Arizona Cardinals: Breaking Down Why Carson Palmer is Being Judged Unjustly

Dec 6, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller (58) reaches for Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer (3) during the third quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Denver Broncos defeated the Oakland Raiders 26-13. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Why do all of the critics think that a quarterback in the NFL is good all by himself ? when the fact is, no good quarterback has ever been a star without good players around him.

The quarterback cannot block for himself or pick up blitzes himself, nor can he run the ball, throw it to himself and run the correct route. Most of all, he cannot play defense all at the same time.

In other words, a lot has to go right from other positions.

Everyone wants to throw stats up and think that’s the only marker that shows what kind of quarterback you are and that is only one piece of the puzzle. Yes, there is a difference from a good quarterback and a bad one from the physical and mental side of things, but any stat you put up is a result of others doing their job as well.

The quarterback position gets all the blame when things are bad and all the glory as well when it go right, which in my opinion is unfair when it takes an eleven man cohesive unit.

When Carson Palmer had pieces around him in Cincinnati in 2005-2006 he was a Pro- Bowl quarterback, and minus that knee injury in the playoffs against the Steelers, maybe his Bengals make a Super Bowl run. For those who are stat freaks, look up the 2005 and 2006 seasons and you are sure to see his offensive line in the top ten, his running game high-ranked and his wide receivers Pro Bowl-caliber.

His years before and after that he has had no quality players around him, instead, he has had low football IQ players around him from the line to the wide receiver, low football IQ players are those that continue to get dumb penalties and are not in the right place they need to be, and mentally are just gone at times, like the 2012 Oakland Raiders.

If you put any good quarterback on the Raiders last year, you will get the exact result, throwing for a lot of yards, coming from behind and forcing balls, dropped passes, and off timing routes.  This is a different outcome with quality consistent players doing their jobs week in and out.

Here’s an examples.

Having the good pieces in place, Tom Brady came off the bench to lead his team to the Super Bowl; he never had to go through having low-quality players around him. His situation was established by coaching, a solid offensive line and multiple running backs and hard working veteran wide receivers who all got groomed and went through their lumps with Drew Bledsoe as their leader before the Super Bowl years.Without that consistent cohesive team, Brady would have been the same as any other good quarterback going through the hard times of getting all the right pieces.

These pieces do not consist of all great players, but they are players that did their job correctly. When the ball was thrown their way they caught it, when the line opened holes they picked the right holes to run in, the wide receivers ran timing routes precise and blockers knew which gap to pick up a blitz and on and on.

I have watched every throw from Carson Palmer the last two years with the Raiders and you will be surprised at how many low IQ players did not do their jobs and made him look like a bad player, I saw more than 15 dropped passes and numerous wrong routes ran and many timing routes with wrong timing, not to mention many interceptions because of these imperfections.

I saw many missed blocking assignments and running backs that could not pick up blitzes and also hurried passes and forced passes all due to the talent around the QB, and yes, Carson Palmer had his mistakes as well but for the most part he is a good sound decision maker and a very accurate passer that can read defenses and blitzes very well as I seen on tape.

In fact, at times, when the Raiders offense had done their assignments correctly, Palmer looked fantastic. The rookie wide receivers he had looked like all-stars at times. One guy who really benefited was Denarius Moore, who caught passes that were so perfectly placed all he had to do was catch it and  look good doing it.

No matter how you look at it, a good quarterback needs good consistent  pieces around him to be successful.

Even the great ones  had the right pieces around them first. Before that, they were just good struggling quarterbacks with potential to do great things.

So why would it be any different for Carson Palmer and the Cardinals in 2013? On paper, he has the wide receivers and running backs and defense and even the right scheme to succeed. However, the offensive line needs to make Carson Palmer look like the Pro Bowl quarterback he was in the past.

There is no question he is a good quarterback who has some years left. Many will continue to judge wrong because they judge by standards that should be judged as a whole and not individually.

Because regardless how you judge him, according to is past, Carson Palmer is a proven NFL quarterback. And that is a fact.