Harrison's hit on Green came late in the second quarter of the Rams pre-season game vs. San Diego.

As Trent Green was carted off the field, the high hopes surrounding the Rams dissipated as much as the hopes of Cardinals fans when they learned that Donovan Osborne was named the '99 Opening Day starting pitcher.

But there's no way that any rational mind could have known what back-up QB Kurt Warner was going to bring to the table.

Except, perhaps, Kurt Warner himself.

More on that below...

There WERE clues, though...as Warner, in his first year as a professional football player, led the Arena Football League's Iowa Barnstormers to the 1995 AFL championship game.

Those clues were obscured by the fact that Warner's 1995 AFL quarterback rating (101.4) placed him behind the likes of Jay Gruden, Mike Perez, St. Louis Stampede QB John Kaleo, and four other Arena League signal-callers.

But naturally, Warner (#13), an Iowa native and a Univ. of Northern Iowa graduate, was featured on the cover of team's 1996 media guide.

Never mind that, in a bit of foreshadowing as far as Warner was concerned, the back cover of the very same media guide consists of a full-page ad for the Iowa-based HyVee chain of supermarkets...all 13 of them.

You know that story...

Looking back, it seems unlikely that any right-thinking American believed that "Taking the Next Step" for Kurt Warner included a year which culminated in MVP awards for the '99 season AND the Super Bowl, as well as leading his team to the Super Bowl championship.

Let's go back to the late-August game vs. the Chargers.

Kurt Warner's first pass following Green's injury was perfect...and promptly fumbled.

The bad old days of professional football in St. Louis seemed assured for at least another season.

But, courtesy of St. Louis-area radio personality Harry Schroeder (heard on WINU and WGNU), St. Louis Sports Online readers can re-visit audio clips, all three of which were recorded in the minutes immediatedly following the Rams-Chargers game on August 28.

First up is Rams coach Dick Vermeil. With his voice obviously showing the effects of the Green injury, Vermeil put the best spin possible on Warner's possible ascension to the #1 spot on the quarterback depth chart.

When asked about how Warner's teammates would respond to the rookie as QB, Vermeil was direct in his response:

"Well, they wouldn't have a choice, if [Warner was the #1 QB]. They respect him, like we do, as coaches. We stuck him in there...and the first pass he throws is completed..."

Second-year wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim was even more straightforward in his thoughts on Warner as QB:

"I have enough confidence in anybody we put behind the center. Kurt knows the offense just as well. He's going to get in there and do the job. I respect Kurt Warner and Joe Germaine. All of our quarterbacks are capable of making the plays."

But it was Kurt Warner himself who exuded the most confidence in his own abilities.

Listen to the Warner audio as he outlines, on August 28, what he believes he can do for the St. Louis Rams in the 1999 season.

This very sound bite is the audio equivalent of a valuable "rookie card". No one knew.

Except maybe Warner himself.

Listening to Kurt Warner speak in late August, in the wake of Trent Green's injury, it seems almost as if he had been training his whole life for what was to come in the following five months.

We should all be so lucky. And so good.