Kurt Warner - The NFL's Renaissance Man

By Deam Michaels, NFL Writer

QB Kurt Warner Arizona Cardinals

Kurt Warner keeps on going and going.

At the age of 37, Warner has continued his high level of play right thru to the playoffs leading the Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII.

Not only is Warner getting better with age, but he's raising his level of play as the stakes get higher.

No better example than this year's playoff run, capped off by one of the best games of his postseason career against the Eagles in the NFC Championship game. Warner was phenomenal connecting on 21-of-28 passes for 279 yards, four TDs and a QB rating of 145.7.

After giving up 19 unanswered points in the second half of the NFC Championship, turning a 24-6 lead into a 25-24 deficit, the Cardinals stamped their ticket to the Super Bowl with an impressive 14-play drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock and culminated in an eight-yard TD pass from Kurt Warner to Tim Hightower with 2:53 remaining. Warner hit TE Ben Patrick for the two-point conversion, giving the Cardinals a 32-25 lead.

On the drive, the Cardinals rushed nine times and Warner connected on five-of-five passes for 56 yards, including the eight-yard TD pass to Hightower on third down. The Cardinals successfully converted two third down attempts and one fourth down attempt on the drive. After losing the lead, the Cardinals held the ball for 11:34 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

In leading the Cardinals past the Eagles, Warner becomes only the second quarterback in NFL history to start a Super Bowl game with two separate teams.

Craig Morton is the only other quarteback in NFL history to accomplish the feat, who started for the Cowboys in Super Bowl V and for the Broncos in Super Bowl XII.

Warner led the Saint Louis Rams to the Super Bowl following both the 1999 and 2001 seasons. The Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV and lost to the New England Patriots 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI.

The Cardinals run to Super Bowl XLIII may have been a surprise and perhaps a shock. But, if you look at Kurt Warner's play and his statistics, you'd know it wasn't a fluke.

In all, Warner has started in 10 career playoff games and has an 8-2 record as a starter.

Kurt Warner Career Playoff Statistics

Year	GP/GS	Att	Cmp	Pct.	Yds	Yds/Att	TD	Int	Rate
1999	3/3	121	77	63.6	1,063	8.79	8	4	100.0
2000	1/1	40	24	60.0	365	9.13	3	3	83.9
2001	3/3	107	68	63.6	793	7.41	4	3	86.7
2008	3/3	92	61	66.3	770	8.37	8	2	112.1
Total	10/10	360	230	63.9	2,991	8.31	23	12	97.3

Warner has passed for at least 365 yards in four postseason games, the most in NFL history.

Playoff Games with 365+ Yards Passing

Games	Player
4	Kurt Warner
3	Peyton Manning
2	Jeff George, Dan Marino

Warner's 97.3 career passer rating in the playoffs is now the second-highest rating in history among QBs with at least 150 attempts after his 145.7 QB rating vs. Philadelphia.

Postseason Passer Rating (Minimum 150 attempts)

Player	Att	Com	Yds	TD	INT	Rate
Bart Starr	213	130	1,753	15	3	104.8
Kurt Warner	360	230	2,991	23	12	97.2
Joe Montana	734	460	5,772	45	21	95.6
Ken Anderson	166	110	1,321	9	6	93.5
Joe Theismann	211	128	1,782	11	7	91.4

The last time Kurt Warner led his team to a Super Bowl victory was following the 1999 season when he threw for an NFL postseason record 1,063 yards in leading the St. Louis Rams through the playoffs and past the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXIV.

Warner has led the Cardinals to their first-ever Super Bowl appearance and when Arizona faces Pittsburgh in Tampa, Warner will make a run at his postseason passing yardage record.

Warner has thrown for 770 yards through the first three playoff games after piling up 271 yards against the Falcons, 220 yards in Carolina and 279 yards against the Eagles. Warner needs 294 yards against the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII to surpass the NFL record he established during the Rams 1999 playoff run.

Most Passing Yards Single Postseason

Yards	Player	Team
1,063	Kurt Warner	1999 Rams
1,034	Peyton Manning	2006 Colts
1,001	Dan Marino	1984 Dolphins
770	Kurt Warner	2008 Cardinals

With the start against the Eagles, Warner became just the seventh quarterback in NFL history to start a conference championship game for two teams in their career. Warner's last conference championship game was in 2001 with the Rams.

QBs That Took Two Teams to Conference Title Games

Kurt Warner St. Louis ('99, '01) Arizona ('08)

Kerry Collins Carolina ('96) NY Giants ('00)

Joe Montana San Francisco ('81, '83, '84, '88, '89, '90) Kansas City ('93)

Jay Schroeder Washington ('86) L.A. Raiders ('90)

Doug Williams Tampa Bay ('79) Washington ('87)

Craig Morton Dallas ('70) Denver ('77)

Earl Morrall Baltimore ('68) Miami ('72)

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With the win against the Eagles, Warner returns to the Super Bowl for the first time since Super Bowl XXXVI, a 20-17 loss to New England after the 2001 season. Warner becomes only the third quarterback to start a Super Bowl seven or more years apart.

