Warner, Delhomme span a continental divide

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:36 PM By Tom Torrisi PA SportsTicker Pro Football Editor

The stakes could not be much higher for quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Jake Delhomme this weekend.

When Warner leads his Arizona Cardinals into Charlotte to face Delhomme's Carolina Panthers, a berth in the NFC championship game will be on the line.

With both quarterbacks already having appeared in the league's title game - Warner twice with the St. Louis Rams and Delhomme once with Carolina - expect the intensity to be ratcheted up a notch.

Of course, such feverish competition is nothing new to Warner and Delhomme, longtime friends who once vied for the same starting job - with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.

The year was 1998, and Warner already had a couple of seasons in the now-defunct developmental league under his belt.

Delhomme, an undrafted free agent of the New Orleans Saints, was in his first year with NFL Europe and, based purely on physical attributes, appeared to have an edge over his more experienced teammate.

That was the view of a most biased observer - Warner.

"I don't think there's any question about it," Warner said. "Jake had the stronger arm, he moved better, could make the big throws and big plays a lot better than I could. All I was hoping, no offense to Jake, was that he would make a few more mistakes than me so that the coaches would give me a chance.

"If you just looked at it in black and white, you'd probably take a guy like Jake."

Although the two quickly formed a friendship, Delhomme was irked that he eventually lost out on the starting job to Warner. Maybe it was because he realized he never had a chance to win it, but it did not prevent him from appreciating his rival's talent.

"Kurt had the upper hand going into camp. I knew that," Delhomme said. "I found that out after the fact. But he made the most of it and he was outstanding."

Warner also was an undrafted free agent out of Northern Iowa who signed with the Green Bay Packers in 1994. The story of him stocking shelves at a local store between football gigs would become legendary a few years later.

"I hadn't heard of him. I knew he was an Arena League quarterback, that's all I knew," Delhomme said. "But you could tell after the first practice, he was very accurate. He was a very heady quarterback."

A heady and opportunistic one. After starting every game and leading the Admirals to a 7-3 record, Warner unexpectedly was thrust into the starting lineup in St. Louis in 1999 following a season-ending knee injury to incumbent Trent Green.

What followed was one of the more stunning rags-to-riches stories in league annals. Warner threw for 41 touchdowns and won league MVP honors in leading the Rams to the Super Bowl championship.

His pinpoint accuracy was a perfect fit for an offense that rang up over 500 points and earned the moniker "The Greatest Show on Turf."

Warner's success was not as surprising to Delhomme, who soon would join his former teammate in the NFL after spending the 1999 season with the Frankfurt Galaxy.

"It was only 10 games that we played together, but just watching his demeanor, it didn't faze him," Delhomme said of the stint with the Admirals. "Not too many things faze him. That's what I've always taken from him. He threw an interception one time, and it wasn't his fault. Quarterbacks will get gun-shy and not try it again. But the next time we dialed it up, he did the same thing, threw it and completed it. I think you learn from watching guys like that."

Surprisingly, Warner also remained optimistic about the future of Delhomme, whose performance in spot duty with Amsterdam was pretty spotty.

Delhomme appeared in only four games with the Admirals, completing 15-of-47 passes with zero touchdowns and four interceptions.

But after a year with Frankfurt, where he helped the team win the World Bowl, he started two games with the Saints in 1999.

"There is so much to this position as opposed to just throwing the ball or having the velocity or doing this or doing that," Warner said. "What I did see was an amazing competitor. Not a lot of times at this position do you see a guy that just competes and a guy that wants to be great and is a great leader. I remember thinking to myself that this guy definitely has a chance."

It took another four years, but Delhomme finally got that chance when he signed with the Panthers as a free agent in 2003.

It turned out to be a shrewd signing for Carolina. One season later, Delhomme guided the Panthers to the Super Bowl, where they pushed the defending champion New England Patriots to the wire before succumbing, 32-29.

"It took a while," Warner said of Delhomme's success. "But once a team was committed, once Carolina was committed to him, I think you saw those attributes come out and he's been a tremendous leader for that organization for a number of years."

A fitting description - and one that easily could apply to Warner as well.