Kurt Warner didn’t think Saints were trying to take him out; NFL did not speak to him about game
Former Cardinal and Rams quarterback and NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner joined the show to talk about Junior Seau’s death and the NFL’s penalties for Saints players.
Warner said no one in the NFL talked to him about his playoff game against the Saints that is part of Bounty-Gate. Warner took a big hit after an interception against New Orleans.
“I played in a lot of games where they were really trying to take me out,” Warner said. “When I went back and looked at that game … I don’t ever remember thinking it was anything more than a tough playoff game. I don’t remember anything that was beyond the whistle. Even the big hit was legal.”
Warner said that he remembers a game in that same postseason against the Packers, where he thought there were a lot of shots going at his head.
Warner didn’t expect the Jonathan Vilma suspension. “I was surprised,” Warner said. “I didn’t expect to see a player suspended 16 games.”
“Scares me. They both have the dream, like Dad, to play in the NFL. When you hear things like the bounty and when you undersatnd the size, the speed, the violence of the game, and you couple that with Junior Seau and was that a [ramification] of playing all those years … it’s a scary thing for me.”
Dan said if he had sons, would he want them not to play. “Yes,” Warner said, “there’s no question in my mind.”
Warner also commented on Seau’s death. He said that he was crushed by the news. And that it made him think bigger picture about his sport. “The thing that always goes through my mind as a former player is what happens to a player after the game,” Warner said. He worries about depression and if it has something to do with what happens during playing days.
Warner said he’s talked to his wife about the high divorce rate after players leave the game and how hard it is to adjust in retirement.