Warner, Fitzgerald on The Ringer’s list of top QB-receiver duos of century
Jan 25, 2020, 8:15 PM | Updated: Jan 26, 2020, 8:45 am
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
“What are the 10 best QB–pass catcher duos since the turn of the century?”
That’s the question Robert Mays of The Ringer set out to answer. He takes stats, overall play, connection and longevity into account as he considers receivers from Marvin Harrison to Rob Gronkowski and passers from Aaron Rodgers to Daunte Culpepper.
Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who played together on the Arizona Cardinals from 2005 through the 2009 season, made the list at No. 7.
Over those five seasons, Warner and Fitzgerald connected for 39 touchdowns, but what really stood out to Mays was the Cardinals’ Super Bowl XLIII run.
Fitzgerald had 546 yards and seven touchdowns in four playoff games — which Mays referred to as “the most dominant postseason stretch by a receiver in NFL history” — as he caught just about everything in his general vicinity in a variety of ways, whether it be a flea-flicker, a middle of the field catch-and-run or a touchdown in the corner of the end zone.
“Larry Fitzgerald was never covered, even when he was. And Warner knew it.”
Mays included a video against the Carolina Panthers in which Fitzgerald broke down an All-Pro linebacker and another from the same a game of one of his signature jump-ball receptions. Mays also posted a video of one of Fitzgerald’s Super Bowl touchdowns and compared the receiver to “a figure skater spinning in the air.”
“Fitzgerald may be the best jump-ball receiver the sport has ever seen.”
Those are just a few memories the NFL got from two of the best athletes to play their respective positions.
Warner, the 1999 and 2001 MVP and Super Bowl XXIV MVP, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Fitzgerald, who has the second-most receptions and receiving yards behind only Jerry Rice, announced he will return to the Cardinals for his 17th NFL season.