TAMPA, Fla. – One more time, he gets this Super chance tonight to be Cinderella Man.
He is the underdog quarterback of the underdog Arizona Cardinals, and the mighty Steel Curtain is standing between him and a second Lombardi Trophy.
He is the sentimental favorite, for plenty of reasons, because he was the stock boy who made good. Because no one believed he could be anything more than an Arena League quarterback. Because no one believed he could lose his job to Eli Manning and come back – back from the dead – at age 37, to take any franchise, let alone this franchise, to a Super Bowl. His is a fairy tale of the power of enduring faith. He is what we want our role models to be. Goody Two Shoes goes back to the Super Bowl, and tries to hoist the Lombardi Trophy to the heavens one more time.
A Super reminder, on the heels of Barack Obama, that if you dare to dream, yes you can become the American Dream.
He will need a dream game, maybe the game of his life, to overcome these Steelers, and you had better believe he believes he can do this.
He guarantees nothing, except for his walk with the Lord, for his love for his wife Brenda and family, and yet Warner does not take a backseat to Joe Namath when it comes to confidence, in himself and in his team. Namath’s white shoes trumpeted his brashness. Warner wears his swagger inside his heart.
If he pulls this off, if the Cardinals shock the world, it will not rival Jets over Colts in Super Bowl III, or Giants over Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. But it would cement his Hall of Fame legacy, the pioneer who led the Cardinals out of the wilderness of despair and left two downtrodden organizations better than he found them.
He’s got the whole world in his hands, but not to worry, Kurt Warner does not fear failure.
“You embrace the idea that, ‘Hey, I am in a position to make a difference for my football team and I am in a position to change the world around me because of the platform I have been given,’ ” Warner said.
In all likelihood, the Steelers will not let Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower run. It means Warner will be asked to sling the ball all over Raymond James Stadium, and get the ball to Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston.
“If we can recognize what they’re doing and are able to handle it or attack it, we have a chance to have some success,” Warner said. “If we don’t and they win that battle, then it could be a long day for us.”
He will be ready.
“There’s a direct correlation between being great and preparing great,” Warner said. Amen.
“He does such a great job of recognizing where the pressure’s coming from, and understanding where the ball has to go quickly, so he’s able to make those quick decisions, and get the ball out of his hands,” offensive coordinator Todd Haley said.
James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley and Blitzburgh Doctor of Defense Dick LeBeau will be bringing the heat. But Warner no longer is a statue in the pocket.
“I think that his margin of error has increased here in the last two years,” Haley said.
Troy Polamalu will be baiting him. Ben Roethlisberger wants his second ring. They want one for the other thumb in Six-burgh.
Warner will think about all this for too much of Saturday night.
“You’re going to be restless. It’s going to be tough to get a good night’s sleep,” he said.
Super Sunday will not be much easier.
“It will be just trying to hold down my emotions as much as I possibly can so that I don’t wear myself out or I don’t try to over-think what we’re doing, and I can just get into the game and play,” Warner said.
And if Cinderella Man is the last man standing at the end of the night . . . will we ever see him again?
“I know that you look at the scenarios and what could play out, and in the back of your mind you say, ‘Man, this could be a perfect scenario to leave the game,’ ” Warner said. “But what I’ve continued to realize about my career and my life is that nothing takes on a perfect scenario. . . . Bottom line, end of the day, I believe God’s going to send me what He wants me to do.”
In Cinderella Man they trust.