Opponent Scouting Report: Cardinals Quarterback

Carson Palmer was a legitimate MVP candidate just two seasons ago, but he seems to have fallen off a cliff since then.

Carson Palmer‘s 2015 season was ridiculous as he led the Cardinals to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game with a 13-3 record. He led the NFL in adjusted yards per attempt and QBR as he was consistently chucking it downfield in Bruce Arians‘ scheme.

However, he injured his finger near the end of the season and was embarrassingly bad in their blowout loss to the Panthers finishing one game short of his first career Super Bowl appearance.

Palmer did not back up his performance very well in 2016, and the Cardinals’ record went down with him as they finished 7-8-1.

Palmer threw 9 less TD’s with 3 more interceptions, threw for 1.6 fewer yards per attempt, and his QBR fell nearly 20 points last season. Palmer’s struggles have continued into Week 1 of 2017 as he threw 3 interceptions against the Lions.

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To make matters worse, the Cardinals have likely lost running back David Johnson for most of the regular season. Johnson provided a security blanket in the passing game, and gave Palmer plenty of easy completions as they connected for 80 receptions on 120 targets last season.

The Cardinals reportedly wanted to select a possible replacement for Palmer in this year’s draft, but they were leap-frogged by a couple of quarterback-needy teams and their guy wasn’t there for them when it was their time to pick.

If Palmer plays like he did last weekend, they’ll leave the door wide open for the Colts to pull off an upset this Sunday.