My first reaction when I heard the trade rumors were: "Too bad Al Davis isn't alive. He would have pulled the trigger and way overspent to get Mike Brown to trade Palmer". Then when it happened, I thought: "The Al Davis madness continues!"
Yeah, Palmer isn't a popular guy in Bengaldom. In fact, I'd say he is less popular than Ochocinco even though 85 went on a public media tour dissing the Bengals in 2008. At least Chad played when he wasn't let go.
Here's something that sums up the sentiment regarding Palmer nicely:
I would have preferred that they found another picture of Palmer lying on the ground other than the one where he tore his ACL in the 2005 playoff game against the Steelers, but it still rings true.
As far as the trade... hell yeah! How could anyone say no to that? I think Mike Brown (Bengals owner) is a complete idiot, but I did support him in his stubborn quest to keep Palmer under his thumb. Everyone was saying he was hurting the team by doing so, but I wanted to see Palmer give back some of his signing bonus at least. I mean the guy had four years left on his contract, one that made him one of the highest paid players in the NFL. But Mike Brown has amazingly come off looking like a genius.
Here's the dirt on Palmer... he's basically a Bledsoe clone. If the Raiders have a good offensive line and don't run stupid plays like the deep out, he'll be fine. And a good running game really helps take the pressure off him and I know the Raiders have a good one with McFadden and Bush. But if he's under pretty consistent pressure he will fold like a house of cards. He also has a tendency to lock on to the primary receiver and force it in there. He hasn't had a truly good season since 2007, and even that year the Bengals only went 7-9. In 2010 there were several occasions where he threw to triple-covered T. O. when Ochocinco was open on the other side of the field and the ball was subsequently picked off. His arm strength is also a serious question since his elbow injury in 2008 as is his leadership ability.
I've seen some Raiders fans point out that other than Palmer's TD-to-INT ratio, his 2010 statistics were pretty good and they also point out the Bengals are generally a bad team so it can't all be blamed on Palmer. In 2010, yeah, this stats were alright, but the Bengals were 4-12! What's the point? Also, it was clear in 2009 that we needed more receiving threats because Chad wasn't getting it done on his own with Andre Caldwell and Laverneus Coles and basically no tight end. We got a receiving TE in the first round of the 2010 draft, a good slot receiver in the same draft, and picked up T. O. He also had a good defense. He threw so many pick-6s it was ridiculous. People were not happy with Palmer last year except maybe for the Chargers game. It was his time to put up or shut up, and well you know what the story was. Given, the offensive line was offensive (see what I did there?), but a quarterback like Ben Roethlisberger would have had a monster year with the the 2010 Bengals.
I don't think a change of scenery or an improved offensive line will result in a 2005-2006 era Carson. I think that Carson is gone due to shell shock and injury. But he's probably the best quarterback that was available and is still capable of big games here and there. The early part of 2009 he mounted several miracle come-from-behind victories and they were called the "Cardiac Cats". At this point in his career with his resume, I don't think he's worth anywhere near a single first round pick much less a first and a second or a first and a first, but I'll take it!!!
