WARNER AND THE RAMS QBS, BY 316 Add yourself to The HERD's Official Roster (guestbook), if you think you are man enough!
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Warner? Should be very, very interesting. In all actuality, it's going to be really, REALLY interesting for me to watch the guy. I live in Warner's hometown (Cedar Rapids) and have seen him play in high school, college (Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls), the Arena League (in Des Moines) and then in NFL Europe. Hell . . . up until a couple of years ago, I worked with his brother at this software manufacturer here in town.
And, not surprisingly, I was one of those who was really, really pulling hard for him to make the squad last summer. I have a lot of faith in this kid. He's very Green like---he has that uncanny knack of pulling his teammates closer in a crisis situation. I remember Warner's brother talking about Kurt's time in camp with the Packers a few years back, when the Pack had Favre, Detmer and Mark Brunell in front of him. From what I understand, Holmgren was quite taken with Warner . . . and had him working a lot with Sterling Sharpe that summer. Now . . . that could just be a guy talking up his brother. But, I've also heard that elsewhere that Holmgren was infatuated with Warner's skill sets. That's good enough for me.
That said, I have no doubt that the kid is going to struggle off and on. What young QB wouldn't? The good news (if there is such a thing), is that this injury occured with two weeks before the first regular season game. The shock will have worn off the entire team, and the 14+ days should get this kid into the mindset.
He may also suffer a bit because he doesn't have prototypical size, but isn't small by any stretch. He doesn't have an Elway arm, but I've seen Warner really give the ball some nice zip when I've watched him, and think he'll begin showing more confidence in his arm strength as he gets more confident about his standing on the first team. It's not unlike having someone come in cold off the bench in a basketball game, and come up short on a jump shot or free throw. Just being tight. But, as they relax a little, the natural stroke wins over and things start happening.
And what's also going to help Warner is, again, the skill guys around him. Faulk, Holt, Bruce, Hakim . . . even Proehl---who BTW is going to have to come through underneath coverages as Warner gets more and more accustomed to the Martz' offense.
Some are disappointed that Justin was the guy the Rams brought in. In the final analysis, I thought the only logical choices were Hostetler and Justin---both based on them being familiar with either Martz schemes (Hostetler) or Martz himself (Hostetler at Washington, Justin at Arizona State). I didn't even entertain the Jeff George scenarios . . . because the Rams needed someone to come in who has read the Cliff Notes, ie. already knows what Martz is doing . . . and so don't need a mountain of time to catch up with everyone else.
The bottom line is . . . it's going to be a very interesting year. Although I was very saddened to hear about Green's injury, my sadness was directed at this hard-working kid . . . and even for Vermeil. Felt like fate dealt him an ugly, undeserved blow. I'd also hate to think he'll get the axe for a poor season if it comes to that---considering what the Green injury meant to this team. Before this off-season took shape, I was one of Vermeil's harshest critics and chided him often for his dewey-eyed dedication to that sad, sick core of players who finished 1999. In retrospect, I think the "Final Meeting Five" was a blessing in disguise, opening up Vermeil's eyes to the fact it was time to make a change to that core . . . time to rip it apart and bring in players who spent more time walking the walk, instead of talking about how cool they looked walking.
However, that said, I don't think it's going to be a bad season. Perhaps that's just me in my typical pre-season Ram perspective. Perhaps not. I just can't believe that the acquisitions made by this team this off-season won't help . . . immensely. Guys like Holt, Faulk, Timmerman. Some of these hard-nosed rookies, like Coady and Spikes.
It may take time. It may take some doing, but I think the foundation has finally been laid. Players are going to look to pick each other up, step up when their teammates need them. Whether it's Trent Green QBing this club, Kurt Warner or Paul Justin . . . I think seven or eight wins is not out of the question.