two that he lost were lost on the final play of the game.”
But there are some voters who wonder about the so-called “hole” in his career, specifically the 2004 season with the New York Giants that bridged the time between his Rams’ tenure (1998-2003) and his Arizona stint (2005-09).
Warner began that Giants season as the starter and played OK, but then was benched in favor of rookie and No. 1 overall draft pick Eli Manning.
“That’s been held against him a little bit from rumors I’ve heard,” Vermeil said. “But if that’s true, then my gosh you’ve got to eliminate everybody. Then neither one of the coaches going into this Super Bowl game can go (to the Hall of Fame) because they’ve been fired before. One of them (Pete Carroll) was fired twice.
“And (wide receiver) Cris Carter, who’s all-everything on television now, was run out of Philadelphia for criminy sakes — for bad reasons. And he’s already in the Hall of Fame.
“So it doesn’t make really good sense. There are no legitimate negatives against Kurt going in.”
Truth be told, a chronic thumb injury from his Arena Football League days contributed as much as anything to Warner’s mid-career lull. It worsened over the years and affected his grip — leading to fumbles — and affected his accuracy.
His career revival in Arizona came after he started to wear a glove on his throwing hand, improving his grip on the football.
“Wearing that glove really helped him,” Martz said.
And whether it’s this year, or sometime in the future, deciding to wear that glove will get him in the Hall of Fame. Because as Marshall Faulk said, leading a Rams offense brimming with playmakers to a pair of Super Bowls was one thing. Doing it again with a less-talented cast in Arizona was another.
“What solidified his Hall of Fame career ... is when he went to Arizona and took that organization to a Super Bowl,” Faulk said.
Even Warner realizes the success in Arizona, coupled with what he accomplished with the Rams, is a key part of his Hall of Fame resume.
“I take great pride in that part of things,” he said. “Just being able to be a part of two organizations — like you said — the losingest team in the ‘90s (the Rams, until early in the ‘99 season).
“And the Cardinals, the losingest team over the last half century. To be a part of taking them to places that they’ve never been before to me is what puts the stamp on my career.
“Whether that has anything to do with the Hall of Fame or anything, that’s who Kurt Warner was. I think that’s the epitome of it. And I’m gonna always look back at that with great pride.”
The fact that the Super Bowl and the Hall of Fame voting is taking place in his adopted hometown of Phoenix has made this an unusual week for the always-busy Warner.
He’s working here this week as an analyst for the NFL Network. But he’s also “working” at home, which means running his kids all over the place. Waking them up in the morning, getting them off to school.
After his Super Bowl Media Day obligations Tuesday, he also coached a son’s flag football team and played spectator at a youth basketball game.
“That’s kind of the coolest part,” Warner said. “If you’re on the road in a hotel, you’re probably thinking about the Hall of Fame even more. People are asking you about it. You’re doing more media stuff.
“Here at home, I get to kind of be normal. I come do my little media stuff for a couple hours, then I go back to being normal.”
But come Saturday morning, Warner says the anxiousness will set in as he awaits the Hall of Fame verdict for 2015.
“You’re gonna start to realize how much more it means to you when you get to those moments,” he said. “But a key for me is I don’t by any means want Saturday to be a negative in any way.
“If I don’t get the call or the knock on the door — however they do it — I don’t want to look at it like, ‘Oh I didn’t make it!’ Or I was defeated in any way. Because this is a tremendous honor to be right in this place.
“And there’s a lot of unbelievable guys that are up for it this year. If I don’t get in, I still want to celebrate the process and celebrate where I’m at, and maybe more importantly, celebrate those five that go in.”
