Warner goes from over-the-hill to nearly perfect, says he stole NFL record

Warner goes from over-the-hill to almost perfect

TEMPE, Ariz. — A week ago, Kurt Warner was over the hill, a graybeard quarterback finally showing his age.

Seven days later, he was nearly perfect. It’s just another comeback for a man who has personified resilience in professional football.

No quarterback in NFL history has been more on the mark than the 38-year-old Warner was in Arizona’s 31-17 victory at Jacksonville. He completed 24 of 26 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.

“That’s the most accurate you’ve seen any quarterback,” Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. “He set a record yesterday, but it’s not out of his character.”

Accuracy, Boldin said, always has been Warner’s trademark.

The 92.3 completion percentage broke the record, for a minimum 20 passes attempted, of 91.3 set by Vinny Testaverde (21 of 23) for Cleveland against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 26, 1993.

Sitting at his locker on Monday, Warner was almost apologetic.

“It almost feels like I stole the record a little bit because I really didn’t have to do a whole lot other than just kind of throw it to the open guy,” he said. “It was kind of easy.”

Still, it’s a record Warner will covet.

“I’ve kind of always prided myself on being an accurate guy,” he said, “and it’s been one of my strengths throughout my career, so to have that record, yeah, it’s definitely cool.”

Warner has a career completion percentage of 65.5 percent, second only to Chad Pennington’s 66 percent. Peyton Manning, whose Indianapolis Colts play at Arizona on Sunday night, ranks third at 64.5 percent.

Warner ranks third in career passer rating at 93.8, behind Steve Young (96.8) and Manning (94.7). His passer rating against the Jaguars was a staggering 131.2.

“I think we’ve all seen Kurt enough to know there’s some days when he’s especially sharp,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Yesterday, it appears, was one of those days.”

Nine receivers caught passes, led by Boldin’s nine receptions for 69 yards.

“It just happened,” Warner said. “We knew what they (the Jaguars) were doing, we had a good bead on that, and knew what to do with the football early, put it in your playmakers’ hands and that usually means good things for us.”

Warner completed his first 15, tying a franchise record, and was 18 of 19 at halftime.

He called it “one of those games where everything seemed to work in my favor.”

“Anquan makes a one-handed catch, a couple of plays where I had to throw the ball away there happened to be penalties,” he said. “Guys making plays, the coach calling good plays, there was so much involved in that.”

The Jaguars were intent on stopping the deep pass, so the Cardinals carved up the defense with the short- and mid-range game. Warner’s longest completions were a pair of 22-yarders, one to Larry Fitzgerald for a touchdown.

Arizona benefited from the return of Steve Breaston, who missed the season-opening 20-16 loss with a bruised kneecap. He had five catches for 83 yards.

The Cardinals also got a vastly improved performance from the offensive line.

“They answered the challenge,” Whisenhunt said. “We got on them hard last week and it was a tough week of practice for those guys, but they stepped up.”

Running back Tim Hightower said the entire team shares in Warner’s record.

“It’s a tribute to everybody — the O-line, the running backs, everybody,” Hightower said. “It’s a tribute to his hard work but it’s a collective effort.”

Arizona built a 31-3 lead and was up 31-10 when Warner left after three quarters. He had taken a hit on his right shoulder early in the game, then another in the third quarter after rookie Beanie Wells’ second fumble.

Warner mentioned the sore shoulder to Whisenhunt on the sideline.

“I told him ‘I can go. It’s not like I can’t play or anything like that,’” Warner said. “‘It’s just that if we’ve got it in hand where you feel comfortable, I’d rather not take any extra hits on it.’”

Warner, who said he will be fine this week, even warmed up again late in the game when Jacksonville threatened to cut the lead to seven.

“It was just in case,” Whisenhunt said.

Now Warner will hear the praise again. Even after it has happened so many times, he marvels at how quickly he can fall from grace, then rise again.

“I’ve been benched by different teams, I’ve been booed at different stadiums,” Warner said. “It happens. You just keep fighting and you do what you do. I think I’m a pretty good quarterback and, at the end of the day, I’m going to continue to resurface and we’ll be all right.”