Long time readers of this column know I'm not exactly in love with the NFL's Hall of Fame selection process.
It's steeped in politics and more about the ego and good old-fashioned hubris among the Hall's Board of Selectors.
The Board making these decisions consists of one media representative from each pro football city with two from New York. A 33rd member is a representative of the Pro Football Writers of America (an organization I belong too) and there are about a dozen at-large delegates.
The selectors then meet with the media representatives introducing and making the case for players from the team they cover.
Most of the voters are well versed on their "teams" and little else. For example, the day after the Super Bowl, I heard one well known national analyst dismiss Kurt Warner's Hall of Fame credentials by explaining Fran Tarkenton started three Super Bowls and "he isn't in."
A salient point, perhaps, except for the fact that the ex-Vikings great has been in the Hall since 1986.
So, after I got done chuckling, I took up the Warner case myself.
Is the former two-time NFL most valuable player worthy of the Hall of Fame?
Coaches are often slaves to their systems. Some like Brian Billick, Jon Gruden and Brad Childress are filled with so much egoism that they think they could make you and I into solid NFL quarterbacks simply because their "systems" are that sound.
To me, Warner is the ultimate system quarterback.
Some might consider that an insult but it's really not. When Kurt had the big-time weapons around him in St. Louis and Arizona, his quick release and accuracy enabled him to excel at a high-level.
A higher level that a lot of really good quarterbacks like Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre and his Super Bowl counterpart, Ben Roethlisberger. A high enough level to earn those two MVP awards and carry two different franchises to the big game, feats most quarterbacks can only dream of.
But, when things are breaking down and you need your QB to make something happen with a little sandlot football, Warner is an albatross.
In fact, the former Arena League player and grocery bag boy is just a month removed from being labeled as a journeyman from most of the NFL observers that are now trumpeting him for the Hall.
So as I weighed Warner's future candidacy, at the end of the day for me, it was all about longevity.
Warner has played in all 16 games exactly three times in his career, 1999, 2001 and 2008. He was 35-8 as starter from '99-01 with the Rams. However, Warner was less than pedestrian in his dying days in St. Louis and downright bad in New York and in the desert until this season. From '02 to '07, Warner was a miserable 13-29 as an NFL starter.
His reclamation in 2008 was truly amazing but proves he's a product of "the system."
Warner can certainly play like a Hall of Famer when he has Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Az Hakim or Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston to throw too. That doesn't make him one.
Four years of high-level football, no matter how good they are, are not enough to get you in my Hall Of Fame.
3 comments:
Warner owns the top three passing performances in superbowl history. He has thrown for more superbowl yards than any other QB.
Arizona had Fitz and Boldin before he got there. How did they do? STL had Bruce and Holt when he left. Again...how did they do?
So...Montana and Elway didn't play in "systems" surrounded by other great players? Really?
Your analysis SUCKS.
Warner has the three best passing games in Super Bowl history. He has the record for most Super Bowl passing yards in a career. He has won the Super Bowl and was it's MVP. He was the NFL's MVP. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Cough, Cough, Jerry Rice, Cough...
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