willie and johnson/I've got to get this off my Chest..

[derekshank]

Palmer's cartoonish numbers might have been the result of a perfect storm. You don't often get all the elements that Palmer had working for him last year. Those elements being:

1) The best statistical O-Line year in the NFL

2) Arguably the best WR depth in the NFL

3) A 1400-yard rusher creating the play-action

4) A defense that forced turnovers at a record pace

5) A defense that allowed a lot of points, requiring Palmer to keep pace

I'd be curious as to how often all of those elements have come together in NFL history. In fact... just the defense alone would give most QB's great fantasy numbers. A continual short field to work with because of turnovers, and yet almost never having a big enough lead to abandon the pass? An anomaly in and of itself. Palmer may never duplicate those numbers, simply because he may never have to again.

The scoring defense is better this year. It isn't getting quite as many turnovers. The O-line has been in shambles, resulting in a hellacious pass rush and an incosistent Rudi. We don't have a single WR that hasn't been either on the injury report or serving a suspension. Of course his numbers are down! But he's still playing at an incredibly high level... and no one is going to convince me that because he isn't the best QB in fantasy football this year that he is somehow playing at a lower level (I get frustrated with fantasy nerds injecting their opinions in a real football conversation).

If there is still some rust because of his injury... then I'll be giddy to see an even better QB back there. That just means to me that he will continue to improve upon his MVP form from last year, and that should scare a lot of defenses... but just because he's not leading the league in TD's this year doesn't mean he's not the same Carson Palmer.

He doesn't make a lot of mistakes, he's very effecient, and despite not having "the perfect storm" this year, he still has a passer-rating near 100. Considering all this team has been through in the past 11 months, you might say that he's been more impressive than last year. It's all about perspective... and from my seat, he's doing just fine. Find someone else to blame for your disappointment with the season thus far.

[HoosierCat]

Palmer's cartoonish numbers might have been the result of a perfect storm. You don't often get all the elements that Palmer had working for him last year...(snip)...It's all about perspective... and from my seat, he's doing just fine. Find someone else to blame for your disappointment with the season thus far.

Yeah, I have to agree. Carson isnt the guy he was last year, but a lot went into that, and there are a lot of reasons why it isn't quite the same this time around. I share's Hair's hope that he will return to ludicruous form in '07 and beyond.

[Tasher]

Palmer's cartoonish numbers might have been the result of a perfect storm. You don't often get all the elements that Palmer had working for him last year...(snip)...It's all about perspective... and from my seat, he's doing just fine. Find someone else to blame for your disappointment with the season thus far.

Yeah, I have to agree. Carson isnt the guy he was last year, but a lot went into that, and there are a lot of reasons why it isn't quite the same this time around. I share's Hair's hope that he will return to ludicruous form in '07 and beyond.

Carson can start with no work with the receivers in the off season and limited work in training camp/preseason. Remember last year he took 100% of the snaps in training camp and played the better part of the half in each preseason game if not more.

I think that by week 11-12 or there about we will begin to see CartoonCarson and the WR Freak Show! Just watched the replay of the ATL game and on a couple of throws there was definite out of syncishness on route hot reads, where the throw was going and the throw itself. This will all straighten itself out with more reps. Remember Waterboy started to come around after his holdout once he had enough reps during the season to make up for what he lost out on in camp and preseason? Carson will be the same way this year, late.

BTW, so will Brooks!

Who Dey!

[jjakq27]

jjak, serious question:

Looking back at the 2nd through 4th quarters, just where did they NOT pound the ball where they should have? After it was 2nd and 17, you wanted two more runs? After they were down nine and had only 11 minutes to try and make it up, you wanted that on the ground? How would that have made any sense?

I really think this particular criticism makes beyond no sense..

Mem..(and Tasher)..serious answer:

In the second quarter they ran a reverse with TJ and Chris Perry got some carries as well. The Falcons scored on three of four possesions but the Bengals had the lead at the half. To me it seemed that they were having trouble slowing the Falcons. At that point perhaps you play a little Martyball and give your defense a break because it's only going to get worse. Try to shorten the game and play some keep-away. Had Carson hit Chad on the first play of the third quarter then we probably wouldn't be having this discussion but that's hindsight. Which brings up another point. If there is something wrong with Palmer why wouldn't you try to run more?

Anyway, without getting into the details of every play, from the last run that Rudi had in the first half, the Bengals passed 31 times and ran 13. And during much of that time they had the lead or it was still a close game.

My beef is that this is not the first time that this has happened. Was it the Tampa game or the New England or both that we heard the same complaints from the line and Rudi? Last year against the Steelers in Cincinnati it was the same thing. It is a philosophical thing.

I have defended Brat arounf here on more than one occasion over the last three years but he seems to "hyperventilate" for lack of a better word and tries for the knockout all the time. You can't try to shoot your wad on every play.

Your last sentence doesn't make sense either.