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Warner's benching shows that Rams made right choice
By Bryan Burwell
Of the Post-Dispatch
11/15/2004
Bryan Burwell
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bryan Burwell
(P-D)
Back here in Kurt Warner's adopted home town, the varying opinions on
the cause and effects of the meteoric rise and fall of his storybook
football life always will be blurred under so many dreamy - and
divergent - emotional clouds. With all we know about him here, how
exactly do we reconcile the dramatic beginning that took him from
stocking supermarket shelves to NFL MVP to the unceremonious end that
has dropped him from heralded Super Bowl hero to declining
arm-for-hire?
There always will be an unresolved emotional debate here, where the
polarizing after-effects of his departure from the Rams still conjure
a divisive chasm between the unadulterated Warner worshipers who
believe he left town too early and the unapologetic Warner bashers who
are convinced he left far too late.
But nine games into his comeback season in New York, far removed from
the agonizing two-year-long Rams soap opera, Warner has been benched
again in favor of another rising young passer. And now it's time to
face three unemotional facts:
Warner still can play.
Warner no longer can play at his two-time MVP level.
The Rams kept the right quarterback.
The evidence is there if you're objective enough to digest it. The
more you watched Warner play, the more you knew the star of the Rams'
glory years looks better suited for a more limited role as an aging
backup QB.
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had no other choice but to bench him.
If the Giants' offense was going to struggle, it might as well
struggle with $46 million rookie passer Eli Manning getting some
valuable experience.
"(Manning) is the future of the New York Giants, it just starts now,"
Coughlin told reporters Monday. "I really felt the last four games we
haven't been playing well offensively. We just need to make a change."
This is why he could make the change with a clear heart.
In all the important categories that measure a quarterback's worth,
Warner has settled into a mediocre existence (15th in passer
efficiency rating, 13th in completions, 16th in pass attempts, 13th in
completion percentage, 14th in yardage, 27th in touchdown passes, 17th
in yards per attempt and last in times sacked). The only category in
which he is among the NFL leaders is in fewest interceptions (fourth).
Meanwhile, in those same categories, younger, more mobile Rams QB Marc
Bulger is decidedly better in every category but interceptions (Bulger
ranks anywhere from second through 10th in the same statistics). He
isn't a top 5 quarterback yet, but there's no doubt he's among the top
10 in the league and that Rams coach Mike Martz was smart to keep him
and let Warner go.
Warner had a wonderful five-game start where he looked like the NFL
comeback player of the year. But defenses made adjustments and Warner
and the Giants' offense began a rapid decline. In his last four games,
he was sacked 24 times. For the season he has been sacked a staggering
39 times. And as his play declined and the Giants' offense struggled,
some familiar complaints started to pop up in New York. He was not
picking up wide-open receivers, he fumbled too much and he couldn't
get the offense moving.
Now tell me if this doesn't sound familiar: Warner seemed to suggest
after his benching that Coughlin was forced to make the change by an
organization eager to see if its $46 million investment in the rookie
was worth it.
Maybe he's right. But can you blame them? Maybe Giants management is
looking at the successful season the 8-1 Pittsburgh Steelers are
having with rookie Ben Roethlisberger as a starter (the kid's 7-0),
and certainly must be intrigued with the possibilities of their kid
doing the same thing.
But you just can't ignore the fact that the Giants' offense has
stopped cold over the past four weeks. Teams keep stuffing the run,
forcing the pass, then putting on relentless blitzes that the
offensive line can't handle. Five years ago, Warner used to feast on
those same blitzes. Now he just seems paralyzed by them.
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8185
By Bryan Burwell
Of the Post-Dispatch
11/15/2004
Bryan Burwell
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bryan Burwell
(P-D)
Back here in Kurt Warner's adopted home town, the varying opinions on
the cause and effects of the meteoric rise and fall of his storybook
football life always will be blurred under so many dreamy - and
divergent - emotional clouds. With all we know about him here, how
exactly do we reconcile the dramatic beginning that took him from
stocking supermarket shelves to NFL MVP to the unceremonious end that
has dropped him from heralded Super Bowl hero to declining
arm-for-hire?
There always will be an unresolved emotional debate here, where the
polarizing after-effects of his departure from the Rams still conjure
a divisive chasm between the unadulterated Warner worshipers who
believe he left town too early and the unapologetic Warner bashers who
are convinced he left far too late.
But nine games into his comeback season in New York, far removed from
the agonizing two-year-long Rams soap opera, Warner has been benched
again in favor of another rising young passer. And now it's time to
face three unemotional facts:
Warner still can play.
Warner no longer can play at his two-time MVP level.
The Rams kept the right quarterback.
The evidence is there if you're objective enough to digest it. The
more you watched Warner play, the more you knew the star of the Rams'
glory years looks better suited for a more limited role as an aging
backup QB.
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had no other choice but to bench him.
If the Giants' offense was going to struggle, it might as well
struggle with $46 million rookie passer Eli Manning getting some
valuable experience.
"(Manning) is the future of the New York Giants, it just starts now,"
Coughlin told reporters Monday. "I really felt the last four games we
haven't been playing well offensively. We just need to make a change."
This is why he could make the change with a clear heart.
In all the important categories that measure a quarterback's worth,
Warner has settled into a mediocre existence (15th in passer
efficiency rating, 13th in completions, 16th in pass attempts, 13th in
completion percentage, 14th in yardage, 27th in touchdown passes, 17th
in yards per attempt and last in times sacked). The only category in
which he is among the NFL leaders is in fewest interceptions (fourth).
Meanwhile, in those same categories, younger, more mobile Rams QB Marc
Bulger is decidedly better in every category but interceptions (Bulger
ranks anywhere from second through 10th in the same statistics). He
isn't a top 5 quarterback yet, but there's no doubt he's among the top
10 in the league and that Rams coach Mike Martz was smart to keep him
and let Warner go.
Warner had a wonderful five-game start where he looked like the NFL
comeback player of the year. But defenses made adjustments and Warner
and the Giants' offense began a rapid decline. In his last four games,
he was sacked 24 times. For the season he has been sacked a staggering
39 times. And as his play declined and the Giants' offense struggled,
some familiar complaints started to pop up in New York. He was not
picking up wide-open receivers, he fumbled too much and he couldn't
get the offense moving.
Now tell me if this doesn't sound familiar: Warner seemed to suggest
after his benching that Coughlin was forced to make the change by an
organization eager to see if its $46 million investment in the rookie
was worth it.
Maybe he's right. But can you blame them? Maybe Giants management is
looking at the successful season the 8-1 Pittsburgh Steelers are
having with rookie Ben Roethlisberger as a starter (the kid's 7-0),
and certainly must be intrigued with the possibilities of their kid
doing the same thing.
But you just can't ignore the fact that the Giants' offense has
stopped cold over the past four weeks. Teams keep stuffing the run,
forcing the pass, then putting on relentless blitzes that the
offensive line can't handle. Five years ago, Warner used to feast on
those same blitzes. Now he just seems paralyzed by them.
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8185
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