Ken Whisenhunt took a moment to zing Kurt Warner after today's final practice, when the coach was asked about Warner's seemingly fast recovery from hip surgery in time for a chunk of minicamp work. "He moved around like we should run the ball 40 times a game," Whisenhunt deadpanned.

That, of course, would be a slow death for Warner, who prefers more like 40 passes a game. It's a running joke between the two, given that Warner sent a shot across Whiz's bow right after the Cards took running back Beanie Wells with their first-round pick. "I texted (Whisenhunt) after we drafted Beanie and told him, 'I hope he can catch the ball well out of the backfield because he's going to be doing a lot of that.' "

That Warner was able to work on 7-on-7 and individual drills this weekend was somewhat amazing. Warner was irritated he couldn't do everything, but doctors have told him he is ahead of schedule – and originally, he wasn’t supposed to do anything but watch at minicamp. His enthusiasm for getting on the field isn't a surprise, though, given that he played through the injury in the first place.

Warner doesn't know when the hip problem first happened – he guesstimated around midseason – but "it bothered me a lot." The pain actually was less when Warner was playing than when he was standing around or moving less, but the back half of the year "was pretty tough." That's not a problem anymore. "This weekend was a good sign," Warner said, "because there is plenty of time before the guns start blazing."