Cardinals’ Carson Palmer: ‘I’ll be ready to roll on Sunday’
Sep 14, 2017, 8:07 AM | Updated: 11:36 am
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer (3) passes against the Detroit Lions during an NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
(AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
TEMPE, Ariz. — The first person to say quarterback Carson Palmer played poorly in Week 1 was Carson Palmer.
The 15-year veteran, now in his fifth season with the Arizona Cardinals, again accepted responsibility for the offense’s struggles in Detroit when he met the media on Wednesday.
“I disappointed myself and my teammates,” he said.
Most times quarterbacks receive too much of the blame when things go wrong, just as they receive too much of the credit when things go right. Yet, Palmer insists all of the blame from Sunday’s 35-23 loss rests on his shoulders.
He didn’t play well, period.
After completing his first two passes for 19 yards, Palmer went 8-of-22 for 84 yards and two interceptions in the first half.
The second half was better, though eight of his 17 completions, including the one touchdown pass, occurred after the Lions had taken a 35-17 fourth-quarter lead following Miles Killebrew’s 35-yard pick-6.
Palmer’s three interceptions were his most since throwing four picks at Buffalo in Week 3 last season, leaving him with a 53.2 quarterback rating, the fourth-worst mark in 54 his games as a Cardinal.
Palmer said nothing stood out to him, either his mechanics or otherwise, after watching the film, but he’s confident he’ll play better in Week 2.
“I’ll be ready to roll on Sunday,” he said. “It can’t be here fast enough.”
Palmer wasn’t alone in his struggles.
Several big-name quarterbacks across the league performed well below their norm: Tom Brady and Russell Wilson failed to throw a touchdown, while Andy Dalton and Eli Manning, like Palmer, had more interceptions than touchdowns. Dalton threw four picks and his Bengals failed to score a single point on offense.
“Everybody has a bad game,” head coach Bruce Arians said. “(Palmer) had a bad game and needs to get ready for this one.”
No one inside the Cardinals locker room believes Palmer will have anything but a bounce-back performance this Sunday, when the Cardinals play at Indianapolis.
And they all point to one characteristic.
“He’s very resilient,” defensive tackle Frostee Rucker said.
Rucker should know. He’s seen it first-hand probably more than anyone; first as teammates in college at USC, then four seasons in Cincinnati and now going on five years in Arizona.
Arians, too, has seen it, whether from one play to the next or one quarter, one half. Even leading up to game day, in practice, Palmer has shown the ability to not let what happened previously affect him going forward.
“Number one, by far,” Arians said, when asked how Palmer ranks among quarterbacks he’s coached in terms of resiliency. “He had a great practice (Wednesday), and he can put things behind him and move forward as good as anybody I’ve ever been around”
That ability to recover quickly from difficult conditions, to not have poor plays or poor games linger from one day to the next or one week to the next is something Palmer takes great pride in, and something the Cardinals hope will once again be on display against the Colts.
“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,” he said. “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.”
