'It's been an amazing ride': Warner retires after 12 NFLseasons
The 38-year-old quarterback announced his retirement from the game Friday after
12 years in a league that at first rejected him, then revered him as he came
from nowhere to lead the lowly St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls, winning the
first of them.
Warner, a man of deep faith who carried a Bible to each postgame news
conference, walked away with one year left on a two-year, $23 million contract,
knowing he still had the skills to play at the highest level.
"It's been an amazing ride," he said. "I don't think I could have dreamt it
would have played out like it has, but I've been humbled every day that I woke
up the last 12 years and amazed that God would choose to use me to do what he's
given me the opportunity to do."
Warner had one of the greatest playoff performances ever in the Cardinals'
51-45 overtime wild-card victory over the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 10, but
he sustained a brutal hit in a 45-14 divisional-round loss at New Orleans six
days later.
"He has had a dominant career. He's a good person," Cardinals defensive tackle
Darnell Dockett said of Warner. "He's got to do what's best for his family. He
played long enough. He took us to the Super Bowl last year. We had a great
season this year. It's a good thing. If you're going to go out, go out on top."
The Cardinals signed Warner to a one-year contract in 2005 largely because no
other team would give him a chance to be a starter. His opportunities over the
next two years were scattered, and even when Ken Whisenhunt took over as the
Cardinals' coach in 2007, Warner was the backup to Matt Leinart.
Kurt Warner's career statistics
Statistic Regular season Playoffs
Record 67-49 9-4
Completion Percentage 65.5 66.5
Passing Yards Per Game 258.8 304.0
300-Yard Games 52 (of 125) 6 (of 13)
Touchdown Passes 208 31
Interceptions 128 14
Passer Rating 93.7 102.8
But when Leinart went down with an injury five games into the season, Warner
got his chance. He started 48 of the remaining 49 games of his career.
Warner leaves the game with a legacy that could land him in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame even though he didn't make his first NFL start until he was 28.
In a comparison with the 14 quarterbacks to make the Hall of Fame in the last
25 years, Warner has a better career completion percentage, more yards per pass
attempt and more yards per game. Only Dan Marino had more career 300-yard
passing games.
In 124 regular-season games, Warner completed 65.5 percent of his passes for
32,344 yards and 208 touchdowns. He and Fran Tarkenton are the only NFL
quarterbacks to throw for 100 touchdowns and 14,000 yards for two teams.
Cardinals general manager Rod Graves called Warner's retirement emotional
"because I realize once again how extraordinary he was."
"I've only had the privilege of being around one other person that I can say
was close to him and that was (Hall of Fame running back) Walter Payton,"
Graves said. "I think when you have an extraordinary player and one who is just
as extraordinary off the field, then you realize you were in the presence of
someone special."
Whisenhunt said Warner ranked "at the top" of players he had coached.
"He's one of the best quarterbacks in this league," Whisenhunt said, "and I
think it's well noted that he's one of the best people I've been around."
Warner brought his wife, Brenda, and their seven children to the podium during
Friday's news conference, hugging each one of them. He choked up as he thanked
them.
"Every day, I come home and it doesn't matter if you won or lost or have thrown
touchdowns or interceptions, the one thing that I always knew is that when I
entered that door, when I stepped in our house, that none of that mattered to
these guys," he said. "I can't tell you how much of a blessing that is."
Warner, who grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and played collegiately at
Northern Iowa, ranks among the NFL's career leaders in a variety of passing
statistics. He was the fastest player in NFL history to 10,000 passing yards
and tied Marino as fastest to reach 30,000.
Warner also has the top three passing performances in Super Bowl history. His
1,156 passing yards in the 2008 playoffs broke the NFL record of 1,063 that
he set with St. Louis in 1999.
Warner's rise from obscurity seems the stuff of sports fiction.
Warner played three seasons in the Arena Football League and one in NFL Europe,
mixed in with a stint stocking grocery shelves back in Iowa. He made the Rams
as a backup in 1998, then was thrust into the starting role in 1999 when
Trent Green was injured.
What followed was a masterful and wholly unexpected season, when Warner led the
Rams to a 13-3 regular-season record, then a Super Bowl triumph over the
Tennessee Titans. He was selected the league and Super Bowl MVP.
St. Louis was upset in the first round of the playoffs the following season,
but Warner had the Rams back in the big game in 2001, when "The Greatest Show
on Turf" lost a squeaker to the New England Patriots. The season earned Warner
a second league MVP award.
But after an injury-plagued 2002 season, Warner was sacked six times and
suffered a concussion during a 2003 season-opening loss to the New York Giants. He never started for the Rams again.
Warner signed a free-agent contract with the Giants for 2004 and led the team
to a 5-4 record, but rookie Eli Manning replaced him after nine games. Warner
came to the Cardinals in 2005 and was an off-and-on starter before replacing
the injured Leinart part way through the 2007 season.
Warner had to beat out Leinart the following year, then led the Cardinals to
the NFC West title and playoff victories over the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina
Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles before the narrow loss to the
Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII, when he threw for 377 yards.
Warner called that season the crowning achievement of his career.
Warner and his wife operate the First Things First Christian charitable
foundation. Last year, he was selected the NFL's Man of the Year for his
off-field and on-field accomplishments.
"We all learned great lessons from Kurt's humility, dignity and grace,"
Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom said in a statement released by the team.
"We will forever be thankful for the success he brought us and the unparalleled
generosity he has shown the St. Louis community and beyond."
Warner's departure leaves Leinart the presumed replacement in Arizona. The
former Heisman Trophy winner has started 17 games for the Cardinals but only
one in the last two years.
Warner said he plans to spend time watching his children grow up, do some
preaching and perhaps get into football broadcasting. And he knows what he
wants his legacy to be.
"It's not the way I threw the football, it's not particular games that I won,
but that they remember that here's a guy that believed, that worked hard,"
Warner said. "Although things didn't always go in his favor, he continued to
press through, and with his faith in himself and his faith in God, he was able
to accomplish great things."
--
當總統沒什麼了不起 美國一共有41位總統 可是大家記得的是
林肯曾經解放過黑奴 羅斯福總統曾經推行過新政
這是因為他們真正為美國人民做了很多的事
要做總統就要作一個會做事的總統
給台灣一個機會 讓會做事的宋楚瑜 繼續為台灣人民打拼
為台灣 我們一起加油 加油
--
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