29Jan/103:38 PM

Kurt Warner’s Top 5 Games as a Cardinal

By Vince Marotta

Kurt Warner came to Arizona in 2005 as a free agent, signing a one-year $4 million deal with the Cardinals after one less-than-memorable season with the New York Giants.

At the time, when people thought of Warner, they thought of a washed up 34-year old quarterback whose glory days in St. Louis were far behind him. His performance hadn’t helped him. In his first nine starts with the Giants, Warner threw for 1,927 yards and just 6 touchdowns in helping the Giants to a 5-4 record. But he was plagued with the fumble bug. Warner had coughed up the ball 12 times, losing 4 of them. Couple that with the fact that the Giants had mortgaged their future a few months earlier, acquiring quarterback Eli Manning from San Diego, and the writing was on the wall. Warner’s stay in the Big Apple would be a brief one.

So many around football considered Warner signing that one-year contract with the Cardinals as the quarterback’s last hurrah. Man were they wrong.

Warner ended up playing five seasons in Arizona, leading the once wretched Cardinals to two division championships, an NFC crown, and a trip to Super Bowl XLIII.

Warner retired on Friday, ending a storybook 12-year career–much of which was spent right here in the Valley.

Here’s my list of Kurt Warner’s top five games as an Arizona Cardinal…

5

September 23, 2007 @ Baltimore - It’s kind of difficult to include this game on Warner’s top five list since a) he didn’t start the game and b) the Cardinals ended up losing 26-23. But this was really the first glimpse of how a Kurt Warner-led Cardinal offense could wreak havoc. The Cardinals trailed 23-6 heading into the 4th quarter, and Warner rallied the troops. He hit Anquan Boldin on a 5-yard td pass to make it 23-13. Then on the Cardinals’ next possession, he hit Boldin again, this time from 32 yards out to pull them to within three points at 23-20. With 5:33 to go, Warner started Arizona on a 10-play, 64-yard drive that ended in a game-tying 41-yard field goal by Neil Rackers. Unfortunately, Baltimore then drove 52 yards, and got a field goal from Matt Stover to win the game as time expired.
In a little more than a quarter of action, Warner finished the day 15 of 20 for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. His quarterback rating was 150.0.
Watch highlights of this game here

4

September 14, 2008 vs. Miami - It was one of those days when the Cardinals’ passing game could do no wrong. Warner completed 19 of 24 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns in an impressive 31-10 dismantling of the future AFC East Division Champs.
Warner achieved a perfect quarterback rating on the day, just the third (and final) time he’d do that as an NFL quarterback.
Watch highlights of this game here

3

December 6, 2009 vs. Minnesota - It was billed as a showdown of grizzled veteran quarterbacks. Brett Favre for the Vikings and Warner for the Cards. At the end of the game, not too many people were talking about Favre.
Warner completed 22 of 32 for 285 yards and three touchdowns in the Cardinals’ 30-17 win over the then 10-1 Vikings. Maybe more impressively, Warner returned from missing the Tennessee game a week earlier–the result of a concussion suffered in St. Louis two weeks prior. Warner’s quarterback rating for the game was 127.7, making him just the second quarterback in NFL history to have four straight games with a passer rating of 120 or greater. The other QB to accomplish it? The great Johnny Unitas, who did it for the Baltimore Colts in 1965.
Watch highlights of this game here

2

January 18, 2009 vs. Philadelphia - When a trip to the Super Bowl is on the line, it’s a great time for your quarterback to have a day when he can do no wrong. That was the case for Warner and the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Warner hooked up with Larry Fitzgerald on three first half touchdown passes to help the Cardinals to a 24-6 halftime lead.
But behind quarterback Donovan McNabb, the Eagles rallied, and actually took the lead with under 11:00 to play in the game. That’s when Warner rallied his troops and marched them on an epic 14-play, 72-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock and ended in an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tim Hightower to give the Cardinals the lead back. For good measure (and some security), Warner hit tight end Ben Patrick on a 2-point conversion as the Cardinals claimed their first ever trip to the Super Bowl.
Warner finished the day 21 of 28 for 279 yards and four touchdowns.
Watch highlights of this game here

1

January 10, 2010 vs. Green Bay - I’ve watched football for over 30 years, I’ve got a mind like a steel trap and I’ve spent way too much time poring over statistics in my lifetime, yet I can’t remember a better quarterbacking performance in a big game than what I saw from Kurt Warner on this day.
Warner hit on 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards and 5 touchdowns in the Cardinals’ memorable 51-45 overtime playoff win against the Packers at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
You read that correctly. Warner had more touchdown passes than incompletions in the win, yet somehow ended up with a QB rating that was 4.2 points short of perfection. Numbers or no numbers, Warner was absolutely perfect during the Cardinals’ win, which would turn out to be his last victory as a pro quarterback.
Watch highlights of this game here