By Bernie Miklasz
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
09/18/2005
TEMPE, ARIZ. — For a few precious moments you could close your eyes, let your imagination and sentiment lift you up and take you on a return trip to another place in another time. Back in the day, nothing seemed impossible for Kurt Warner. He'd take the Rams on these magical journeys to the end zone, and NFL defenses were helpless to stop him.
So on Sunday at Sun Devil Stadium, with Arizona trailing Warner's former team 17-12, Warner got the ball and a last chance with just under 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. It was hot as a barbecue pit down on the field, but Warner calmly completed all six of his passing attempts, picking up key parcels of real estate totaling 76 yards. And suddenly the Cardinals were 5 yards from the end zone and a winning touchdown.
Old No. 13 was on the brink of recapturing his brilliant past. He was about to take down Mike Martz, he was about to upstage Marc Bulger, he was about to give his fiercely loyal fans a reason to clear their throats for delirious I-told-you-so calls to the Monday sports-radio talk shows.
"That's what you're thinking - 'Here we go.' All we need is one. One play, one shot, one touchdown," Warner said. "And we win the game. Perfect scenario, perfect place to be in."
But this is 2005, not 1999, and Warner plays for the Arizona Cardinals now. They've been a work in progress since 1947, when the franchise last captured an NFL championship. So the ending was almost predictable: Safety Adam Archuleta swooped in on a rare and belated Rams blitz and sacked Warner. With the final seconds ticking away, Cardinals coach Dennis Green wasted time getting new personnel onto the field. Next, an Arizona lineman moved prematurely; a penalty flag went up, and time expired. Just like that: comeback over, game over, and a flat tire for the populous St. Louis chapter of the Warner bandwagon.
"It's always more disappointing," Warner said, "when you're in a situation like that and don't get it done."
As he dressed in the spartan home locker room, Warner couldn't shake a look of disgust and dejection. Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill quietly moved in to offer Warner some encouraging words.
"We were right there," Warner told Bidwill. "Right there."
In his first game against the team that gave him his first chance in 1999 and his release in 2004, Warner started slowly. With three fumbles (one lost) and an interception in the first half, Warner looked like he'd fulfill the doom-and-gloom prophecies of his critics. He looked like another relic, left in the desert. Not so fast ...
Warner feels he has something to prove, but for unselfish reasons. He claims he's never lost confidence in his ability. And in the second half, Warner just...
-09-19-2005, 05:23 AM
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