Warner Speaks Out on Benching
Friday September 19, 2003
It appears St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner just doesn't get it. He just doesn't seem to understand that you can't live off past glory while continuing to lay an egg on the football field each week. In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Warner expressed
his displeasure with head coach Mike Martz's decision to bench him in favor of Marc Bulger. And when Martz announced that he would be evaluating the position on a week-by-week basis, the two-time MVP again questioned the wisdom of his head coach.
"Every time we've had success, the two times we went to the Super Bowl, I didn't play 16 straight great games", said Warner. "You have those struggles. You have those difficult games, those games you have to fight through. What I think is hard about this position, is to say, 'Well, we'll see how he plays.'
"You can't always be looking over your shoulder at this position. You just have to go out and play. And if you make mistakes, you try to overcome them, and you push through it."
I might tend to agree with Warner if this were a case of him having a bad game or two, but the guy has not won a game in nearly two years while his backup has done the job nearly every time he has been asked to step on the field.
In all fairness to Warner, the guy has fought through injuries, poor play by the offensive line, and very questionable play calling by Martz himself, but at some point you have to put up or shut up. This is a What-Have-You-Done-for-Me-Lately league, and Warner hasn't done anything since the Rams beat the Philadelphia Eagle in the NFC Championship game nearly two years ago.
Martz appeared to be a bit miffed when infomed of Warner's comments, telling reporters, "Now, I appreciate his judgment, but he's not the head coach. I am. And I'll make those decisions. And I'll make the decision on how I'm going to deal with it."
It looks to me as if the job is Bulger's to lose at this point, but it should be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the season. And if we're all lucky, Brenda Warner will allow her husband to stick up for himself on this situation instead of calling out the coaching staff in the local medai as she did last season.
"Every time we've had success, the two times we went to the Super Bowl, I didn't play 16 straight great games", said Warner. "You have those struggles. You have those difficult games, those games you have to fight through. What I think is hard about this position, is to say, 'Well, we'll see how he plays.'
"You can't always be looking over your shoulder at this position. You just have to go out and play. And if you make mistakes, you try to overcome them, and you push through it."
I might tend to agree with Warner if this were a case of him having a bad game or two, but the guy has not won a game in nearly two years while his backup has done the job nearly every time he has been asked to step on the field.
In all fairness to Warner, the guy has fought through injuries, poor play by the offensive line, and very questionable play calling by Martz himself, but at some point you have to put up or shut up. This is a What-Have-You-Done-for-Me-Lately league, and Warner hasn't done anything since the Rams beat the Philadelphia Eagle in the NFC Championship game nearly two years ago.
Martz appeared to be a bit miffed when infomed of Warner's comments, telling reporters, "Now, I appreciate his judgment, but he's not the head coach. I am. And I'll make those decisions. And I'll make the decision on how I'm going to deal with it."
It looks to me as if the job is Bulger's to lose at this point, but it should be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the season. And if we're all lucky, Brenda Warner will allow her husband to stick up for himself on this situation instead of calling out the coaching staff in the local medai as she did last season.
Comments
No comments yet. Leave a Comment