Delhomme, Warner: adversaries again

QBs' story weaves through Europe

CHARLOTTE -- In April 1998, two unknown quarterbacks flew from America to Amsterdam.

In that freewheeling European capital -- where prostitution is legal and marijuana is sold openly in coffee shops -- they narrowed their focus and stuck to a single mission.

Beat the other guy.

They were in their mid-20s then, but their personalities had already been forged.

Jake Delhomme was fire. He would celebrate a touchdown in practice with a hug-seeking sprint that would have made Jim Valvano proud.

Kurt Warner was ice. Nothing ever fazed him. He never raised his voice.

Ice won that time. Warner started in front of Delhomme all season for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.

On Saturday, those same two quarterbacks -- now very well known, but still fire and ice -- meet again. Delhomme's Carolina squad hosts Arizona and Warner in a divisional playoff game at 8:15 p.m. in Charlotte.

This time the stadium where Delhomme and Warner play won't have a moat surrounding it like the one in Holland did to keep unruly fans off the field.

But the quarterbacks' mission remains the same.

Beat the other guy.

Delhomme and Warner struck up a friendship in Amsterdam, one that has solidified as their professional successes have mounted. They share an agent and a set of personal values. Both are family-oriented. Delhomme turns 34 Saturday. Warner is 37.

Both remember that spring of 1998 with fondness now.

Delhomme's memories have a more bittersweet tinge, though. He thought he should have started over Warner back then. Still thinks so, if you want to know the truth. He was angry when he didn't get the job.

They had never heard of each other until they joined Amsterdam's team. That wasn't surprising -- both went undrafted and played for small colleges (Delhomme for Louisiana-Lafayette, Warner for Northern Iowa).

But when they saw each other throw at the team's first practice, they both got nervous.

Said Warner of Delhomme: "I don't think there's any question about it. Jake had the stronger arm, he moved better. He could make the big throws and big plays a lot better than I could. All I was hoping, no offense to Jake, was that he would make a few more mistakes than me so that the coaches would give me a chance."

Said Delhomme: "I knew he was an Arena League quarterback. That's all I knew. But you could tell from the first practice, he was a very accurate, very heady quarterback."

Delhomme was 23 back then, with a steady girlfriend (his future wife, Keri Melancon) back home in Louisiana. He was homesick. He spent a lot of time on the phone. Warner was 26. He had just gotten married. His wife was pregnant.

The two were paid $1,600 a week, netting a modest $16,000 for the 10-game season. Like every other Amsterdam Admiral, they had to share a small room in a mediocre hotel with a teammate.

"You didn't go there to get rich," Delhomme said. "You went there to play."

That was the problem for Delhomme. He didn't get to play.

The man who made the decision to keep Delhomme on the bench was Al Luginbill, who now lives in Arizona and works for the Denver Broncos evaluating pro personnel. Luginbill is partially credited for discovering Warner, who went from stocking groceries after college to NFL MVP in both 1999 and 2001.

The head coach at Amsterdam from 1995-2000, Luginbill has coached some good quarterbacks. He also won an XFL championship with future Pittsburgh star Tommy Maddox. He coached future NFL quarterback Jay Fiedler in Amsterdam the year before he had Warner and Delhomme.

Luginbill had seen Warner play for the Arena League's Iowa Barnstormers and liked what he saw enough to talk Warner into going over to Amsterdam. Delhomme was a favorite of offensive coordinator Joe Clark.