Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals: Carson Palmer missing efficiency in '16

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is missing the efficiency he had with the football in 2015, and it’s led to a disappointing start in 2016…

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is missing something this season, but it’s been kind of hard to pinpoint.

Palmer was arguably the MVP of the league last season, if not for Cam Newton’s other-worldly production and dominance over Palmer and the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game. It was the best we’ve seen the former Heisman winner and number one overall pick in his long NFL career, but this season has been one of his worst.

Perhaps that’s harsh, but Palmer is putting up numbers this season similar to the ones we saw from him in his first year with the Oakland Raiders. His completion percentage of 60.2 percent is lower than it’s been since 2011 in Oakland, and in his first six starts of the season, he’s taken 16 sacks.

That would put him on pace for getting sacked more times than he has been since 2013, his first year with the Cardinals when the offensive line play was disastrous.

One specific area that Palmer has really struggled this season is throwing the deep ball. As NFL.com pointed out, Palmer has completed less than 50 percent of his passes that have traveled 10 or more yards in the air.

That’s a pretty significant difference from year-to-year for a quarterback of Palmer’s caliber. He seems to have gotten better with age and despite multiple major knee injuries, he can still drop the ball in the bread basket deep downfield and sling it with the best of them.

It’s just not on the money this season.

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Not only that, but talented players like Michael Floyd and John Brown aren’t getting involved in the offense like they used to. Those were two key contributors to Palmer’s deep-ball success  last season. They are virtually non-existent this year.

That is something that has to change, and the only way to change it is to keep drawing up plays to get guys open downfield. On the road against a bad Carolina Panthers secondary, the Cardinals could look to open up the deep passing game, which could also theoretically open things up at the line of scrimmage for David Johnson depending on the level of success they have.

Hopefully Palmer turns it around quickly for the Cardinals. They are currently 3-3-1 on the season and that’s not necessarily the kind of start that’s going to keep Seattle at bay and keep the division title in Arizona.

Palmer needs to get it going, and it needs to happen ASAP.

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