Picture this:
Carson Palmer is ruled out of the preseason finale leaving him with a total of about five game-clock minutes of live action for the preseason. J.T. O'Sullivan plays well in every game and looks sharp with the starting receivers.
Week 1 against the Broncos rolls around and Marvin has to produce an injury report that has Palmer listed as questionable. Team doctors recommend that he sit out of practice a few more days in order to bring him back 100 percent, but Marvin Lewis needs him now. Ownership rules that team doctors know best and that Palmer sit out of practice during the week. Marvin holds steadfast to his rule that players only play if they practice and O'Sullivan gets the nod.
The outcome of the game is immaterial, as Palmer undoubtedly runs the first-team offense the next week in practice and tells everyone that he is perfectly healthy. He struggles in Green Bay and pundits begin to say how he hasn't had enough reps in the preseason. He struggles against Pittsburgh and team doctors begin to reexamine the once injured ankle in hopes of finding out what's wrong with their organization's superstar. He struggles again the next week and the fans begin to call for O'Sullivan, and so on.
Last season when Carson hurt his elbow, the team initially downplayed it and then trickled out information about the severity of the injury. Belief was held out by all parties that Palmer would return at some point until it became pointless after the season had become a horror-film.
This ankle injury feels a lot like that. The likelihood that he hurt it again increases after a high sprain. If Palmer continues his downward statistical trend this season, quarterback experts like Ron Jaworski will point to film that shows how his mechanics changed after the injury and that's why his passes sail into the arms of defenders.
Is it that farfetched? Does having Carson on the field automatically mean that he'll play well? Palmer's productivity has decreased every season since the playoff debacle of 2005; even when healthy, he doesn't appear to be getting any better. Perhaps offensive coordinator, Bob Bratkowski, is to blame, or the crumbling of the once powerful offensive line, but the facts are, Carson hasn't been an elite player since the glory days and there's little reason to think it will switch back on again soon, especially with more injuries.
Hopefully this is just a chicken-little conspiracy that never comes to fruition and can be buried in peat moss along with all the other slop I've been wrong about. But let's not pretend that this kind of thing doesn't happen. Let's not ignore the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings of the media and the fans; a man who might prefer a viable excuse of failure as opposed to the hard work that sustains success.
Mojokong---the sky is held in place by glue above Paul Brown Stadium.
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4 comments:
This is definitely NOT the same type of injury as last year's forearm/elbow. Last year, there were immediate whispers that Carson would need Tommy John surgery. Sure, the Bengals played it close to the vest, but those whispers always existed. This year, everyone agrees this is just an ankle sprain. ALL ankle sprains bother people for a few weeks, but come game time, rarely affect performance, unless re-aggravated.
That being said, I feel like Carson's lack of reps will be the built-in excuse for a slow start. Based on schedule, I could see the Bengals starting 0 - 3, and 1 - 6 going into the bye week, if Carson plays below average. If that occurs, the responsibility gets shifted to Carson from where it rightfully belongs: Bratkowski. That is my fear. Seeing the offense struggle to score points thus far in the preaseason looks exactly like 2006 and 2007, where they accumulate lots of yards, but very few points. That leads to a good offensive ranking but a poor record, which seems to be Bratkowski's MO.
Carson is a football player that is part of the football team. The way the coaches treat injured players directly contradicts how they are treating Carson, which is putting one player above the team. If he is healthy, he should play. His ankle injury is not serious, so he should play.
the more i watch hardknocks and watch the developments of the team from year to year, the more i hate bratkowski. the more i hate bratkowski, the more i dislike the bengals. i like the players, but i seem to be starting to hate the bengals as an organization.
a man who claims lack of talent while having the personnel he has secretly knows he is not doing it. or perhaps he believes he actually doesn't have viable talent, and i don't know which is worse, but neither is good for us.
and the more i think about it, the more i tend to think that, as juvenile as it is, chad's 'child please' sort of antics are simply his own childish way of rebelling against the stupidity of the bengals system. its not respectable, but its somewhat understandable, in a chad sort of way.
Bump for the above two comments (And the blog). Bratkowski (and MIke Brown) appear to be nothing more than adolescent hero worshippers. That is not a good description for guys running an NFL offense.
Seriously, couldn't you just see Bratkowski tucked in at night with a big poster of Carson Palmer right above his headboard?
Hard KNocks has told me that he REALLY needs to go...
I'm really hoping Palmer comes out strong and healthy but I cannot and will not forget how he played for the first 4.5 games of last season. Why do all the pundits (B excluded) seem to have selective memory when it comes to Palmer's performance early last season? Nonetheless, I remain (hesitantly) optimistic. ::sigh::
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