[More Cowbell]

Well I agree that the offensive line doesn't help anything, but his stats don't lie. The O-line wasn't much different if at all in 2006, the year after his ACL tear. Here are his stats from 2005-present.

In 2005 he had a QB rating of 101.1. 2006 it was 93.9, 07 86.7, and in 4 games this year its at a whopping 69.0. There is a steady decline.

His INT rate has gone up from 12 in 05 to 20 in 07. Now before you blame the offensive line for last year, here is an interesting stat. Carson was sacked 19 times in 05 and only 17 times in 07. Now, who do you blame here?

I still stand by my statement that Carson Palmer is not the QB he was in 2005, and a change needs to be made. Heck, at least Fitzpatrick throws it to Chad Johnson every once in a while. That's more than can be said about Carson.

See, to me the decline in Carson's stats can be directly correlated with the decreasing effectiveness of the O-line. In 2005, the playoff year, he played behind a relatively stable line that included a healthy Levi Jones, Eric Steinbach, Rich Braham, and Willie Anderson. That was a GREAT line, one of the best in the league. But since that year, the line was devastated by injuries, defections, and old age.

Start off with the retirement of Rich Braham. He was an underrated center, and since he called it quits Carson has had to deal with such all-stars as Eric Ghuiciac and Alex Stepanovich. Ghuiciac seems to be getting worse every year, as this season it seems he gets blown backward as soon as he snaps the ball on every play.

Then, you had injuries to both Levi Jones and Big Willie. Jones is playing this year but is nowhere near what he used to be and gets routinely beat by speed rushers. Anderson had injuries rob him of his effectiveness as well, to the point where the team felt Stacy Andrews would be an improvement (he hasn't).

Plus, don't forget that the team let Eric Steinbach walk after the 06 season as a free agent. So now, instead of the foursome I mentioned earlier, you have a line consisting of Andrew Whitworth, Eric Ghuiciac, Stacy Andrews, and a lesser version of Levi Jones. The once-great O-line is now only a shell of what it was 3 years ago.