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Long and winding road for Warner

Long and winding road for Warner

He’s one of the best human interests story ever in the NFL and was the cornerstone of the St. Louis Rams’ offence dubbed The Greatest Show on Turf.

And now, Kurt Warner is back as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Warner came off the bench to replace an injured Matt Leinart and rallied the Arizona Cardinals to a 34-31 win over the Rams on Sunday. Warner ran for a touchdown himself, then threw a seven-yard touchdown strike to Larry Fitzgerald to give the Cardinals a 34-23 advantage with 3:15 to play.

Leinart, the former USC star, was injured late in the first half Sunday, and is out indefinitely, meaning Warner is the Cardinals’ starter for the foreseeable future.

And thus, the NFL’s feel-good story continues.

Warner, 36, took a most improbable route to the NFL.

He played collegiate at the University of Northern Iowa before attending the Green Bay Packers’ training camp in ‘94. After being released, Warner tried to catch on with various other NFL teams but found no takers. He also tried his hand at getting a tryout in the pass-happy CFL, but again was turned down.

So Warner was forced to go work in a grocery store stocking shelves, earning $5.50 an hour. He was eventually signed by the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League in ‘95. Warner was an instant star in the AFL, being named to the league’s all-star team in ‘96 and ‘97 after leading Iowa to the league final both years.

Ironically, Warner’s coach in Iowa was none other than John Gregory, who had spent time as a head coach in the CFL and in ‘89 led the Saskatchewan Roughriders to just their second-ever Grey Cup title.

Gregory gave Warner a tryout with the Barnstormers, and three years later the former grocery store employee signed with St. Louis. However, again, Warner was forced to make a detour in his quest to play in the NFL.

Shortly after signing with the Rams, Warner was allocated to the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe in ‘98.

Warner re-joined the Rams after the NFL Europe season and served as the club’s backup quarterback. But when starter Trent Green was injuring during the ‘99 preseason, Warner found himself as the club’s No. 1 quarterback.

Despite his humble beginnings and NFL experience, Warner showed he belonged in the big league. Capping one of the most improbably seasons in league history, Warner earned the first of two NFL MVP titles after passing for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdown passes that season.

Warner capped his Cinderella season by leading the Rams to victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, throwing two touchdown passes and a game-record 414 yards. Showing a flair for the dramatic, it was Warner’s 73-yard TD pass with just over two minutes remaining that gave the Rams their winning margin, although many consider the game the most exciting Super Bowl contest ever, largely based on Mike Jones’ game-saving tackle on Titans’ receiver Kevin Dyson on the final play.

However, Warner was named the Super Bowl MVP, becoming just one of six players in league history to win both the league and Super Bowl MVP titles in the same year. And that select company included such quarterbacks as Bart Star (Green Bay in ‘66), Terry Bradshaw (Pittsburgh, ‘78), Joe Montana (San Francisco in ‘89) and Steve Young (San Francisco, ‘93) as well as Dallas running back Emmitt Smith (‘93).

During Warner’s five-year tenure in St. Louis, he led the Rams to another Super Bowl appearance (losing to New England) and claimed another MVP title (in 2001).

He was released by St. Louis prior to the 2004 season and later joined the New York Giants. He began the ‘04 campaign as the club’s starter and led the Giants to wins in five of their first seven games but was benched in favour of first-round pick Eli Manning after losing two straight starts.

New York was 5-4 when Warner was benched but won just one of seven games under Manning.

Warner joined the Cardinals in 2005 and started the club’s first three games before suffering a groin injury and being replaced by Josh McCown. When Warner returned to the lineup, then coach Dennis Green said McCown would be his starter for the rest of the season.

That prompted suggestions that Warner’s fairy tale career had finally come to an end. However, when McCown struggled, Warner was back under centre. He threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-28 win over the Rams, but his suffered a season-ending knee injury late in the year.

Warner is in the second year of a three-year, $18-million contact he signed following the 2005 season. This could very well be his final stint as a starting NFL quarterback. The Cardinals have invested a lot in Leinart and aren’t about to give up on him, even if the coaching staff had switched to more of a QB rotation of late with Warner operating the two-minute offence flawlessly against Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

Warner is no longer the man at the centre of The Greatest Show on Turf, but he showed Sunday he’s still capable of leading an offence. And with a receiving corps that features Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, two of the league‘s better young receivers, he has two bona fide stars to play catch with. And he takes over a team that’s tied with Seattle (both 3-2) for tops in the NFC West.

Who knows just how far a little Warner magic can take the Cardinals? At worst, it’s a chance to add another improbable chapter in an NFL feel-good story many of us figured had come to an end a few years ago.