Adversity and the Meteoric Fall (2002–2004).
Although the Rams had lost the previous Super bowl, Kurt Warner was still at the pinnacle of the NFL, a two time and reigning MVP. Kurt began the 2002 season as the Rams’ starter but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions and only one touchdown as the team went 0 – 3. In the Rams’ fourth game against the Dallas Cowboys Kurt broke a finger on his throwing hand. He attempted to come back later in the season, but this injury allowed him to play only two more games, both of which were losses. In contrast to his 103.4 career passer rating entering the season, Kurt posted a paltry 67.4 rating in 2002.
This reduced performance marked the beginning of the end of Kurt’s storied tenure with the Rams. In the 2003 season, Marc Bulger permanently replaced Kurt as the Rams’ starting quarterback after Kurt fumbled six times in the team’s opening day game against the New York Giants. Kurt later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football and providing an explanation for the fumbles.
The Rams released Kurt on June 1, 2004, thus ending his magical run with the Rams. Two days later, he signed a two year contract with the New York Giants. Kurt started the 2004 season as the Giants’ starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games. Following a two-game losing streak, however, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5 – 4 record at the time of Kurt’s benching but finished the season at 6 – 10 overall, going 1 – 6 under Eli Manning. Following this 2004 season, Kurt chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
The Path Back (2005 – 2007)
Kurt signed a one year contract for the 2005 season with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starting QB by head coach Dennis Green. Kurt recorded three average performances before injuring his groin and being replaced at QB by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough that Green named McCown the starter for the remainder of the season. But, after McCown struggled, Green inserted Kurt back into the starting line up in an attempt to correct the struggling Cardinals. After he played well in two consecutive losses and passed for almost 700 yards, Kurt found his game and defeated his old team, the Rams, by a score of 38 – 28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns in the game while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Unfortunately the injury bug struck once again and Kurt’s season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Kurt now signed a new three-year contract with the Cardinals in February of 2006 and continued to play football for the Arizona team. In week one of the 2006 NFL season, Kurt won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, he passed the 20,000 yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second fastest of any player in NFL history and only one game more than record holder and Hall of Famer Dan Marino. However, after three subpar performances, Kurt was replaced at QB by rookie Matt Leinart and head coach Dennis Green stated that Kurt would be the backup QB for the remainder of the 2006 season.
Leinart was given the starting QB job at the beginning of the 2007 season. But, in the third game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens, Kurt came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the fourth quarter. Next week, during the fourth game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kurt relieved Leinart again following another ineffective start by Leinart. Leinart was soon placed on the injured reserve list and Kurt Warner was named the starting QB for the remainder of the 2007 season. Were things finally looking up again for the perseverant Iowan?
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