'Warner one of best leaders I've known'

Matt Bowen has been Kurt Warner's teammate and Donovan McNabb's opposition. He says neither has gotten enough credit for their quarterbacking.

"They're two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL," said Bowen. "But for some reason, we don't talk about them like that all the time. It's like we're trying to penetrate their armor. But if you look at the two guys, you won't find many flaws."

Bowen has seen a lot since he was the University of Iowa football team's co-captain and co-MVP in 1999. He was the sixth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2000, three months after Warner and the Rams won the Super Bowl.

Bowen spent seven seasons in the NFL, with other stops in Green Bay, Washington and Buffalo. He played in 76 games, and started all 16 for Washington in 2003. But, bless his heart, he always dabbled in writing about football along the way. That began when he was a contributor to the Daily Iowan while at Iowa.

He wrote for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's PackerPlus, the Washington Times, and Pro Football Weekly while an active player.

Now he's a co-founder of a first-year Web site that caters to NFL fans who like serious material. It's www.nationalfootballpost.com, and Bowen is one of the five primary writers. Also included are two former NFL executives, a former NFL agent, and a current agent. They are genuine insiders who write no-nonsense stuff, and they get more than their shares of scoops.

Bowen writes several times a week about NFL matters, and we'll get to what he thinks about Sunday's conference finals later. But on the phone this week, Bowen made it clear his true love in football has remained the college game in general and the Hawkeyes in specific.

Because of his NFL commitments, Bowen hadn't been back to Kinnick for an Iowa game since his last game as a player in 1999 until 2008, when he attended the Wisconsin game and was the team's honorary captain for the Penn State contest.

"I don't miss the NFL," Bowen said in a phone interview this week. "I watch it because I always have. I'm a sports fan.

"But I miss Saturdays in Kinnick Stadium. I've always missed that. I miss Coach Fry speaking, I miss Coach Ferentz in the locker room. I miss my teammates.

"Then you had a team, guys next to you in the locker room that you cared about. If your buddy was hurt, it tore you up inside. In the NFL, when a guy is hurt another guy's saying that's his job and his check now. I never thought it was the ultimate team game it was supposed to be."

Bowen is ceding the AFC title win to Pittsburgh over Baltimore, calling the Steelers "the best overall team left." His choice to win the Philadelphia-Arizona NFC game is Warner's Cardinals, but in a squeaker.

"The thing that's impressed me so much about Arizona is that it's been a totally different team in the playoffs," Bowen said. "They've figured out how to run the football and how to stop the run on defense, the two biggest things about January football.

"As good as Kurt is with (receivers) Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower have to run the football for them to set up the big play."

Bowen spent the 2000 season with the Rams when Warner was in Year 2 of the three-year run that got him two league MVP awards and two Super Bowl trips. He played against Cedar Rapids native son Warner when Warner was a New York Giant and Bowen was a Redskin.

"The thing about Kurt that's kind of overlooked," Bowen said, "is that he's pretty gifted with the ball in his hands. By that, I mean he makes plays out of nothing, almost like Brett Favre. But Kurt never gets recognized for it like Favre does.

"He's creative with the football, he gets rid of the football, and he takes a lot of hits."

Bowen played safety on the Rams' practice field when Warner was on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

"When I was there he spent a ton of time with receivers, perfecting his game," Bowen said. "I think the best thing about Kurt is he's one of the best leaders I've ever been around in the NFL. He's a natural-born leader, and that's how most successful quarterbacks are. "

Bowen's opinion of Philadelphia QB McNabb is equally high, and it's the voice of experience. When he was with Washington, Bowen played against McNabb five times.

"Here was a franchise quarterback who got benched (in the second-half of the Eagles' 11th game this season) for some kid (rookie Kevin Kolb) who might never be any good in this league. McNabb could have self-destructed, but he didn't. He put the team on his shoulders and said 'Let's try to win this thing.'"

Speaking of winners, at 32 Bowen is more than an ex-player jock writing about football. He is pursuing a master's degree in writing and publishing at DePaul University in Chicago, where he lives with his wife and sons, 2 and 1.

"Hopefully, I'll be teaching freshmen writing at a city college next (school) year, see if I like it and if it's what I want to do," he said.

"I also want to write some of my own stuff. I'd love to publish my own book someday."

A smart guy who has always put in the work, he'll probably do a lot more than that.

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