Kurt Warner Injury May Define Warner's Final Game

A Kurt Warner injury isn't the ideal way to end a career. But the Kurt Warner injury today will define his last game, if he does retire this offseason. After today, he cannot put off his decision much longer, now that
Kurt Warner Injury May Define Warner's Final Game
the Cardinals are out of the playoffs. In fact, Kurt Warner's injury came on a play that all but sealed their blowout loss today.

Warner got hurt on a hard hit by Bobby McCray late in the second quarter, right after he threw a costly interception to Will Smith. It had already been a hard day for Warner as Arizona was down 28-14, and he couldn't answer back like he did last week against Green Bay.

Since the Cardinals' defense was still abysmal, Kurt Warner needed touchdowns on every single drive to keep pace. This time, it was too much to ask, and it became impossible after Warner's injury and interception. While he was recovering from chest pains, the Saints got yet another touchdown to go up 35-14.

After the Kurt Warner injury, Matt Leinart had to fill in at the end of the half. He did get Arizona into field goal range, but Neil Rackers missed a long kick. If the Cardinals were to have any hope, Warner would need to come back, and he did. But even then, the hole was too big, and they were shut out for the second half while New Orleans breezed to a 45-14 win.

Despite the injury, Warner kept playing on, even when the game got out of hand. In the context of the 'will he or won't he retire' issue, that could be revealing. If he has planned to retire, he obviously wouldn't want the final play of his career to be an injury/interception.

Even if that wasn't the reason he came back, he'll be hounded with such questions for a while, until he makes a decision. Arizona will need a quick answer too, so they know if they finally have to make Leinart the starter again.

Before last week's game, rumors broke that he would retire at the end of the playoffs, no matter what. If that's true, Warner's injury and difficult game today may not affect that. In any case, fans will likely remember last week's win over the Packers as a career capper, not his disappointing work today.