Why does Carson Palmer get so much heat when it comes to if he’s an elite passer in the NFL, when greats in the past have not even come close to the 4,000 yard mark once, and they had more weapons around them.
Of course when we get to this age of the passing attack, 4,000 is still a great number to accomplish. Going back a decade to 2004, there has been no more than 10 quarterbacks per season that have eclipse this number of yards passing in a season.
Peyton Manning is the leader of the bunch with 12 of his 17 years throwing over 4,000 yards. One could argue that Drew Brees is the best quarterback to ever play the game, if its based on yards per season than he would have a great case, as he has hit the 4,000 yard mark 8 times but half of those years were 5,000 yard seasons. The great Tom Brady has reached the mark six times and one of those was for 5,000.
This is not a comparison to those three players as superstar status, because all three of them have eclipsed the 5,000 yard mark and are on a whole different level, but lets see how Carson palmer’s 4,000 yard passing seasons stack up to even the future Hall-of-Famers.
Palmer has passed for 4,000 yards four times in 13 years, 2005 he missed it with 3800, 2010 he was only 30 yards away from the feat with 3,970. That makes for two more seasons he has been very close, Palmer has also been in the top ten in passing yards six times since 2004. Needless to say that passing consistently for 4,000 yards a season can most certainly not go overlooked regardless if it’s a winning team or not. Judging from the past and present prolific passers, this accomplishment is not that easy to reach. Yes, Palmers recent interception to touchdown ratio leaves much to be desired, but interceptions still don’t take away from the final tally of passing yards at seasons end. It is also evident that Palmer has had lesser talent around him and average offensive lines to protect him than any of the fore mentioned names, so with these numbers by comparison, elite or not elite that is the question.
The jury is still out on Palmer, as he has a few more years left to rack up a few more successful passing seasons, especially being another year in the current system where he is more confident in the talent level surrounding him. Having so many skilled weapons and an improved offensive line he may just accomplish his first 5,000 yard feat of his career, perhaps his few final years his yards can be combined with being on a playoff team and that would surely close the questionable elite gap.
For those critics that never give the credit where its due, the numbers will never lie and when you think of the great prolific passers that sling the rock all over the field consistently, you can’t complete that list without mentioning Carson Palmer’s name amongst the best.
