Should Kurt Warner Be a Hall of Famer?
By Scott Burks
There has been some debate the last couple of weeks over Kurt Warner's
future Hall of Fame candidacy. It seems that the debate on talk sports
radio has been a near 50/50 split on Warner's chances. To me, the
answer is plain and simple. Kurt Warner is a bonafide Hall of Famer,
regardless if he wins or loses next Sunday Super Bowl.
Warner is the
second quarterback to take two teams to Super Bowls (Craig Morton took the
Cowboys and Broncos to Super Bowls V and XII respectively). Warner has
played in two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXIV, and arguably should
have won Super Bowl XXXVI. He was twice an NFL MVP, as well as the MVP
for Super Bowl XXXIV. In fact, he is one of six players to win both
the NFL and Super Bowl MVPs in the same season.
The others are Bart Starr in 1966, Terry
Bradshaw in 1978, Joe Montana in 1989, Emmitt Smith in 1993, and Steve Young
in 1994. All of those players are current and future (Smith) Hall of
Famers. Warner's quarterback rating was 93.8, which is higher than
Montana's 92.3 and fellow Hall of Famers Dan Marino's 86.4 and Dan Fouts's
80.2.
I know there are
some naysayers who would scoff at the notion of Warner being a Hall of Famer.
In fact, they would offer the following rebuttal: Warner barely played from
2002 through 2006. He was either injured or benched for poor play
during that time. While I acknowledge that it's a valid reason to keep
Warner out of the Hall of Fame, dig this: any QB who takes the Arizona
Cardinals to the Super Bowl deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
