Progress Or Not To Progress That Is The Question For The Cardinals

Oct 6, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer (3) warms up prior to the game against the Carolina Panthers at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Yes Cardinal fans its a win, and the team is second in the division, a division mind you in which they were not suppose to be able to compete in, yes that is the reality of the situation, but concern is realistic as well.

There is much to complain and get angry about, myself and most fans show their passion for the team winning and losing in non calming ways of emotion. I am usually writing a post during the game, and things change frequently during the course of a game, therefore my emotions can get high and low as a fan first then as a writer.

One part of the game does not tell the entire outcome of a game, although Carson Palmer’s third pick looked like it was no way he could finish that game with any confidence left to lead, but after an adjustment by the coaching staff (finally) calling a fabulous ball controlling drive led by the running game, it calmed Palmer down and the fans as well, and he finished the game.

I have to face it as reality, wins do erase a lot, and it’s no different in this case, the win was what they came to do and regardless of how they got there, the managed to get there.

That is the analyst after the game but during the game is an emotional roller coaster and some are calm and collected and others are, well; nervous wrecks, but the best part about writing is that you get to look at the game as a fan first and then analyze it as a writer afterwards. So I am giving my writer opinion after the game.

By the way, as hard as it is, we as fans, cannot judge these games by our emotions; otherwise we will never be satisfied at a team trying to make the correct steps to become a winning team.

That being said, progress is the key and after taking a step back I had to ask myself; are the Cardinals progressing?  And here is where the concern comes in about Carson Palmer, look; every aspect of the Cardinals team after five weeks has gotten better.

The running game better, defense definitely better, special teams better, even o-line getting better, and receivers seemed to be where they should be this week they got better, but Palmer has not progressed and that is concerning. The sifting out of the problems by trading Levi Brown and some key injuries are no longer excuses, getting better has expose the problems and Palmer simply has not gotten better.

I have been the biggest supporter of this move bringing in Palmer, I have written stories as his biggest defender of the critics, and yes its still early and only five weeks in, but we need to start seeing progress to have something to fight with as his supporters. I admit I may have falling off the bandwagon for this one game, but my emotions may have gotten the best of me and that is because I see how good this team can be.

Its not that Palmer is a bad or the worse quarterback in the league, and I certainly do not think that, but he is a veteran that should not be making rookie like mistakes week in and week out, and it is almost getting to the point where he is holding back the progress of the team.

But let me be fair after watching these first five games and say this, Palmer is not alone with the blame for not making progress at his position, a lot of that blame will be on Coach Bruce Arians being adamant about having this deadly down field passing attack, and that’s OK to have, but it needs to be in the confounds of the game.

In other words you don’t make the first serious of plays all chunk plays down field, the defense is at its best early in the game and a scheme to wear them down would be more effective and set up chunk plays, that should be the goal, and the Cardinals running game can do that and it should give Palmer a calming feeling that its not all in his hands.

I am sure the game plan will have to be this way going into San Francisco next week, chunk plays will most definitely be limited and we do not want to feed Palmer to the Frisco defense, then the outcome will surely be a loss.