Kurt Warner, a Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL MVP, knows what it's like to be benched in the middle of a game. He knows what it's like when people don't think you can play the game any more at a high level. And now he knows how good it feels to be considered among the elite again.

"The one thing I would say [to McNabb] is just keep the faith, keep believing in what you can do, keep believing in the Lord above," Warner said during a conference call Tuesday. "The one thing I always realize is the cream rises to the top. I believe he's one of those guys that is the cream of the crop. I believe he is one of the best in the league and he's going to show that again whether that's Thursday night or the following weekend or wherever he goes moving forward. He's going to separate himself like he always has."

Warner, 37, comes into tonight's game against the Eagles as the league's second-rated passer. He has thrown 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His team is 7-4 and can clinch its first division title since 1975 and its first playoff berth since 1998. Warner's resurrected career is a huge reason why.

"Obviously, it's fun to be able to be back on a team that's winning with a chance to get to the playoffs," Warner said. "That's what you play for. Once you've been there, there's really no other reason to play. You don't play for the stats or any of the other stuff. You play to win a championship. It's nice to be in the mix for that again.

"I didn't know if this time would come again. When I left New York and I came here, I was hoping I could establish myself here and then obviously some things happened that first couple of years. We didn't really have a great team put together and we struggled. Obviously, they always looked at the quarterback first, so when I was benched here, I did kind of wonder if I would ever get the chance to have a team that would commit to me for that long haul."

Mostly by accident, the Cardinals became that team. The plan was for Matt Leinart to be the quarterback, but when he suffered a season-ending collarbone injury five games into last season, Warner took over and played so well that the Cardinals would have been foolish not to let him compete with Leinart for the starting job this season.

Even as so many things have gone right for Warner this season, he hasn't forgotten what it's like to be in McNabb's position as a franchise quarterback whose days appear to be numbered in Philadelphia.

"First of all, I'm not ready to say he's not going to be an Eagle for the rest of his career," Warner said. "The one thing I would say to everyone else is that it doesn't matter how long you've played this game or how well you've played it, there are always periods where it doesn't go in your favor. It doesn't mean you can't play any more or that you have a lot less in the tank.

"Look at my situation. There are times when things don't go in your favor and there are times when you are pressing and trying to carry a team and sometimes trying to do more than you really should be trying to do, but you feel that responsibility as the leader of the team. I can't speak directly to Donovan's situation, but I know I've been there before."

Warner, as the unlikely ring leader of the Greatest Show on Turf from 1999 through 2001, led the St . Louis Rams to two Super Bowls in three seasons. After that second Super Bowl, Warner, because of injuries and ineffectiveness, started just seven more games in his final two seasons with the Rams before moving on to the Giants, where he was nothing more than a stopgap transition to the Eli Manning era.

Those were frustrating times, much like the ones that McNabb is encountering now with the Eagles. Warner said the thing that always stings most is when he feels as though the organization has lost faith in him.

"The year after we went to the Super Bowl and I won my second MVP, I came back that next year and before I got hurt, the first five games I threw like 12 interceptions and four touchdowns," Warner said. "It didn't mean I couldn't play. I was just pressing. One time, there was a tipped ball that normally hits the ground and it was intercepted. One time, I'm in the pocket, I'm going to throw and the guy coming around the end hits the ball instead of missing it. Some of those things go against you, but it doesn't mean you can't play.

"I know that's the situation with Donovan. Things have gone against him the last couple of weeks, but he's still a great player. You saw that through the beginning of the year. Everybody hits slumps, just like in baseball. He's going to work his way out of it and I think he's going to be a great quarterback for the rest of his career. It's just unfortunate that so much scrutiny is put on that position and to know how much it really takes to play that position at a high level, I think people take that for granted."

Contact staff writer Bob Brookover at 215-854-2577 or bbrookover@phillynews.com.