NFL

End the Debate: Kurt Warner is the NFL MVP

Posted Nov 11, 2008 2:00PM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Arizona Cardinals, NFC West, NFL Awards

Text SizeAAA

While the Cardinals were only playing the lowly 49ers last night, Kurt Warner showed, once again, why he has been the most valuable player in the NFL. This time he did so on a national stage.

With most of his teammates struggling -- bad kick coverage, stupid penalties, no running lanes provided by the offensive line, poor tackling, allowing Shaun Hill to throw two touchdowns, etc. -- Warner took the bull by the proverbial horns and willed his team to victory.

Sure, you have to give an assist to the gawdawful play-calling by the Niners at the end of the game, but Warner won this game. He completed 32 of 42 passes for 328 yards and three touchdowns with nary a turnover. That's good for a 121.9 QB rating, upping his season-long rating to a league high 106.4. He ranks second in both touchdown passes (19, leader Philip Rivers has 21) and passing yards (2760, leader Drew Brees has compiled 2985). Warner is also completing an absurd 70.6 percent of his pass attempts on the season, and has only thrown six picks. So yeah, the seasonal stats are there.

The consistency is there as well. Warner hasn't had a game with less than a 81.5 rating. He's thrown for at least 190 yards in every game, with five games being 300+ and an downright obscene 472 in Week 4. There has not been a single game where Warner didn't come through with at least one touchdown toss ... and only once did he stop with just one (Week 1, so he's got a streak of eight straight games with at least two touchdowns).

Most importantly, Kurt Warner has the Arizona Cardinals in position to wrap up the NFC West with unprecedented ease. Actually, the "ease" part isn't even necessary for me to include with the word "unprecedented." The Arizona Cardinals have never won the NFC West. Their last playoff appearance came in 1998, as a wild card. In fact, that's the only playoff appearance ever for the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals franchise last won a division in a full season in 1975. Coincidentally, that division title came when they resided in St. Louis, now home of the team that thought moving forward with Marc Bulger instead of Warner was a good idea.

For the Cards to not end the division title drought this season, they'd have to blow a four-game lead in only seven games. That won't happen, because Kurt Warner won't let it happen. In the game last night, when his team seemed to want to lose, Warner rose above. If his team begins to falter from here on out, he'll do so again. There's a reason quarterbacks win MVPs more than any other position -- because quarterback is the most important position in any sport. It would be like if the pitcher threw every inning of every game in baseball. The quarterback is what makes teams function. Sure, teams can get by with average-ish signal callers, but more often than not, the best teams have stud quarterbacks. Just picture this: what if Ken Whisenhunt decided to head into the season with Matt Leinart as his starter? Would the Cards have won last night with Leinart at the helm? Would they be 6-3?

We can't know the answer for sure, but the immediate gut feeling you get should illustrate how valuable Warner is. In a season where there aren't many other outstanding candidates, Warner is going to distinguish himself as the only candidate -- especially after he throws all over the Vikings, Seahawks twice, Rams, Eagles, and Patriots.

Tags: ken+whisenhunt, KenWhisenhunt, kurt+warner, KurtWarner, matt+leinart, MattLeinart

Related Articles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

FanHouse's Week 11 Coverage

Chiefs win - Photo: Getty Images
All the latest from NFL FanHouse



NFL Team Photos




Latest NFL Photos