John Elway Denver 1989, 1997 8

Kurt Warner St. Louis/Arizona 2001, 2008 7

Craig Morton Dallas/Denver 1970, 1977 7

When you are a receiver and Kurt Warner is your quarterback, chances are you are going to put up good numbers. Even if you are the second or third target, he has a knack for spreading the ball around. More so than any other quarterback in NFL history in fact. Larry Fitzgerald finished the season with 96 receptions, Anquan Boldin finished with 89 and Steve Breaston had 77. It marked just the fifth time in NFL history that three players on the same team hauled in 75+ receptions in a season and just the second wide receiver trio. Although it has happened just five times in league history, even more impressive is that Warner has now been the quarterback for three of the five teams that had three players with 75+ receptions in a season.

Three Players with 75+ Receptions in a Season

2008* Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald (96), WR Anquan Boldin (89), WR Steve Breaston (77)

2002 Raiders WR Jerry Rice (92), RB Charlie Garner (91), WR Tim Brown (81)

2002* Rams WR Torry Holt (91), RB Marshall Faulk (80), WR Isaac Bruce (79)

2000* Rams WR Isaac Bruce (87), WR Torry Holt (82), RB Marshall Faulk (81)

1989 Redskins WR Art Monk (86), WR Ricky Sanders (80), WR Gary Clark (79)

*Kurt Warner was the QB

Kurt Warner in the Record Books

Career Completion Percentage (min. 1,500 attempts)

66.0 Chad Pennington, 2000-current (2,395-1,580)

65.4 Kurt Warner, 1999-current (3,557-2,327)

64.4 Peyton Manning, 1998- current (5,960-3,839)

64.3 Steve Young, 1985-99 (4,149-2,667)

63.9 Drew Brees, 2001-current (3,650-2,334)

Highest Career Passer Rating

96.8 Steve Young, 1985-99

94.7 Peyton Manning, 1998-current

93.8 Kurt Warner, 1998-current

92.9 Tom Brady, 2000-current

92.3 Joe Montana, 1979-94

Most Passing Yards in a Season

5,084 Dan Marino, Miami, 1984

5,069 Drew Brees, New Orleans, 2008

4,830 Kurt Warner, St. Louis, 2001

Most Completions in a Single Season

2007 Drew Brees 440

2002 Rich Gannon 418

2008 Drew Brees 413

1991 Warren Moon 404

2008 Kurt Warner 401

Most 300-Yard Passing Games in a Season

10 Rich Gannon, Oakland 2002 Drew Brees, New Orleans 2008

9 Dan Marino, Miami 1984 Warren Moon, Houston 1990 Kurt Warner, St. Louis 1999 Kurt Warner, St. Louis 2001

8 Dan Fouts, San Diego 1980 Kurt Warner, St. Louis 2000 Trent Green, Kansas City 2004 Tom Brady, New England 2007

Most 300-Yard Passing Games in a Career

63 Dan Marino, 1983-1999

55 Bret Favre, 1991-current

51 Dan Fouts, 1973-87

49 Warren Moon, 1984-2000

48 Kurt Warner, 1998-current

48 Peyton Manning, 1998-current

Kurt Warner on the satisfaction of accomplishing his goal of going to another Super Bowl

"It's pretty satisfying. It feels pretty good. I just still was listening to people say we were in the Super Bowl this morning and I was still shaking my head a little bit like �man, it really happened'.

To believe that we are at this point and we are making these kinds of strides and this kind of progress is special. It's very satisfying to be a part of that. That's the reason I came here. I wanted to get back on the field and play but I wanted to help this organization change the perception that people had of it. I wanted to help change the community and it is a gratifying thing to be a part of that."

Kurt Warner On the importance of being a balanced offense:

"I think that is always a key to keep defenses off balance by changing it up and doing different things is always a key to your success. There's always games where you can say you are going to run the ball 50 times, you run the ball 50 times and you win or you say you are going throw the ball 50 times, you throw the ball 50 times and you win. But I think the more you can keep the defense off balance, especially great defenses like the one we faced yesterday, like the one we are going to play in a couple of weeks, that is going to be a huge factor, is us being able to keep them off balance. But more importantly being able to be successful at what we do. I think that's been the key not just calling this number of run plays and this number of pass plays. It's when we call them we have been successful on both sides, we've moved the chains, we've put ourselves in favorable positions by doing it and I think that's going to be the key in the Super Bowl. To be able to do that up against this defense is going to be a huge key to our success."