Warner, Martz eager to get past debate over broken hand X-ray

ST. LOUIS -- A day after the wrong Warner made news, the Rams' quarterback was anxious for the controversy to die down.

Brenda Warner called a radio station Tuesday to complain that her husband had his broken hand X-rayed at her insistence, and not at the insistence of coach Mike Martz. The tape of the wife's brief diatribe on KFNS, in response to a suggestion that perhaps Warner had violated a trust with Martz by holding out on the injury, has been replayed endlessly.

"Martz had nothing to do with it," Brenda Warner said. "All week long I said, 'Kurt, I'm a nurse, you should go get it X-rayed.' The doctors never once said he should get an X-ray."

On Wednesday, neither of the principles involved want the story to go any further.,

Warner, who will miss at least two weeks with a hairline fracture at the knuckle of the little finger, is usually affable to a fault. Not on this topic.

"None of it's really an issue, so I'm not worried about it and it's nothing I need to comment on," Warner said.

He also downplayed discussions between himself and his wife.

"Did I talk to her?" Warner said. "Of course we talked about it. We discussed it between us and know how we're going to handle it. Like I said, it's not an issue.

"It's not anything that needs to be any kind of big deal at all."

Warner refused to comment on whether Martz had insisted on X-rays on Monday, asking at that point only to field questions pertaining to the hand. Martz also had little to say about the subject.

"It's just really not important," Martz said. "We know how we went through things here, on Monday what we said, and how we approached this. We're comfortable with it.

"Anything else is best left unsaid."

The tiff doesn't appear to have affected the coach-player relationship. The Rams (5-7) almost certainly will not make the playoffs, but Martz seems anxious to get Warner back on the field.

Martz said Warner could probably play in two weeks. He won't participate in practice this week to protect the hand and promote healing.

"Is it important that Kurt plays if we're out of the playoffs?" Martz said. "I don't know how to answer that question.

"I think it's important if he's completely healthy; if he's not completely healthy it's not important, no."

Warner has had four injuries to the right hand -- his meal ticket -- in the last three seasons. He missed almost two months with a broken pinkie this year and also missed five games with a similar broken pinkie in 2000. He also played with a sprained thumb much of last season.

He's been dealing with a hand specialist who told him he should not have any lasting effects from all the trauma.

"I've been dealing with one of the best on all my injuries the past couple of years," Warner said. "He's not worried about it. It's going to heal, and he's not worried about anything chronic or anything down the road.

"It's just kind of unfortunate, I guess."

Warner believes the latest bad break came in the first quarter of a 20-17 loss to the Redskins Nov. 24. Last week, leading up to a 10-3 loss to the Eagles, he believed it to be simply a bruise.

The NFL's MVP in 1999 and 2001 is certain he'll be back as good as new next season, and hungrier than ever.

"I know when I'm healthy, I know what I can do," he said. "I know what kind of player I am, I know what I still have left in the tank, and I'm a long ways from being done."

Warner will miss Sunday's reunion game at Kansas City against Dick Vermeil, his coach when the Rams won the Super Bowl in January 2000. Vermeil doesn't doubt that Warner will be back, blaming his problems this year on a rash of injuries on the offensive line.

"There's only one Kurt Warner, that's all there is to it," Vermeil said. "There's only one guy I know who's done what he's done, and I believe he'll do what he did again."