| Kurt Warner, as a quarterback and Rams skill-position
players as a whole, provided huge payoffs for fantasy football players last season. What
follows is a Q&A with Warner on a variety of topics that fantasy players will be
interested in. Q: How do you deal with the pressure of success that you feel
right now?
Warner: I don’t even feel the pressure. I’m feeling the pressure
to go out and play the way I played last year because I believe I’m capable of
playing that way. To me, I’m not feeling it from the outside at all. I feel it more
from myself and wanting to go out and perform the same way I did.
Q: Players are often asked going into a season how they can do more as an
individual or improve upon the previous year. Given the stats you posted last season, is
that doable for you and if so, how?
Warner: It depends upon how you look at it. I’m not looking at the stats to prove
whether I play better or whether I do better things. I want to go in and continue to help
this team win. To me that’s more about making the right decisions, putting the ball
where I need to put it. To me that’s what’s most important and that’s how
I’m going to improve, by making the right decision in every situation. Whether that
can be done I think is yet to be seen, but that’s my goal and that’s what
I’m shooting for. Ultimately what matters to me more than anything is just wins and
losses and getting back to the Super Bowl and winning the ring again. I don’t know if
I can top the stats that I had last year but again I don’t really care about that.
Q: Can you comment on how smoothly the transition has gone with the new head
coach?
Warner: It’s gone very smoothly, especially for myself. Knowing Coach Martz like I
did and getting to know him like I did last year and working with him I really got to know
Coach Martz very well and really felt I knew what he was going to be all about when he
became the head coach. But I think our philosophies have stayed the same from an
offensive-defensive standpoint. We go about things the same way. There’s a few
changes here with tempo and the way Coach Martz treats things, but I think primarily
everything has stayed the same, especially from a football standpoint. X’s and
O’s and things have stayed the same, so it’s made the transition very easy.
Q: What should we look for from Torry Holt this season?
Warner: I think you need to look for more of the same, especially what he did toward
the end of last year. Torry has gotten much better, has gotten a better feel for how to be
a professional I think and how you have to show up every day and how it’s a long
season. And I think he really came into camp prepared, looked very sharp from the get-go
and just has a year under his belt where now he knows what it’s all about. He’s
not learning every day, now he’s going out and playing. I think you’re going to
see more explosion. You’re going to see him be able to move around in the offense a
little bit more and do a lot of different things with it.
Q: Talk a little bit about why everybody is so concerned about your shoulder,
arm and is there anything that’s bothering you right now?
Warner: I don’t know why everybody is so concerned. It was a precautionary
measure. My arm has felt better throughout this training camp than probably any training
camp I’ve ever been in. Coach Martz just wanted to take a couple opportunities to
make sure that it was ready to go for the season. Right now it feels better than it’s
felt in over a year. It feels great. I’m having absolutely no pain. So really there
are no worries from my standpoint right now. I feel great. I know feeling the way I do
right now as opposed to where I went in last season that I’m in much better shape.
Q: What makes Isaac Bruce such an elite receiver?
Warner: The thing to me that makes Isaac so elite is that he can do everything. I
don’t see any limitations. The guy can go deep. He can catch a short pass and bring
it home. He comes out of his breaks as fast or as explosive as anybody in the game right
now. To me that’s what makes him such a great player is there’s no weaknesses
and his strengths go beyond what the normal receiver or even some of the really good
receivers can do in this league.
Q: If you were playing fantasy football, can you comment on who would be your
No. 1 pick? Who’s the guy that you would go to at No. 1?
Warner: If I had to choose, I’d choose Marshall Faulk. And I don’t know how
those fantasy things work, but the thing about Marshall is I know he can do everything. He
can score catching the ball, he can score running the ball. He can have a 100 yards
receiving as easily as he can have 100 yards rushing. He just does so many different
things that I would guess that he would be as good as any pick to make a lot of points in
that type of system. |
