Kurt Warner has called an end to his storybook career in the NFL. The 38-year-old quarterback, who went from a supermarket grocery bagger to a winning Super Bowl QB, announced his retirement from the game on Friday.

Kurt Warner’s NFL story has all the hallmarks of a great “root for the underdog” movie. Kurt went from being a grocery store clerk to overcoming early NFL rejection to 12 good years of NFL to leading the lowly St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls, winning the first of them to walking away from the game a winner after again, being written - this time as a has-been .

Warner, a man of deep faith who carried a Bible to each post-game news conference, walked away with a year left on a two-year, US$23 million contract.

“It’s been an amazing ride,” he said. “I don’t think I could have dreamt it would have played out like it has, but I’ve been humbled every day that I woke up the last 12 years and amazed that God would choose to use me to do what he’s given me the opportunity to do.”

Warner brought all seven children and his wife up to the podium. He choked up as he thanked them.

“Every day I come home and it doesn’t matter if you won or lost or have thrown touchdowns or interceptions, the one thing that I always knew is that when I entered that door, when I stepped in our house, that none of that mattered to these guys,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much of a blessing that is.”

Just two weeks prior to his announcement, Warner had one of the greatest post-season QB performances in Arizona’s 51-45 overtime wild card victory over Green Bay on Jan. 10. But he took a brutal hit in the Cardinals’ 45-14 divisional round loss at New Orleans six days later.

The Cards signed Warner to a one-year contract in 2005 largely because no other team would give him a chance to be a starter. His opportunities over the next two years were scattered and even when coach Ken Whisenhunt took over in 2007, Warner was the backup to Matt Leinart.

When Leinart went down with an injury five games into the season, Warner got his chance. He started 48 of the remaining 49 games of his career.

Warner leaves the game with a legacy that could land him in the Hall of Fame even though he didn’t get his first start until he was 28.

In a comparison with the 14 quarterbacks to make the Hall of Fame in the last 25 years, Warner has a better career completion percentage, yards per pass attempt and yards per game. Only Dan Marino had more career 300-yard passing games.

In 124 regular-season games, Warner completed 65.5% of his passes for 32,344 yards and 208 touchdowns.

Warner may have ended his NFL career a year or two early, but he went out on his own terms - and he went out a winner!

source: espn.com, nfl.com, wikipedia.com

As any NFL football fan knows, Peyton Manning’s Colts will play Drew Brees’ Saints in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, 2/7/2010. The Colts vs Saints Super Bowl 2010 will be a high flying aerial assault. With Peyton Manning able to pick away at even the highest rated defense against the pass, our Saints-Colts Super Bowl prediction is the Saints don’t stand a chance.

Last week in the AFC Championship playoff, the Colts beat the #1 ranked defense in the New York Jets 30 - 17. Peyton Manning’s completed 26 of 39 passes for 377 yards and 3 TDs.

Defensively the Colts gave up 388 total yards and 2 passing TDs but were able to control the Jets offense in the final three quarters of the AFC Championship game.

While in the NFC Championship playoff game, the Saints defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31 - 28 in OT. It wasn’t pretty and the Vikings were very lucky to win. If it weren’t for 5 Viking turnovers capped off by a late 4th quarter unexplicable Brett Favre interception, the Saints would be back in the French Quarter drowning their sorrows.

Offensively, the Saints could muster only 257 total yards. QB Brees completed 17 of 31 for 197 yards and 3 TDs but the Saints porous defense gave up a total of 475 yards with 310 of them in the air. The Vikings also dominated time of possession with 36 minutes to the Saints 28.

The 2010 Super Bowl will be aired on CBS with kickoff time of 6:25 pm ET. The Colts are favored by 6 points and the under/over is 576 1/2.

The Bottom Line
The New Orleans Saints defense will be overwhelmed by 4 time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the Colts. It seems that the Saints had their goals set at reaching the Super Bowl while the Colts goal is to WIN the 2010 Super Bowl.

The New Orleans Saints are America’s sentimental favorite due to what the whole of Louisiana endured with Hurricane Katrina. President Barack Obama has publicly stated he is rooting for the Saints - and that’s the kiss of death.

TheNFLthisweek Colts-Saints Super Bowl Prediction

Colts 45 Saints 21