"I did a lot more, was more comfortable," he said after practice today. "I had a little discomfort, but not a whole bunch of pain. So I felt good. Again, it's just practice. You're still just throwing and handing it off, but I'm very optimistic."

Warner tore a ligament in his left — non-throwing — elbow early in Sunday's loss to Carolina. With starter Matt Leinart out for the season with a broken collar bone, the Cardinals had to turn to Tim Rattay, who had been signed just a few days earlier.

This week, Arizona added a third quarterback in Tim Hasselbeck.

"Obviously we have to prepare the two Tims, so the bulk of our practice was concerned with doing that," coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "Kurt did a little bit more today, but once again its going to come down to how he feels on game day."

Warner tried several braces yesterday before settling on the first one he used.

"They had some other ones that were supposedly some new age answers, so we tried a couple of those and they didn't seem to work to well," he said. "So we went back to the old school. It's not only a brace, but really I think the biggest benefit is just a tape job. Old school tape seems to keep it in place. There's not much movement."

Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald expects Warner to play if it's at all possible.

"Anytime you hear 'tear,' that's not good," Fitzgerald said, "but Kurt is the ultimate competitor. He's probably one of the most fierce competitors you'll ever meet. You can't tell by his demeanor, but he wants to be out there and he wants to win."

If Warner can't go, the Cardinals again will turn to Rattay. This time, though, Rattay will be much more comfortable.