Kurt for Canton Update.

In the wake of New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning’s second Super Bowl victory and second Super Bowl MVP award to boot, the conversation has turned towards whether Eli will be deserving of Hall of Fame induction upon retirement. It’s something that usually becomes a consideration once a player’s playing days are over, but the Manning issue has piqued the interest due to the suddenly legitimate comparisons to his older brother, and future Hall of Fame lock, Peyton Manning. Peyton is arguably the greatest Quarterback to ever play the game. His regular season win percentage is staggering (with him under centre the Colts, the team for whom he played 14 seasons won under 10 games a season just once, in his first year). Eli has been inconsistent, constantly criticised and has never looked like his brother. In the postseason, though, that’s a good thing. Peyton has only won one Super Bowl; Eli has won two, and both in considerable style. Eli is a postseason warrior; for Peyton the wheels tend to fall off come January, no matter how impressive his Colts looked all year. Those unfamiliar with the game might find it odd that a more successful player, in terms of championships, is less likely to make it into the Hall than a guy with half as many Super Bowl rings. And it is a puzzler. Analysts and commentators of the sport tend to judge players on championships, until, of course, you get those stellar nearly men, like Dan Marino (never won a Super Bowl and only appeared in one despite setting countless passing records in a defence-friendly era), and the woefully unlucky Jim Kelly (four consecutive Super Bowl appearance, zero wins). A lot of the time it comes down to the perception of a player. Gaudy statistics will help any man’s case, but being viewed as a trouble-maker, a prima donna, or simply fluky damage a player’s stock. One former signal caller who has weighed in on the subject is Rams legend, Super Bowl XXXIV MVP Kurt Warner. Warner, who himself is a consideration for induction, doesn’t believe that Eli Manning’s body of work is strong enough to warrant a bronze bust being cast in Canton, despite the fact Eli has two titles to Peyton’s (and his) one. Warner, the subject of this article, is himself an interesting case, and when he retired two seasons ago, after turning the oft-luckless Arizona Cardinals into a championship calibre franchise, leading them to a heartbreaking 27-23 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII, sentimental analysts bandied his name around in the hall of Fame discussion. But is Warner any more likely than Eli to make the cut? After a late-starting career, Warner enjoyed superlative spells with two separate franchises, leading them to a combined three Super Bowls, winning it once with the Rams and nabbing MVP honours in the process. He is only the second man to throw 100 TD passes with two separate teams. He is the fastest man to reach 10,000 and 30,000 passing yards. He has been voted to the Pro Bowl 5 times and, in an up-and-down career spanning 12 seasons, Warner led his team to the Super Bowl in 3 of the 6 full seasons he played. In each of those Super Bowls he threw for over 350 yards and owns the three highest single-game passing yard totals in Super Bowls to date. He has a 65+% completion rate and a QB rating of 93.7. But given that the middle years of his career were spent as what many viewed as a washed-up journeyman back-up, some are debating his Hall of Fame credentials. He was 28 when the Rams signed him in 1998. When the Rams’ starter were injured during preseason, Warner stepped in and took the Rams all the way. They got back to the big game two years later but lost to the now storied Patriots on a last second field goal. Warner’s opportunities then thinned. Because of his age, coaches in both St Louis and New York elected to go with younger guys (ironically, it was Eli manning who stole Warner’s job in the big apple). But a player like Warner – a man of great character and religious faith – is hard to keep down. Irrepressible, he bounced back when handed the starting job in Arizona and there his talents shone once more. He didn’t have the clinical dispassion of Peyton Manning; he didn’t have the boyish enthusiasm of Favre; nor did he have the backyard smarts of Roethlisberger on the run. But what he had was a potent mix of the three. He was cool, passionate and canny.. He would pour his heart out into every contest and often win because of it. Warner’s pro-football journey looked to have ended before it had even begun when the Packers signed and cut him almost immediately. He played in the World League of American Football and NFL Europe after that, but the future, at that point in time, did not look promising. After all the heartache, all the rejections and set-backs, Warner looked down and out. He was stacking shelves for five dollars fifty an hour when the Rams signed him as a back-up to groom. Then the dream came true. He got his shot. He took it in the most emphatic style ever seen in pro sport. And I mean that. How does it get any better? He plays the whole season, wins league MVP takes his team – the greatest Show on turf – to the Super Bowl and wins it all along with MVP honours for that game. Warner’s Rams were, as his Cardinals became, high-scoring, high-risk, high-octane teams. Bang or bust. And they banged their way to three Super Bowls in a ten-year span. I believe he deserves admission to the Hall. His career had more peaks and troughs than most, but it had too much drama, excitement and magic to allow it to pass unremembered. The best thing is, as Warner's always said, he can walk away from the game under his own volition with his head held high. Eli’s got more work to do, but when his time comes to retire, don’t be surprised to see him popping up in Canton, Ohio. He learned from one of the best in New York and he’s proven himself to have an indomitable spirit and one of the coolest fourth-quarter heads the game has ever seen. For me they are both Hall of Fame players. Will they get where I believe they belong? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure, it’ll be a whole lot of fun finding out.