The Arizona Cardinals had some of the worst quarterback play the NFL has ever seen in 2012 after splitting time between Kevin Kolb, Ryan Lindley and John Skelton and after hiring Bruce Arians as coach, the offense will have a new look and a new starter in Carson Palmer.
The team was absolutely awful passing the ball last year and Larry Fitzgerald suffered greatly for it, posting some of the worst numbers of his career with 71 catches for 798 yards and four touchdowns and now that Palmer is in the fold, the star is ready to become super again. Palmer put up solid numbers while with the Raiders last season, but that was mostly becasuse they had no running game and the team played from behind so often that he threw the ball way more than he handed it off.
Palmer has had a tough few years since leaving the Bengals, but now he can be the savvy vet in Arizona like Kurt Warner was and while a Super Bowl is far off, the playoffs aren't out of the question if the team can score like they are capable. The running game was even worse last season than the passing and after drafting Stepfan Taylor and Andre Ellington in the draft, the team is ready to improve from the paltry 75 yards per game they had while dealing with injuries to players like Ryan Williams.
Palmer said that new offense from Arians will be fun to get into and the team is expecting improvements on the offensive line after taking Jonathan Cooper with their first round pick and that should open things up for Fitzgerald as well as fellow wideout Michael Floyd. The team went just 5-11 and looked awful in spots last year, but with Palmer in the fold the team should be much better all around.
Patrick Peterson is an electric return man and cornerback and now he may play some wide reciever this season after lining up in some sets in camp. Arians loves his speed and hopes to use it along with Fitzgerald and he compared his speed to Percy Harvin. John Abraham will give a boost to the defense after he signed and the team needs to be much better after ranking 28th in the league in rushing yards allowed per game.
"[Arians] is not sitting in the film room and saying my five-step drop was too shallow here or too deep there," Palmer said. "He's all about eyes and where the ball is coming out. That is the first time I've had that. To see it through his eyes and see what he expects and see what he thinks is something that takes time to get used to. It's phenomenal for me."