It has taken a couple of days for me to be able to put all of my thoughts together, and there will likely be some rambling, but I think this is where I am at.
I've seen a lot of talk about getting rid of Carson Palmer, to that I say stop.
First, the money involved makes it nearly if not literally impossible for the team to upgrade at all other positions. Carson Palmer, for better worse is the Arizona Cardinals starting quarterback for 2016 and probably 2017, deal with it.
Second, we saw how long it took Palmer to figure out how to function in Bruce Arians system. We saw Andrew Luck throw 18 interceptions in his one season in Arians offense. It is a complicated offense, only two players in football are "upgrading" the Cardinals in 2016, Andrew Luck and Ben Roethlisberger, that's it. So just stop with the "Palmer needs to be gone," because financially and talent wise it just can't happen in 2016.
Now what to do with Palmer?
First off, the Arizona Cardinals 2015 were just a watered down version of the 2013 Denver Broncos: Worse at QB, WRs were a push, worse along the OL, maybe better at RB but probably use wise a push. The 2013 Broncos ran into a similar buzzsaw in the 2013 Seahawks and were embarrassed.
What that story tells us is that you can't put all your eggs in the QB basket. You have to have a defense, a running game and ability to hold down the fort when your quarterback is busy throwing up all over himself. Did you know the 2014 Seahawks, in their NFC Championship Game against the Packers withstood a similar performance by Russell Wilson? Wilson threw four interceptions and yet the Seahawks, with a great defense and strong running game, found a way to keep themselves in the game and win.
This notion that the Cardinals can't win a Super Bowl with Palmer is silly. They absolutely can win a Super Bowl with Palmer, they just can't win a Super Bowl because of Carson Palmer. That's not a shot at Palmer, that's the reality of the NFL.
Look at the historically great offenses through time in the NFL, and to be frank the 2015 Arizona Cardinals probably don't even crack the top 25, the '98 Vikings lost in the NFC Championship Game, the Greatest Show on Turf lost in the Super Bowl, the undefeated Patriots lost in the Super Bowl, the '13 Broncos lost in the Super Bowl. It's not a that Carson Palmer can't win a Super Bowl, it's that a passing team with an opportunistic defense that needs to play from ahead can't win a Super Bowl, except for a very few exceptions.
That means a couple of things need to happen, at least in my opinion, to make 2016 and 2017 better.
1. Salary cap be damned, kick that can all the way down the road:
Push all monies, Peterson, Iupati, Palmer, Veldheer, and Campbell down the line and figure out a way to get some of the impact players available in free agency.
2. Splurge on the big names:
Muhammad Wilkerson and Sean Smith are two of the top players at their position and both fill needs the Arizona Cardinals have on their team. Wilkerson is a disruptive interior defender that can help keep Calais Campbell young and not put too much pressure on the young guys to have to be great now.
Smith is that long, lean and fast corner the Arizona Cardinals need. Neither is going to happen with the cap situation as is, and if you want to make sure 2016 ends with red and white confetti, these are the types of moves that need to be made (No I don't think either will happen and yes I'm specifically using the best players to make a point).
3. Forget the future, bet on the now:
We all like to believe that the Cardinals are growing into a team that is a contender year in and year out, but we have no idea. What we do know is that the Cardinals are one of the 5 or 6 franchises that are close, and instead of worrying about 2018 when Palmer is gone and building around a new QB, worry about finishing what you started, because you don't have the one piece that matters in building for the long term, a quarterback.
The point is what the Arizona Cardinals need to do is what the Denver Broncos did in 2014... They need to "Palmer proof" their team.
Again, it's not that you can't win with Carson Palmer, you absolutely can, you just can't ask him to be "the reason" your team wins. Make it so he doesn't have to be perfect in the playoffs, where mistakes are magnified and the pressure is more than anything you can create in the regular season. Create a team that can answer an INT that can force a turnover and make things uncomfortable for the opposition.
The 2015 Arizona Cardinals asked Carson Palmer to be special, and he was a lot of the time, but not when it mattered, if you bring up regular season wins you are missing the point.
And to be fair to Carson Palmer, we should have seen it coming. Against playoff teams in the regular season Palmer threw seven interceptions in only six games. In the other 10 regular season games he threw four.
It's not that he won't throw touchdowns still, he will because this offense is built around him doing so, but he also makes more mistakes.
Add in the Green Bay game and we get nine interceptions in seven games before we even look at the Carolina game.
Against better competition, Palmer made more mistakes. That's not a surprise, the competition is ramped up, but to see that it is nearly double? That was admittedly surprising.
What's the answer to all of this? I don't know, it's not really on me to figure it out, but I do know I'd try like hell to make these next two years the one that gives this team and this town a Super Bowl, while Larry, Calais, and Carson are still around, because let's be honest, we have no idea what the future holds.