Warner Will Have to Settle for Helmet

For the second straight week, St. Louis quarterback Kurt Warner was on the opposite sideline from New England counterpart Tom Brady.

But there’s no way that Warner, the NFL’s regular-season MVP, could make up for last week’s Super Bowl loss during Saturday’s Pro Bowl.

“He’s got what I want and I’m not going to get it through this game,” Warner said of Brady, who won the Super Bowl and the MVP award. “This game is more to have fun and to try to enjoy it.”

Brady led the Patriots’ final Super Bowl drive that set up Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired. Brady, 24, became the youngest quarterback to win the game.

Warner and Brady had to wait until Wednesday in Hawaii to finally have the chance to speak to each other.

“I didn’t get to talk to him afterward because they were too busy celebrating,” said Warner, who won the 2000 Super Bowl after his first MVP season.

“I congratulated him and asked him how he was doing with the whirlwind, since I went through it a couple years ago,” Warner said. “He seemed to be doing pretty good, he looked a little tired. He looked like he wanted some rest.”

Brady, who has managed to calm down this week, admires Warner for a long time.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Brady said. “He’s a guy that’s consistent and is one of the best quarterbacks in the league.”

Warner started for the NFC on Saturday, while Brady backed up AFC starter Rich Gannon.

Brady is impressed with Warner, who threw for 4,830 yards and 36 touchdowns in the regular season.

“That’s tough to do,” Brady said. “He’s elusive and he makes good decisions.”

Warner and Brady took parallel paths from obscurity to stardom. They were both backup quarterbacks who went on to become Super Bowl MVPs in their first season as starters.

Brady was the Patriots’ sixth round draft pick in 2000, and was a fourth-stringer well behind starter Drew Bledsoe last season.

Warner was undrafted and spent time in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe before joining the Rams in 1998.

“There’s some similarity there with the way we got into it and the things we were able to accomplish in the first year,” Warner said. “Obviously, our backgrounds are a little different but the stories and the way it played out throughout the first year is very similar.”

Although Warner can’t take Brady’s Super Bowl ring from him, he does want his helmet following the Pro Bowl to add to his collection. After St. Louis’ Super Bowl win against Tennessee, Warner traded helmets with running back Eddie George.

Warner said he doesn’t know Brady well, but he is impressed with him.

“Just what I see in the way he carries himself, I think he’s a good character guy,” Warner said. “He’s going to be a positive thing for the league for a long time to come.”

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Rich Gannon doesn’t care what anyone says, the Pro Bowl means something.

And not just for the $30,000 you get if you win. Yet the Oakland quarterback understands why it’s easy to think of the Pro Bowl as anything but a sporting event.

It is billed as a weeklong party in paradise for the NFL’s elite, and that’s fairly accurate. Players talk coaches into cutting short practice, and an afternoon of beach bowling on popular Waikiki is the newest featured event.

Still, Gannon’s mind is made up.

“I think this is taken seriously,” he said. “Everyone wants to play their best, especially when you get to the fourth quarter.”

The opportunity to shine in this game is short. Gannon will play in his third Pro Bowl on Saturday at Aloha Stadium, starting for the AFC. He expects to last about a quarter.

Coach Bill Cowher of the Steelers hadn’t made a final decision on playing time Friday morning, when both teams canceled practice because of a downpour. Super Bowl MVP Brady and Pittsburgh’s Kordell Stewart will relieve Gannon in the game, which tends to favor the offense.

Warner will start for the NFC, followed by San Francisco’s Jeff Garcia and Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb.

NFC coach Andy Reid and others say it’s hard to predict Pro Bowls, though his team was the slight favorite.

“We’re going to go out there and kick their butts,” joked Brady. “There’s a lot of talent on this team from what I see. But I don’t know how they could even pick a line for this game.”

Keyshawn Johnson turned to Tampa Bay teammate John Lynch this week and asked him if they could bring a Super Bowl title to the Buccaneers with such an all-star roster.

Good chance.

“I was telling John I wish we could always play with this team,” Johnson said, smiling.

Johnson, Lynch and Tampa’s two other Pro Bowl representatives found out Friday they still don’t have a new head coach after talks broke off between the team and Baltimore defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis.

Johnson said for now Reid is his coach. And the receiver could use a good showing Saturday because he needs the extra money--players on the losing squad leave with $15,000.

Dallas linebacker Dexter Coakley compares the Pro Bowl to the season. This is Coakley’s second trip.

“The first quarter is like the preseason, the second and third quarters are like the regular season,” he said. “And the fourth quarter is going to be like the regular season and the playoffs, because everyone realizes they have to pay for hotel rooms so they’re trying to play for the bigger checks.”

It depends on the player as to how much emphasis they place on the Pro Bowl.

“It’s not the Super Bowl, that’s for sure,” said seventh-year Pro Bowl player Aeneas Williams of the Rams. “With the atmosphere, it’s hard to get in a serious mode.”

Ahman Green is convinced the game means more to younger players and to first-timers like himself.

“I take it pretty seriously,” said the Packers running back, who dresses next to veteran Pro Bowl players Marshall Faulk and Mike Alstott in the locker room. “To those guys it’s routine. They’ll probably play five or 10 minutes in the first quarter.”