[Stardust]

Quarterbacks
Who’s back: Starter Carson Palmer and backup Jordan Palmer.
Who’s new: J.T. O’Sullivan was signed as a backup.
Who’s gone: Ryan Fitzpatrick, who started 12 games last year when Carson was injured, signed with Buffalo.

Looking back: Carson Palmer was limited to four starts due to an elbow injury that did not require surgery. He had started 51 straight games before missing the Week 4 loss to Cleveland. For the season, he completed 75 of 129 for 673 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions. He performed well in losses to the Giants and Cowboys, but the injury shut him down for the rest of the season. Fitzpatrick was 221 of 372 for 1,905 yards with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. He was 4-7-1 was a starter. Jordan Palmer saw spot duty and was 7 of 12 for 41 yards with two interceptions.

Four Downs
Palmer’s health: Palmer says the elbow is 100 percent. It better be because as Palmer goes, so goes the Bengals. During OTAs and minicamp, the receivers said that the passes from Palmer had the old velocity and zip. As the offseason drills went on, the long passes looked more consistent and crisper too. Palmer will be on a pitch count during training camp, and will not throw more than 150 passes a day.
Getting to know you: Outside of Chad Ochocinco, Palmer got extensive work during the offseason with essentially a new cast of receivers. He did not work much with Andre Caldwell and Jerome Simpson last year, Chris Henry did not return until late August (and then served a four-game NFL suspension) while Laveranues Coles signed as a free agent. Palmer has built a good rapport with his receivers which should progress during training camp while Ochocinco’s early arrival during OTAs also helped.

Revamping the playbook: Offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski got plenty of input from Palmer when it
J.T. O'Sullivan came to tweaking the offense. While most of it has been centered on more emphasis to the running game, still expect to see plenty of three-receiver sets and Palmer airing it out.

What of the backups? O’Sullivan started eight games for the Niners last year and is with his ninth team in eight seasons. San Francisco were 2-6 in games started by O’Sullivan and has a penchant of holding on to the ball longer than Fitzpatrick, which is not good. In those eight starts, he was sacked 32 times.

An Outsiders view
Robert Weintraub of Football Outsiders assesses the Bengals QBs: “The health of the franchise elbow will obviously be a determining factor in 2009. … The optimist will point to Palmer’s startling comeback from a devastating knee injury in the 2005 playoffs to throw for more than 4,000 yards in 2006. The pessimist will note that this new injury is to his throwing wing, his wide receiver weaponry is no longer state of the art, and the offensive line is hardly 2006 vintage. Hard as it is to believe, O’Sullivan is a step down in class from Fitz. He actually was dead last among QBs with at least 100 attempts last year in DVOA, our FO metric. He isn’t the running threat Ryan is either, an important consideration if the line doesn’t come together. He has a little bigger arm, but for a team with a QB coming off a bad injury and a disastrous backup last year, you’d think they’d put more into the backup. Let’s all join hands and pray for Carson’s health