NEXT GAME
Raiders at Bengals, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS (pending sellout), 102.7, 104.7, 700
Carson Palmer declined to go into specifics, but he made it clear in a conference call with Cincinnati media Wednesday that the reason he demanded a trade from the Bengals following the 2010 season centered on team president and owner Mike Brown.
When asked if there was a specific point in that 2010 season when he reached his decision, Palmer said, “Just a culmination of things. Some things that I had learned that ownership …”
Then he paused.
“Just some things that built up over time and it was just time for a change,” he continued.
A reporter asked Palmer to complete his thought about Bengals ownership, but he declined. The 10-year veteran and former No. 1 overall pick did, however, expand on the issue in an interview with Oakland media.
“I think that anybody that’s ever played for that ownership knows what I was doing and why I was doing it,” he said.
Sunday, Palmer and his new team, the Oakland Raiders, will face his old team for 1 p.m. game at Paul Brown Stadium. It will be Palmer’s first visit to Cincinnati since walking into Brown’s office at the end of the 2010 season and laying down a “trade me or I will retire” ultimatum.
“My last year there was physically and, really, mentally just draining,” Palmer said, referring to a 4-12 season that came on the heels of an AFC North Division championship in 2009.
“It was time,” Palmer added. “Anytime you are somewhere for five, six, seven, eight years, sometimes it is just time for a fresh start, a change, something new. And that’s obviously what I thought and obviously the ownership there didn’t – until the last second.”
Brown remained adamant about not trading Palmer through the offseason and into the start of 2011. But when the Raiders lost starting quarterback Jason Campbell to a season-ending broken collarbone in Week 6 and were looking at the prospect of turning a 4-2 team over to Kyle Boller, they offered Brown a first- and conditional second-round pick for Palmer.
He went 4-5 as the starter in Oakland and the team finished 8-8, one game behind the Bengals for the final AFC wildcard spot. This year Palmer and the Raiders are 3-7 and teetering on the edge of playoff elimination, but he said he still feels as though he’s in a better spot.
“My body feels great, I’m healthy and I feel like I can still throw it as good as anybody,” he said. “I think my best football is still ahead of me.”
Despite the contentious split, Palmer said is he looking forward to returning to PBS, where he went 27-22 as a starter from 2004-10, although he knows Bengals fans may not be as eager to see him.
“I’m not exactly expecting a welcome back,” he said. “But I know it’s going to be loud. They always are extremely loud when the opposing offense is on the field, and I’m sure it will be just a little bit louder with me out there.”
Palmer comes into the game having thrown for 300 yards or more in three consecutive games for the first time in his career, but the Raiders have lost all three thanks to a defense that has allowed an average of 45 points and 439 yards in those contests.
Palmer leads the AFC with 3,035 passing yards, but he has thrown 11 interceptions, including at least one in the last six games. Among NFL quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts, he ranks 18th in passer rating at 85.8. His replacement, Andy Dalton, is 11th with a 92.7
That, Palmer said, is proof the trade was a success for both sides.
“I’m glad the way it worked out, and I’m glad for the Bengals,” Palmer said. “I’m glad for the players and the fans. They’re a great team going on for the next however many years. They’ve got a great young quarterback, a bunch of really good young players and still some really good veterans and they’re in a great place. I’m excited for the future of them.”
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