Let the Debate Over Kurt Warner's Legacy... Begin!

After the Philadelphia Eagles took a 25-24 lead in the fourth quarter of last Sunday's NFC championship game, having scored touchdowns on three straight possessions while holding Arizona to consecutive three-and-outs, I really felt that they had total control of the game and were headed to Tampa. Now, not being a native Philadelphia sports fan, I am not consumed by the feelings of impending and inevitable doom that true Eagles fans suffer from, and being that the opposing team in this game, the ARIZONAFUCKINGCARDINALS, are perhaps the most star-crossed franchise in the NFL, I started imagining all of the bandwagon Cardinals fans that had just discovered that their city actually fields a NFL squad filing out of the stadium, never to be seen again.

Kurt Warner had other plans. He brilliantly led the Cards down the field on a lengthy scoring drive to pull the game out. Kudos to him. But what happened next is something that has had me perplexed: people are saying that Warner, even if he doesn't win his second Super Bowl, is a Hall of Fame quarterback.

My initial criteria for a player in any league to become a HOFer is that, when asked if a player is worthy of such an honor, my response must be immediate and affirmative. If I have to think about it, and be talked in to it, then I generally don't think the player is Hall worthy. Halls of Fame should be reserved for transcendent players who perform at a level of excellence consistently for a good length of time. For me, my instant response to Warner's case is "no."

"Ya, but remember the Greatest Show on Turf?"

"Dude, he threw, like, 115 touchdowns in 1999!"

True. But to really see where Warner stands, we gotta go to the numbers.

He has 3 seasons where he threw over 4000 yards (1999, 2001 and 2008) and has three of the top 30 season passing totals in NFL history. However, two of those three performances came in his first three years as a starter. After 2001, his passing totals were: 1431, 365, 2054, 2713 and 1377 yards. Pedestrian at best. Injuries played a role, but hey, that's part of the game. He has rebounded to throw for his second-highest yards passing this season (4583), but a full SIX seasons separated his 4000+ yard seasons.

Let's look at career yards then. Warner currently has 28,591 career pasisng yards. This places him BEHIND Brad Johnson, Rich Gannon, Jake Plummer, Jim Everett, Mark Brunell, Steve McNair, Boomer Esiason and Dave Kreig, none of whom will ever SNIFF the Hall of Fame.

"Dude! I said he threw a billion touchdowns! He was a machine!"

Yes, he was. For three years. In 1999 (41 TD), 2001 (36) and 2008 (30), he was an elite passer. But from 2002-2006, five seasons, he threw a TOTAL of 27 touchdown passes. That sucks. Again, part of it was injury, but part was the fact that he couldn't hold on to the ball or avoid a pass rush. He wasn't even a starter in some of those seasons. If you claim to be a HOFer, you can't go through parts of your career as a back up. Ever.

For his career, he has 182 touchdown passes. Guess where this ranks him historically. Guess dammit!

40th. Tied with freaking Steve Grogan. Sammy Baugh still has more TD passes than Warner!

Also, his career record as a starter is 48-37. Yaaawwwn.

To his credit, Warner is a two-time MVP, a Super Bowl MVP and two-time 1st team All-Pro. However, all of those honors came from 1999-2001. Nothing since. Not even a Pro Bowl appearance, and those things grow on trees.

Yes, he's a great story this year and has been sensational in the playoffs (ahem, thank you Larry Fitzgerald), but way too many people are trying to make him into something that he clearly is not.

A Hall of Fame quarterback.