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A lot of people, when they see my career, they hear or remember, 'Sat on the bench four years in college, got cut by the Packers, worked in a grocery store, and then won the Super Bowl.' That's kind of the timeline the people see when they hear 'Kurt Warner.'
If you love something, if you're passionate about it, that's where you're going to have the greatest impact on the people around you: by living in those passions and sharing that passion with other people and sharing your gifts and what God created you to be.
I wanted my faith to look the same to everyone else and to be the same for me regardless of what was going on - whether I was on the Super Bowl podium holding the trophy or when I was being benched two years later and people saying that I would never play again.
The great ones have the ability to focus and tune everything else out and see more than the others. Average quarterbacks have tunnel vision. They see what's in front of them. The better you get, the more that tunnel expands, and the more guys on the field you see.
I remember one of my first prayers when I became a Christian was simply, 'God, provide a job for me. I don't care how hard I have to work, just provide a job and opportunity so that I can take care of my family.' And you know, that was really all I asked from Him.
The bottom line is about the technique. The little things. Fine-tuning what we have to do. No matter who is out there, maybe theyre not going to be as good, quote-unquote, as the starters may be, but the bottom line for us is to make sure were doing the right things.
I think a lot of people miss out on opportunities, they miss out on achieving their dream, and they miss out on doing what they love to do because they're allowing something else, something outside of them and outside of God, to dictate what their life's going to look like.
When I look at my situation, yes, there were a lot of things... small school, didn't play much... but I knew that when I played, I won. And I also played in more of a pro system, so I understood the game of football. That helped me translate when I finally did get my opportunity.
That's part of the deal. You're going to be criticized. I always welcomed that. Not everyone believes what I believe. And I welcome the criticism, not because I like it, but because it means they're watching you. It presents an opportunity to share your message and share your faith.
If so and so would have given me the right opportunity, or if this person would have encouraged me - I could have made a million excuses on why I wasn't playing in the NFL. You have no more excuses... what do you do from now until your opportunity presents itself? It's all up to you.
When I'm talking about one of the things that define my career and what is most special to me, stats, they are what they are. The bottom line is you want to impact the place you go and the people you're around, and I hope I've done that in my football career, both on and off the field.
Alex Smith, what he’s done over the last two years for this football team, this is a mistake in not starting him. He needs to be the guy and it’s going to be tough if (Colin) Kaepernick doesn’t play well today and now you’re coming back saying, ‘Alex, we’re going to put you back in there.’
That's what you kind of see with Matthew Stafford. He makes some incredible plays, even with his arm in different positions. But the consistency's not there that you need at the position to be one of the top quarterbacks in the league, and I think that's where cleaning up the technique will help.
I don't think anyone has a bad perception of me. Just a limited one. Everyone thinks I pretty much sit around and talk about Jesus all the time. But I'm normal. I'm just a guy. Yeah, I love Jesus and do things a bit different, but I have the same conversations and share the same thoughts as anyone else.
I think, a lot of guys, when they get, you know, those hits or those concussions, they think, 'OK, well, I'm just going to kind of play through it here for the short term, and it's going to get better.' I would venture to say probably 100 percent of the guys that played my sport in the NFL have been there.
I’m concerned that if one of those two areas doesn’t play up to par – if they give up some points or they can’t run the football – and it gets stuck on Russell Wilson’s shoulders…if he has to stay in the pocket against good defenses, read coverages, make the right plays, see the field, that’s where I worry.
I would love to coach and teach people about football. It's just that the time constraints are so tough to coach, especially when you have seven kids and they are growing up. I'm just in too blessed of a situation to spend from five in the morning until 12 at night coaching and not watching my kids grow up.
I didn't corner the market on great stories. I'm not the only one who can do something like work at a grocery store and then win a Super Bowl. Other people can do it. You hope people will see that and say, 'Hey, that will be me.' They're going to chase after it like I did. And they're going to be the next one.
The thing about the Super Bowl is, once you got to the Super Bowl City, it was non-stop football, 24/7. You couldn't get away from it. You couldn't leave your hotel room and not get bombarded by fans. You couldn't go have a nice dinner and relax. Friends and family weren't there, so the normalcy of life changed.
People think that whatever happens on the football field should define me way one or the other. A lot of people say, 'I can't believe you don't think more highly of yourself, two-time MVP, Super Bowl MVP,' but it's like, whatever. It just happens to be what I do. I want to be defined by what I believe in, by who I am.
It's not the way I threw the football - it's not particular games that I won - but that they remember that here's a guy that believed, that worked hard. Although things didn't always go in his favor, he continued to press through, and with his faith in himself and his faith in God, he was able to accomplish great things.
It did not matter whether it was preseason, regular season, my first playoff game, or the Super Bowl, I was nervous. And all that meant was that it always mattered to me. Anytime I was putting myself on a line, it didn't matter what it was, it was okay to be nervous because it was important to me. It was important to do my job well.
I believe that the Lord has a plan for each of us that's better than anything we can imagine, even if that plan isn't obvious to us at every stage. He prepared me for this over a long period of time - in lower-profile locker rooms and the grocery store and in Europe, through all the personal tragedies and in spite of the people who doubted me along the way.
It changed my life in an extreme way. I dont know if you could calculate just how much it does [change your life]. There was so much notoriety for me in my first season, and to finish by winning the Super Bowl and get the MVP set my place in history. It cements it and its very special. There is something that comes with it, something everyone recognizes and knows. No one can ever take it away from you.