Carson Palmer

Carson Palmer

Palmer playing quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals
Career information
College:	USC
NFL draft:	2003 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1
Career history
Cincinnati Bengals (2003-present)
Career highlights and awards
Pro Bowl (2006, 2007) Pro Bowl MVP (2007) Heisman Trophy (2002) Bengals franchise records Most TD passes in a season (32) Most passing yards in a season (4,035) Most TDpasses in a single game (6)
Player stats at PFR

Carson Palmer (born December 27, 1979 in Fresno, California) is an American football quarterback who plays for the Cincinnati Bengals franchise. He attended the University of Southern California, where he won the Heisman Trophy Award in 2002 in his senior season. He was drafted by the Bengals with the first overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft and signed a 9-year, $118.75 million contract extension on December 29, 2005. Palmer was the first Heisman Trophy winner since Vinny Testaverde in 1987 to be selected with the first pick of the NFL draft.

Carson Palmer's younger brother, Jordan Palmer, was a quarterback at the University of Texas-El Paso, and was drafted in the 2007 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.

Early years

Palmer attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School, where he passed for 71 touchdowns and just four interceptions as a senior. By the time he left high school, he had set 27 school records. He was also an excellent basketball player, and was named to the Student Sports Grid-Hoops All-America second team after averaging ten points and eight rebounds per game.

College career

Palmer and his retired jersey at USC.

Carson Palmer arrived at the University of Southern California in 1998 and immediately competed for the starting quarterback job with Mike Van Raaphorst. Van Raaphorst won, but due to his ineffectiveness, Palmer was named the starter in the ninth game of the season, becoming only the second true freshman to ever start at quarterback for the USC Trojans.

After three inconsistent years at USC, Palmer had a breakout senior year under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who was brought in the year before by head coach Pete Carroll after spending 27 seasons at Brigham Young University and one season at North Carolina State University. Chow was able to bring the best out of Carson Palmer and the USC offense, which led to Palmer being named the Heisman Trophy Award winner, then the fifth Trojan to win the prestigious award — running backs Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), and Marcus Allen (1981) preceded him. Palmer was the first and only Trojan quarterback to be honored with the award until lefty Matt Leinart won it as a junior in 2004.

Carson Palmer completed 309 passes for 3,942 yards and 33 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions during the 2002 season, and later led the Trojans to an impressive 38-17 victory over the University of Iowa in the Orange Bowl. His completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns were all USC single season records. In a November 30 game against Notre Dame, Palmer threw for 425 yards and led his team to 610 yards of total offense, the most ever gained against Notre Dame in each category. Palmer left college as the Pac-10 Conferences’ all-time leader in passing yards (11,818), completions (927) and total offense (11,621), along with 72 career touchdown passes, a USC record at that time — Matt Leinart has since surpassed the record, which currently stands at 99.

His major at USC was public policy and management at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He was an honored member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at USC.

NFL career

2003 NFL Draft

Carson Palmer was the 1st overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.

2003 rookie season

Carson Palmer did not play at all during his rookie season; veteran quarterback Jon Kitna, who signed with the Bengals as an unrestricted free agent in 2001, took every snap during the 2003 season. For his efforts, Jon Kitna was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Palmer, with Kitna mentoring him, watched and learned during games and in practices under head coach Marvin Lewis and quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese.

Even though the Bengals finished 8-8, their first non-losing season since 1996, Jon Kitna arguably knew that the Bengals were Carson Palmer's team in 2004. By and large, it was not viewed as a surprise when head coach Marvin Lewis named Palmer his starting quarterback in January, 2004.

