Thank you for posting the truth, Mama!
I followed Kurt's career from the time I first heard him speak, halfway though that first Cinderella season with the Rams. I watched him only once in person.
That was in 2005, when a business trip took me to Phoenix. The Rams were in trown to play the Cardinals in the reflector oven called Sun Devil Stadium. I spent money I didn't have for a pair of tickets, one for the man I was in Phoenix to see, a football fan to whom I owed a big favor.
We watched Kurt Warner get the snot knocked out of him on just about every series for the first half as Leonard Little and company were having a field day against a rag-doll O line. The most brutal hits occurred just as the ball was released, not on the sacks. Later he was intercepted on a long ball where the receiver failed miserably to correct his route.
Second half, Denny Green changed to a shotgun so Kurt could get the ball out of his hands before the rush got home. The Cards didn't have much of a running game anyway. He did - and got the passses off for completions just before the wrecking crew arrived.
In the final seconds of the game, Warner had the Cardinals inside the 5, just 5 points down, when a false start penalty caused a ten-second tundown and a Card loss. He had completed passes to two young reveivers - Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin - in that drive and they were both on the field. One more pass... and then the ten second countdown with onl;y eight seconds on the clock.
The Rams gained 325 yards total offense in that game, while Warner threw for 327. Bulger, whom Martz called the best quarterback he ever coached, passed for 216. (I just looked it up.)
That game changed my life, but that's another story.
After the game I watch Kurt trot across the field, smile on his face, to warm greeting from his former teammates after he first shook Martz's hand. They spoke for a moment. I'd give a nickel to know what was said. Then Kurt joined the prayer circle in the middle of the field.
There's more I could add to what you've posted here, footnotes of my own. The Shaw-Marmie-Martz-Miklatz conspiracy that dumped Vermiel, installed Martz as head coach, ran Kurt out of town, caused me no small amount of anguish.
Warner had the Giants playing playoff-level ball until the wheels fell off. We know what happened with the Cards. We know what became of Mike Martz. What we don't know is with the Rams, what could have been if...
