In the Hall of Fame game against Dallas the Bengals back up quarterbacks showed a very weak link in the Bengals roster. They have no solid back up for Carson Palmer and if he gets hurt the Bengals will have no chance at making it to the playoffs.
I've been waiting for the Bengals to draft a solid quarterback that may have slipped into the later rounds of the draft but had great potential to back up Palmer. Unfortunately they have failed to do so and the best back up they have is the starting quarterbacks little brother.
J.T O'Sullivan was unable to get anything started and went three and out each time he was in the game. The Bengals pulled him after the first half to see what Jordan Palmer could do.
I've said it before that Jordan Palmer is all of Carson's mistakes and none of his highlights but he looked more like a back up then O' Sullivan. He too had trouble getting drives started, he threw interceptions, and he over threw his targets. Yet he progressed throughout the game.
A Jordan Shipley punt return set up a Jordan Palmer touchdown pass. Palmer avoided pressure to throw the pass to the back of the end zone for the six points. Had he played that way all game the Bengals would have won.
Still the offensive line needs to keep Palmer very well protected if they want to win the division for the second straight year. There is no chance that O' Sullivan or Jordan Palmer will step in and win games if Carson goes down.
Next season a quarterback needs to be on their to do list whether in free agency or in the draft. Palmer has been injured before and its not impossible. As a fan all we can do is hope that the Steelers don't decide to cheap shot our quarterback again and have faith Palmer can get out of bad situations.
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