2004-2005 season

While Carson Palmer suffered from growing pains, he passed for 2,897 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions in 13 games, and the Bengals again finished 8-8. His performance greatly improved the stature of the Cincinnati Bengals among pundits and fans alike. One of his more notable performances was in a December game against the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore built up a 20-3 lead going into the final quarter, but Palmer rallied his team back with 3 fourth quarter touchdown passes to take a 24-23 lead. After the Ravens retook the lead with a field goal, Palmer led the Bengals 60 yards in 8 plays to set up Shayne Graham's game-winning field goal as time in regulation expired. Palmer finished the game with 29 of 36 (80.6%) completions for 381 yards and 3 touchdowns. In the fourth quarter alone, he completed 10 of 13 passes for 200 yards, and two of his incompletions were spikes during the final drive to stop the clock. Against the Cleveland Browns in the 58-48 win, Palmer threw for four touchdowns for the first time in his career.

Off the field, Palmer and Jon Kitna are best friends and golfing buddies. In 2004, Palmer organized the Carson Palmer Foundation Golf Classic to raise funds for Hillview Acres, a shelter for abused and underprivileged children.

2005 season

In 2005, Palmer's breakout season, Palmer led the Bengals to an 11-5 record and an AFC North division title, their first division title since 1990. In doing so, Carson Palmer became the first Bengals quarterback to finish with a 100+ passer rating, tied Indianapolis' Peyton Manning for most consecutive games with a triple digit passer rating, led the NFL in completion percentage, and set a Bengals franchise record by throwing a league-leading 32 touchdown passes. He also set the franchise record for highest passer rating in a season. His 3,836 yards was 4th in the league.

On December 21, 2005, Carson Palmer was one of five Bengals voted to the 2006 Pro Bowl game. The others were Willie Anderson, Shayne Graham, Chad Johnson, and Deltha O'Neal. This would have been Palmer's first Pro Bowl appearance, but he did not play in it due to a severe knee injury that was inflicted upon him in the wild card round of the 2005 playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Cincinnati on January 8, 2006. On the Bengals' second offensive play, Palmer launched a 66-yard completion — the longest in Bengals' playoff history — to receiver Chris Henry while Steelers defensive tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen tried to sack him. During the play Von Oelhoffen rolled into Palmer's left leg, striking it at the knee and bending it at an awkward angle. Palmer's season ended, as he had to be taken off the field on a cart. A magnetic resonance imaging test revealed tears of both the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments as well as cartilage and meniscus damage. The Steelers went on to defeat the Palmer-less Bengals to advance in the playoffs and eventually win the Super Bowl vs. the Seattle Seahawks.

Von Oelhoffen later apologized for the hit and Palmer forgave him, stating that the injury was, "just part of the game." Von Oelhoffen was released by the Steelers following the season.

During the off-season, the NFL Rules Committee modified the rule regarding low hits on quarterbacks, prohibiting defenders from hitting a passer at or below the knee unless they are blocked into him. Injuries to Palmer, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and then-Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brian Griese (now with the Chicago Bears) were cited as reasons for the new rule. The so-called "Kimo Rule" now requires that defenders take every opportunity to avoid hitting a quarterback at or below the knees when the quarterback is in a defenseless position looking to throw with both feet on the ground. [1]

Rehabilitation and comments

Carson Palmer underwent reconstructive surgery on his injured knee in Houston, Texas on January 10, 2006. Dr. Lonnie Paulos, a surgeon who is independent of the Cincinnati Bengals, performed the operation. Initially, the Bengals organization stated that Palmer had torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments with no other damage. However, Dr. Paulos later told the Associated Press that the damage was more extensive and included a dislocation of the kneecap. Dr. Paulos called the injury "devastating and potentially career-ending", which drew a derisive comment from Palmer that implied Paulos simply liked to see his name in print. The Bengals later accepted Dr. Paulos' account [2], however, Carson Palmer promised he'd be at quarterback in the Bengals' regular season opener at Kansas City on September 10, 2006.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis stated: “This is a serious injury, but we are told the procedure went very well. We know Carson, and we know he will apply himself fully to his rehabilitation. This result encourages our feeling that Carson will be ready to open the 2006 season as our starting quarterback” [3].

