Q: A little different feel this week in that you're game planning for a team. You've gone into supposed in-season mode so to speak where the set up is a little different?
Carson Palmer: It's been great. It gives you a chance to get a feel of just how organized everything is going to be for the in-season stuff. I've never done it this way before - having a full-on game plan week for a game. It just gives you a chance to get your mind and really your body prepared for what the in-season schedule is going to be, once the season actually hits. It's been really cool to get a feel for when meetings are going to be, how practice is going to be, what time in the day is going to be your time to get your workout in, stretch, whatever it may be. So it's just a good chance for everybody to get acclimated with the way the schedule is going to be in the regular season.
Q: Obviously everybody talks about Ndamukong Suh for Detroit. But what else do they like to do on defense that is going to be a challenge for you?
Carson Palmer: They rush the passer really well. They rush the passer so well with their front four they don't have to bring a lot of exotic blitzes and bring guys from all over the place. They are not a team that brings a ton of different pressure. They really allow their front four to rush the passer. They rely on their front four to rush the passer. So it's a good defense with a very good offense behind it. Their defense is kind of bend-don't-break style where they are going to play a lot of zone coverages and sit back and hope their offense puts up a lot of points and try and contain you, and not give up a lot of points on defense.
Q: Are you making the process you hoped for yourself, since the beginning of OTAs up to now, in terms of this West Coast offense?
Carson Palmer: Yes. You want to get better each week, and see as you prepare for practices; and as you watch practices afterwards, you're improving on certain things. There may be a play you messed up on the second day in the fourth practice that now that we've come back and reinstalled some of those plays, you clean up those decisions that may have been wrong, or your footwork that was wrong, technique-wise. I feel very confident where I am right now, and really where we are as an offense, especially as banged up as we are. We have a lot of young guys playing. But I feel really good where we are right now in training camp.
Q: Do you play a preseason game as you would play a regular season game? What I mean is, would you take a chance in a preseason game thinking, 'I want to see what this guy can do. I wouldn't ordinarily make this throw, but I'm going to make it.'
Carson Palmer: Absolutely. That's what it's for really. Unless you're a young guy who hasn't played and just wanted to get acclimated with the speed of the game. I've been around long enough that's not something I'm trying to do. There's certain things and certain plays that maybe in a game plan for a team that we normally wouldn't be put in, but we want to see if this guy can handle it or we want to see if this guy can run by that guy. There's a ton of different situations where it comes up where you do things in a preseason game that you wouldn't normally do in a regular season game.
Q: Since this is the third week, would it be different this week? Or is it still a preseason game?
Carson Palmer: It's still a preseason game. We are still trying to figure out especially with Jacoby [Ford] being down, DHB [Darrius Heyward-Bey] banged up, and Denarius [Moore]. We've got a lot of young guys playing. Part of it, too, is let's see how they handle being a starter, how they handle being in with the ones, playing against the ones. I know there's going to be a lot on a handful of guys' plates. But it's a good chance to see how they react to the situation.
Q: Obviously talk about the injuries and the fact that it's preseason. Any concerns at all with the offense, especially in the red zone with not having a touchdown yet? Is that a concern at all?
Carson Palmer: Obviously we haven't done what we expected to do. But it is not a concern. We just need to keep working and keep grinding. They'll come. We just need to clean some things up. We've made a handful of mistakes and hurt ourselves, but it's not concerning. It's frustrating because you want to score every time you get the ball. We will continue to work and get better.
Q: It seems like you've left some yards and some points on the field. Is it encouraging to know you're that close to making those plays?
Carson Palmer: Yes. It's encouraging we have moved the ball successfully. And we don't feel like we've played our best. We know we haven't played our best. That's the main thing. It's encouraging to know we've made of bunch of mistakes and we've still moved the ball. But we've been nowhere near where we can be when we are all clicking on the same cylinder and same page. It's just a matter of time. We just need to keep working, keep our heads down, and keep playing.
Q: Center is obviously a key part of the line. What do you think of [Alex] Parsons line calls and things like that?
Carson Palmer: He's done really well, for being a young guy that was probably one of his first couple of games. I'm sure he played a little bit in last year's preseason, but when you're in a huddle with a guy that hasn't played much, and you don't realize he's in the huddle, that's a good thing on the offensive line. We didn't skip a beat with protection calls. We didn't skip a beat in the run game. Everything was kind of flowing and easy. And there weren't any mental mistakes as far as that is concerned. Like I said, when you're in a huddle with a guy, you notice he's a rookie, or he's a guy that hasn't been in the huddle a bunch, that is concerning. But it hasn't been that way at all with Alex. He's been on top of everything.
Q: You hear about receivers building up trust with their quarterback. Have these rookies already done that? Or is still a work in progress? How's that happen?
Carson Palmer: I think it's always a work in progress. You can never be perfect and you continue to work. But I have a ton of trust in those guys. They've made play after play. They are in the right place at the right time. They aren't lining up in different formations with wrong splits or breaking the huddle and running the wrong way, which sometimes happens with young guys. So I have a ton of trust in them and we will continue to work on it as the year goes on.
Q: Rod is going to get his first start. He's got 13 catches already. You have some type of relationship building up with him?
Carson Palmer: Yes. He's been forced in the starting role. Because of injuries, it doesn't seem like he's earned it just because of the injuries, but he can play with the best of them. He's everything you want in a young guy, attitude-wise. He studies, he understands the game. Coming into camp he had a very good feel for the game. But that is a competitive spot. Who knows what's going to happen. He's good enough that he can play pretty much any position on the field. And he's probably good enough to maybe start at some point. But it's been exciting to see his development because he's been a guy that has drastically gotten better. And has not been satisfied one bit. He's always on himself about the little things, the little mistakes he's made. That's been very encouraging.
Q: Do you have any thoughts on the learning curve that the linemen had to climb up with the new blocking scheme? Have you observed anything?
Carson Palmer: I think it's been great. When you go from one style of run game to another style especially a zone-blocking scheme, you would assume that there is going to be a bunch of mistakes and a bunch of guys in wrong gaps or not covering their gaps. But it has really been pretty seamless. And a lot of that is Coach [Frank] Pollack. He's really good at it and has been doing it for so long. He is all over the offensive line. Then you got [offensive coordinator Greg] Knapp in their ears in meetings, holding each guy accountable. A lot of that is the coaching, but a lot of that is leaning on guys who've been in the system before, like Coop [G Cooper Carlisle] who's been in the system before. Mike Brisiel has been in the system before. And those are our two elderly guys that all our younger guys have been leaning on.
