Carson Chats: No sulking after Lions loss, losing David Johnson

TEMPE, Ariz. – Quarterback Carson Palmer, now in his fifth year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media every Wednesday during the regular season.

Here, in this space, with help from the Cardinals’ media relations staff, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personnel conversations he has with reporters.

On how he manages his ability to be so resilient:

“I just think that comes with playing the position and experience, and not doubting yourself and getting down on yourself. Just get up and come back firing.”

On whether he feels that way this week:

“I feel that way every week, especially this week after I disappointed myself and my teammates. I’ll be ready to roll on Sunday. It can’t be here fast enough.”

On whether he saw anything different when he reviewed his game film:

“No. I just felt the same way watching it that I did on the field.”

On how much the offense could change without RB David Johnson:

“It changes drastically. You lose, who I think, is one of the best football players in this league. Things are obviously going to change. But, in saying that, we’re not going to sulk. We got right back to work today and Dre (Andre Ellington) stepped in, and Kerwynn (Williams) stepped in. Chris Johnson, getting him back, is huge for us. Yes, things change when you lose D.J. (Humphries) and you lose David like that. Things change. The offense doesn’t change, but obviously when you take away the touches and the effect that those two guys have on the game, things change.”

On whether losing them impacts how he leads the offense:

“No. You can’t get in a position where you feel like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do more,’ or make more or make up for the lack of play-making and the lack of touches that he gets. We don’t need Chris to try to play like David. We’ve got to each play within ourselves and play within the system. You can’t sit around and sulk. You can’t feel like you’ve got to do anything superhuman.”

On whether it’s hard for him not to try to do too much in this situation:

“No. No, it’s not. I’ve been around long enough and been through situations where you lose a handful of guys. Receivers, tight ends, whatever the position is. You just can’t, all of a sudden, change what you’re doing and change the way you go about your reads. You’ve just got to continue to play.”

On where the offense changes so drastically:

“Well Dave, I don’t know how many catches he had last year, but there was a whole lot of catches there for somebody else. He had 2,000 yards of offense, so somebody’s got to step up. We’re not going to run every single exact play that Dave ran. Run routes because that was something very specific to Dave that he did really, really well. But, like I said, the offense doesn’t completely change. You don’t run some of the same plays Dave ran, but things change when you lose a guy that produced 2,000 yards in one season.”

On why he can’t wait for Sunday’s game:

“Any time you lose, I always feel like that. Whether you’re sore, beat up or tired, or whatever the case is, you just can’t wait to play again. You could sense that today at practice. I’ve been feeling like that since Sunday night.”

On if he’s always been able to move on from a bad game or bad throw or if that’s something he’s had to learn:

“I think it’s something you learn over time, and you learn how to block things out. You learn how to better refocus or zoom back in when a bad play happens, or a bad game happens. You’ve got to bounce back. You’ve got to get back up, whether it be from an injury, or you get knocked out and you’ve got to come back. Or, like I said, a bad play or bad pass. You’ve got to rebound and come back up fighting.”

On how it felt to practice on a Wednesday:

“It felt good. I got out of the game feeling really good. Other than those two guys, we’re very healthy. Guys weren’t too banged up. We had a full-padded practice today. It was loud. The scout teams were coming off the ball, which makes the starters come off the ball. So, it was a really good Wednesday for us.”

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