Happy Groundhog Day

So in honour of the big day, I figured I'd revisit (get it...get it?) one of my points from last night's quick hits post.

The Hall of Fame credentials of Kurt Warner.

Allow me to make the argument.

Warner, at age 37 has played in three Super Bowls, spread over 9 years with two teams, winning one. He also captured the Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl 34.

Now, I could stop there and for some people that would be enough of a credential maybe not for a first ballot entry, but an eventual bronze bust. But nay, we shall continue.

Warner won two NFL MVP awards in 1999 and 2001, becoming only one of only a handful of people to win more than one.

Ok, you say, so he had a few good years. What have you done for me lately, right?

Well, this season he was very much in contention - and for most of the season, in fact, was the lead horse - for this year's MVP award. Even after slowing down for the last few weeks of the year, he finished with over 4,500 yards, 30 touchdowns, a passer rating of 96.9 while completing over 67% of his passes. At one point in the season he was actually on pace for over 5,000 yards. All this from a 37 year old who was slotted in as the backup to young stud Matt Leinart when training camp began.

Ok, you say, so he had one final hurrah in the twilight of his career. A HOF'er does not that make.

Well, in terms of career stats, here's how he shakes up among the best:

Warner's career passer rating of 93.8 ranks fourth all-time, behind only Steve Young, Peyton Manning and Tony Romo.
Warner's career completion percentage of 65.7 is second all-time behind only Chad Pennington.
His 261.2 passing yards per game is the highest average for any QB with at least 100 games played.
He also owns the following records:
Most yards passing in career Super Bowls; T-1 most single-season playoff touchdowns; The top three individual Super Bowl passing yard records belong to him and he is the only QB to throw for 400+ yards in the big game; Most games with a perfect passer rating; most consecutive games with 300+ yards passing....

I may have missed one or two in there, but you get the point.

Throughout his career with the Rams and the greatest show on turf, to becoming a backup in NY, all the way back to stardom with the Cardinals, Warner has been an accurate, effective passer at historic levels.

He was never as flashy as Brett Favre, never as handsome as Joe Montana, never as electric as Michael Vic.....actually, forget that last comparison.
Warner, though, has numbers that compare favourably to any QB in the game right now (Save maybe for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning) and many QB's even in the hall already.

Let's take a quick sampling of a few guys who are in already.

Terry Bradshaw:
Career comp. rate: 51.9
Career passer rating: 70.9
Most TD's in a season: 28
Yards/game: 166.6

Joe Namath:
Career comp. rate: 50.1
Career passer rating: 65.5
Most TD's in a season: 26
Yards/game: 197.6

and for a refresher...

Kurt Warner:
Career comp. rate: 65.4
Career passer rating: 93.8
Most TD's in a season: 41
Yards/game: 261.2

So there you have it, his numbers not only compare to those two all-time greats, but pretty much blow them out of the water. And you can tell me about how it's a different game today and there's more passing than ever and you're probably right. But for Warner to put up his kind of numbers for as long as he has is unbelievably impressive on a level of historic proportions.

Whether or not he retires after this season (he is a free agent and has already said he will think very hard about coming back again) Kurt Warner has earned a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

Now it's just up to the voters to decide....