the esteemed profession of sports writers previews the ARIZONA game

wv wrote:

i hope a lot of these players are gone next year.

You’re not willing to entertain the idea that a lot of them will be better under better conditions?

I;m leaning that way myself.

…

Zooey wrote:

if you’re wrong, the Rams are in for a long haul rebuild.

Well. I like the idea of a long rebuild.

A senior moment awaits Carson Palmer in LA

Kent Somers

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2016/12/28/senior-moment-awaits-carson-palmer-la/95934470/

Carson Palmer will have a second senior moment at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, 14 years after his first.

In 2002, Palmer was a senior quarterback leading USC to a victory over Notre Dame. It was an emotional day, complete with the pomp and circumstance of honoring the Trojans’ seniors.

Palmer turned 37 on Tuesday, which makes him a senior by NFL standards. He returns to the Coliseum on Sunday to lead the Cardinals against the Rams, who returned to Los Angeles this year.

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“(I) never thought it would have happened, way back when,” Palmer said. “It was senior night and you think you’re never going to get this opportunity. You hear chatter of a team moving to LA but you…….just don’t think you’ll have the opportunity to run out of that tunnel one more time.”

Two weeks after that game, Palmer was awarded the Heisman Trophy and later was drafted No. 1 overall by the Bengals. The Cardinals are Palmer’s third team in a 14-year career that’s expected to extend another year or two.

Palmer is under contract through 2018, and each year’s salary and roster bonus becomes guaranteed if he’s on the roster five days after the Super Bowl. Palmer wants to return for 2017, at least, and the Cardinals want him back.

Palmer’s statistics have plunged from a year ago when he threw 35 touchdown passes and had 11 throws intercepted. It’s easy to point to that as the reason the Cardinals (6-8-1) will finish with a losing record for the first time since trading for Palmer in 2013.

It would also be wrong, coach Bruce Arians said. His quarterback’s statistics are worse (23 touchdowns, 13 interceptions) because so many people surrounding him have either been injured or played poorly.

Over the past month or so, the Cardinals offense has started to play better. In the past four games, Palmer has thrown for eight touchdowns and had only two throws intercepted.

In the past four games, the Cardinals have had four pass plays gain at least 30 yards. They had only six of those in the first 11 games.

Through the struggles, Arians was impressed by Palmer’s leadership.

“He knows how to give a guy confidence and pick him up and not let him worry about failure,” Arians said. “That’s what leaders do.”

Two weeks ago, Palmer smiled when reporters asked him about playing behind a makeshift offensive line beset by injuries.

“I’m not dreading it as much as it sounds like you guys are dreading it,” he said.

Palmer went out of his way to talk to the new starters, just as he has with kicker Chandler Catanzaro when he has struggled.

“They know he has confidence in them,” Arians said. “That’s what you want, your quarterback to be a leader, but he’s also a father figure to those guys. He’s too old to be a big brother. I’m a cool uncle but he’s a father figure.”

This season has tested Palmer’s counseling ability and leadership skills, although he doesn’t see it that way.

“The more years you have and the more experience you have, the more that’s expected in that department,” he said. “I don’t feel like it’s weighed heavy on me or been a burden. It’s just part of your role.

“Once you get to 10 years in the NFL, you’ve seen a lot. You’ve been through a lot of situations, and you have the right to say certain things. That’s kind of where I’ve felt most of the year.”

The decline in Palmer’s statistics has led to increased criticism of him, something with which Arians takes issue. Not only have there been injuries on the offensive line, but two of the teams’ top three receivers entering the season, John Brown and Michael Floyd, had disappointing seasons.

Palmer was to blame for some of the early problems, too, because he underthrew deep passes that he connected on a year ago.

Coaches forced Palmer to start sitting out of Wednesday practices and part of those on Thursday.

That high-mileage maintenance program has paid dividends in the past month, because Palmer’s arm has looked as strong as it was a year ago.

“I know it saved him coming down the stretch,” Arians said. “He took a day off a week in training camp, so it’s nothing really new. Talking him into it was the biggest thing.”

When Palmer joined the Cardinals in 2013, Arians likened himself and Palmer to cowboys headed to their last rodeo. That rodeo isn’t likely to end Sunday at the Coliseum for either one, but Palmer isn’t looking beyond Sunday’s game.

“It’s just one week at a time,” he said. “As exciting as that win was, coming back from Seattle you start watching LA. The turnaround is so quick that you don’t have time think about what’s next. The only thing you can think about or focus on is the next opponent.”