27 February 2010, 1:01 pm
Phoenix, Arizona once a place where professional football players went to retire not play football is now home of the two time NFC Western Conference Champions. The Arizona Cardinals have become a team of players who believe they can win everytime they step on the football field. Over the last two years they have won four playoff games and appeared in a Super Bowl.
Along with a new coaching staff the Cardinals brought in one man who was a proven winner that being Kurt Warner. Warner signed with the Cardinals as a free agent from the NY Giants. Many if not all the league thought Warner's best days were behind him. Although the most important person of all did not believe so Kurt Warner himself.
Three years ago Warner replaced Matt Leinart as QB after Leinart hurt his shoulder. That year people began to see signs of the old Warner from his days with the Rams. The Cardinals finshed second in the West with a 8-8 record the first time the Cardinals had not had a losing season in many years. This was the first step of the rebirth of a Hall of Fame QB.
The following year Warner was challenged by Leinert for the starting job. He beat Leinart out and that year the Cardinals started fast getting off to a 7-3 start before fading in the end of the season to finish 9-7 but good enough to win the NFC West and make the playoffs. Chris Collinsworth a NBC football analyst called the Cardinals the worst playoff team in history. As everyone knows now the Cardinals lead by Warner went on to win the NFC and play in the Super Bowl losing on a last second play in one of the highest rated Super Bowl games ever seen.
Last year Kurt Warner lead the Cardinals again to the playoffs and a 10 win regular season. The Cardinals beat Green Bay in the highest scoring playoff game ever 51-45. Kurt Warner had 5 td passes and only 4 incompletions. This most likely put a stamp on the Hall of Fame voters mind. Warner went out a winner in the town which gave him a second chance to prove himself as one of the greatest QB's to ever play the game.
Kurt Warner's rise to fame is well known from super market bag boy to Super Bowl MVP. But if you ask Kurt Warner the fame never changed him. Kurt Warner the man is not founded in his football fame he is founded in the Word of God. Kurt Warner is a person people of all faiths should look up to because no amount of fame or money ever changed his true beliefs or the morals he lives by. From the beginning to the end of his career Kurt Warner was the same man.
It will be hard for Cardinals fans to invision the team without him. He was the reason for all the winning in the desert and without him the team will struggle to find a new identity. Kurt Warner is leaving with nothing to prove. However he can still play at a high level and could lead the team to another Western Conference Title no question. If the Cardinals would imporve their defense they could even make another run to the Super Bowl. Kurt Warner is still under contract and the desire to play will come back in the late summer as is the case with all professional football players. So Arizona do not be surprised if number 13 gives it one more go.
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