Cardinals QB Palmer handles some kinds of pressure better than others
Jul 22, 2013, 9:16 PM | Updated: 9:16 pm
A pass rush is rarely a quarterback’s friend.
Given a choice, it’s hard to imagine any signal caller opting for less time to throw as a defensive player is heading his way, hoping to bring some measure of pain.
However, that does not mean quarterbacks don’t necessarily prefer certain types of pressure or, really, pressure from certain areas.
The fine folks over at ProFootballFocus.com crunched the numbers from the last five seasons, and what they’ve come up with is a chart that shows how quarterbacks deal with certain kinds of pressure.
And, in the case of new Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, pressure from the edge is far less effective than pressure from the inside.
Is Palmer finally the answer to the Cardinals’ carousel of questionable quarterback play? Arizona signal-callers have littered the bottom end of the most dubious charts in recent pressure articles, and while Palmer may be an upgrade, his best years are likely behind him. He’s done his best work when pressure comes off the edge (+3.3), but it’s the interior pressure (-8.7) that’s given him the most trouble. Palmer joins a Cardinals team that featured one of the worst offensive lines in the league, but last year’s second half improvement from right tackle Bobby Massie, and the addition of first-round left guard Jonathan Cooper will give the line a chance to put 2012 in the rearview.
The way they figured it, Palmer’s QB ratings were 82.8, 74.0 and 93.7 when pressure came from the left tackle, right tackle or tight end spots. The numbers dropped to 41.4, 45.9 and 57.1 when the rush came from left guard, center or right guard.
Of course, any Palmer-related stats come with the caveat that they came with different teams, and many believe the veteran will play better in Arizona than he did in Oakland.
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