Warner understands Delhomme's woes

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner was supposed to be finished long ago.

But here he is, 38 years old and nearly as good as ever, having just taken the Cardinals — yes, the Cardinals — to the Super Bowl and kept them at a high level.

The guy who once stocked shelves at an Iowa grocery store, lighted up the Arena League and the World League en route to a couple of NFL MVP awards is still going strong. Though there were some doubts as to how the Cardinals would rebound from a slow start, last week's emphatic road win over the New York Giants got them to 4-2 and re-established them among the NFC favorites.

“Well, we are moving in the right direction anyway,” Warner said. “We are playing our best football right now. But in this business that can change very quickly, so we have to stay on top of it.”

Warner knows all too well about how rapidly things can change. At the turn of the previous decade, no player was better. He was piloting the St. Louis Rams offense at its peak, and the only thing better than his backstory was his arm. But all empires fade, and by the end of the 2003 season, he was extraneous. A slow start in 2002 and a broken finger triggered the end of his run there, replaced by Marc Bulger. A nine-game stint with the Giants as Eli Manning's backup led him to the desert, where he pulled off perhaps his most amazing feat.

After going back and forth as the starter under Denny Green (injured Panthers backup Josh McCown nudged him aside at one point), Warner finally took control of the job for good in 2008, and last year led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. In the near-miss loss to Pittsburgh, he threw for 377 yards, giving him the top three yardage totals in Super Bowl history, along with the 1999 and 2001 appearances with the Rams.

It allowed him to join Joe Montana, John Elway, Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady as quarterbacks to throw touchdowns in three Super Bowls, and just the second to lead two franchises to the final game (Craig Morton, Dallas and Denver).

But for all the glory, Warner talked this week about his trials, largely because of his friendship with Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. The two were teammates with the Amsterdam Admirals in 1998 (Warner started), and have remained close ever since.

That's why he empathizes with Delhomme and his struggles.

“We have all been through those stretches,” he said. “I remember the days when it just seemed like everything went against me. Even if it wasn't me, it just seemed like every ball that was tipped was intercepted, or every time there was a miscommunication between me and somebody there was an interception, every time I got hit the ball pops out, it just seemed like everything was spiraling down hill.

“At some point, you kind of get a grip on it, you get moving in the other direction, and you get back on track.”

Warner said the key was remaining positive and surrounding himself with people who did the same.

“Definitely leaning on people around me,” he said. “But the big thing that I did was that I tried to be critical of my play and my situation. By that I mean, when I went in and watched a film, I had to be critical and say, ‘What did I do wrong?' or ‘Did I do something wrong?' There were times when I realized that I threw three interceptions in a game it may have been my fault but in my mind you can still feel some confidence when you can feel everything isn't on your shoulders. That you weren't the only one playing bad and that it was a team effort.

“I was very critical where I was making mistakes to make sure that they wouldn't happen again. The things that went against me that weren't necessarily my fault, I took some solace in that and that not everything is my fault. We win and lose as a team; I'm part of the problem, but I'm not the whole problem. You can't go into a shell and hide in your locker thinking that the weight of the world is on your shoulders; nobody can handle that. You cannot win games in this business without great guys around you.”

Warner said at some point, Delhomme will have a similar breakthrough, citing his old friend's toughness.

“He is a great football player and someone that I really respect on and off the football field,” Warner said.

“I try to watch him as much as I possibly can, so I have heard a little about the situation that he is in. Just knowing Jake, and the fighter that he is, and the competitor that he is, there is no question that he is going to come out of it. He is going to play some good football.

“I know the competitor that he is and he is going to keep working until that change happens. Every great quarterback has been through times where you struggle a little bit and you really have to fight to get out of it and then you get back on track.”

If Delhomme can follow his former teammate's example, the Panthers might not be as destitute as their fan base thinks.

But to rebound from such struggles takes a special strength, a quality that Panthers coach John Fox said Warner has plenty of.

“I've known Kurt for some time,” Fox said. “I visited with him a couple occasions when things weren't going as well for him, whether it was later in his career at St. Louis or his stint with the Giants or even when he was a backup in Arizona. He is a guy that I have the utmost respect for and I've talked to over the years.

“Every professional athlete goes through a slump. I don't care if you're a golfer, basketball player, baseball player, football player. You're dealing with the best in the world, and you're not always going to be all over your game. There was a point this past golf season where people were wondering what's wrong with Tiger Woods. You just fight through it, and he has.”