During his rehabilitation, Carson Palmer has made several other pointed comments, particularly in an issue of Sports Illustrated [4], in which he was on the cover shown using a relatively new form of therapy called the HydroWorx [5]. In the article, Palmer stated that: “I hate the Steelers more than I hate UCLA” However, he cautioned that the animosity is not directed at the individual players; it was borne from the historic Bengals/Steelers rivalry. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is, in fact, Palmer's friend and former USC roommate.

After the Bengals' 48-17 pre-season victory over the visiting Green Bay Packers on August 28, 2006, which saw Carson Palmer complete 9 of 14 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns in just less than two quarters of play in his much-expected debut (which included an 11-yard run for a first down that culminated in a slide on his surgically-repaired left knee,) Carson Palmer reiterated his position that he would be starting in the Bengals' season opener at Kansas City.

His performance drew rave reviews from many experts, many of whom expected far less of him less than a year after such a serious injury. ESPN announcer Joe Theismann, himself a former quarterback with the Washington Redskins, praised Carson Palmer for his mental toughness in taking hits and not being gun-shy about staying in the pocket where chances of injury are often high.

2006-2007 season

Palmer ended up starting in all 16 of the Bengals regular season games, only missing one snap due to injury - which was later determined as Palmer only getting the wind knocked out of him - all year. He actually didn't become totally comfortable with his repaired knee until week 9 against the Chargers when he threw for a career high of 440 yards. Despite his previous injury, he passed the 4,000 yard mark for the first time in his career, finishing the season with a franchise record 4,035 passing yards and 28 touchdowns, only 13 interceptions and 93.9 rating. He also made the Pro Bowl for the second year in a row, becoming the first Bengals quarterback to do this since Boomer Esiason in 1988 and 1989. Palmer was named Most Outstanding Player at the Pro Bowl, leading the AFC down the field in the final two minutes for the win. He completed 8 of 17 passes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns, one to his Bengals teammate Chad Johnson. However, his team has quite a few misfortunes like missed point afters and field goals and just bad officiating in a few games, slipping from an 11-5 record to 8-8 and failing to make the playoffs due to a game 16 loss by hated rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Palmer placed 3rd in voting for NFL Comeback Player of the Year, behind Drew Brees and Chad Pennington.

After winning the Pro Bowl MVP, Palmer declared "This is a huge honor and extremely exciting and I feel very blessed just to be here, let alone for the outcome to be this. But my goal's to be in a Super Bowl. And to win a Super Bowl. That's where my mind's at, and after this week I'm going to start focusing on that again."[http://www.nfl.com/news/story/ During the 2007 off-season, Palmer had scheduled workouts with not only Chad Johnson (which he usually did), but receivers T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Tab Perry. He also said he is fully comfortable with his knee.[6]

In the season opener on Monday Night Football against the Baltimore Ravens, Palmer went 20 for 32 with 194 yards and two touchdowns. Palmer and the Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens 27-20. He followed up this performance with 33 completions for 401 passing yards and a franchise record 6 touchdown passes the next week in a game against Cleveland Browns. But even so, his team lost the game 51-45.

Career stats

			Passing									Rushing
Season	Team		GP	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	TD	INT	Rating		Att	Yds	TD
2003	Cincinnati		0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	0		0	0	0
2004	Cincinnati		13	263	432	60.9	2897	18	18	77.8		18	47	1
2005	Cincinnati		16	345	509	67.8	3836	32	12	101.1		34	41	1
2005-06 Playoffs	Cincinnati		1	1	1	100.0	66	0	0	118.7		0	0	0
2006	Cincinnati		16	324	520	62.3	4035	28	13	93.9		26	37	0

Special television appearances

• Palmer has made an appearance of a cartoon version of himself in the animated TV Show The Replacements.

External links

• Carson Palmer's Official Website
• Carson Palmer's Official Blog
• Carson Palmer at ESPN.com
• Carson Palmer's page at Bengals.com
• Carson Palmer's page at NFL Players.com
• Template:Pro-football-reference
• Carson Palmer fantasy news and stats from Sandbox Fantasy News
• More Current Stats