It’s one thing if you say negative things about your team if you are considered one of the greats of the franchise. Guys like Boomer Esiason, Chad Johnson, Ken Anderson, Bob Trumpe, Willie Anderson, and heck even Corey Dillon or TJ Houshmandzadeh can come out and criticize the Bengals. These aforementioned guys earned respect in our franchise and consider themselves Bengals for life. Not you Carson Palmer.
Why am I steamed up on a holiday Monday? The latest comments by Palmer (taken from profootballtalk.com):
“If you get shellacked in Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, just keep fighting,” Palmer said on Arizona Sports 98.7. “Because they are a couple steps behind, personnel-wise. There’s a reason they’re drafting No. 1, it’s because they’re a couple years away. So just come in and know that it’s gong to be a rough start from the jump. But coming off a national championship, coming off all the success he’s had at the collegiate level, maybe his work ethic can come in and create a culture there that there’s a certain level of commitment, a certain level of work ethic and expertise and professionalism that he can bring in and I hope to see that rub off on all the guys around him.”
There are two things that really irk me:
1) Joe Burrow is better than Carson Palmer coming out of college so maybe his start won’t be rough like yours because he is pro ready. He isn’t sitting out a year behind someone to “learn the NFL”. Carson you don’t even know what it is like to start a rookie season. You should ask Andy Dalton since you stomped your feet and demanded a trade or threatened retirement. You are in no position to talk about starting from the jump.
2) The Bengals are not a couple of steps behind. They arguably have one of the best receiving corps in the NFL. They have one of the top running backs in the AFC and certainly a top 8 guy in the entire NFL. Their defensive line is one of the best in the league. Their defensive backfield has been completely overhauled in the offseason. They knew they had a problem at linebacker so what did they do? Drafted 500 linebackers to see who could make the starting lineup. Steps behind Palmer? This isn’t the Marvin Lewis teams that you were used to. Want to know why you didn’t win in Cincinnati? It was you, you couldn’t win the big games!