Kurt Warner is diplomatic in questioning the Patriots
The New England Patriots’ involvement in the “deflategate” controversy has former Rams quarterback Kurt Warner wondering whether the Pats were up to no good when the teams met in the Super Bowl in 2002.
The Patriots pulled off an upset in that Super Bowl by beating the heavily favored Rams 20-17 to win their first of three championships in four seasons.
Kurt Warner is a first ballot lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Warner went on to be considered the best undrafted NFL player of all time. He was as good in his last year with the Arizona Cardinals as he was in his first with the St. Louis Rams. He shall not be lumped in the same whiner category as former Carolina Panthers' General Manager Marty Hurney, and Rams' RB Marshall Faulk.
The path to Canton, OH for Warner was not an easy one. He got a job working the night shift as a stock boy at a local Hy-Vee grocery store for minimum wage after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa. Tryouts with the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears didn't pan out. Having signed with the St. Louis Rams as a third string QB, Kurt was on loan to the Amsterdam Admirals in the Arena Football. Warner was named as an inductee into the AFL Hall of Fame.
The injury in preseason to QB Trent Green gave Kurt Warner the St. Louis starting job. There was the thrilling 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXV. The following year, it was the upstart New England Patriots who stood in the way of immortality. "It’s not because I say they cheated, because I have no idea.”
“It adds a sliver of doubt, which I think is unfair to everybody,” Warner said. “It’s unfair to them and their legacy. It’s unfair to me and my legacy. He is trying to be diplomatic about it by saying the questions are also unfair to the Pats.
At least, Kurt Warner can have a discussion on the matter. His St. Louis Rams' teammate Marshall Faulk can't utter one coherent sentence without invoking the New England Patriots, and the pregame walkthrough.
The phrase shot heard 'round the world is from a classic poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson of Concord, MA, originally used to refer to the first clash of the American Revolutionary War and since used to apply to other dramatic moments, military and otherwise.
Nobody cares that Paul Revere rode off to warn the citizens before the snap. The only thing people will remember is this.
Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.
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