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http://mmqb.si.com/2015/06/15/carson-palmer-arizona-cardinals-mike-tannenbaum-miami-dolphins-nfl/
Matt York/AP
Unfinished Business
After a 9-1 start in 2014, the Cardinals limped to a weak finish after losing Carson Palmer to an ACL injury. Will the now healthy QB pick up where he left off? Plus, Mike Tannenbaum's second chance, inside HBO's new football show and more
By Jenny Vrentas
The most important knee in Phoenix will be resting in Lake Tahoe today. Not by choice, though. Carson Palmer hasn’t taken a vacation since he had surgery to repair the ACL in his left knee Nov. 18—and he wasn’t planning on taking this one.
“I’m being forced to do nothing,” he said by phone Thursday, the morning after Cardinals coach Bruce Arians ended the team’s mandatory minicamp a day early to reward his players for their work this spring. “I’m being forced to get away from my house, where I have a gym to train, so that I actually have to take a day off. The trainers and doctors are saying it will do way more for me than spending this first week back grinding hard.”
Right before we spoke, Palmer had received a text from a member of the Cardinals’ athletic training staff reminding him again of the mandate: During the first week of summer vacation, he’s only allowed to do a daily swim workout, and no other training.
But first, I wanted to start with an update from Arizona, where some news that could have a huge impact on the 2015 season happened somewhat quietly last week: the Cardinals’ 35-year-old quarterback, whose team was 9-1 when he tore his ACL Nov. 9 against the Rams, was full-go on the practice field in 11-on-11 team drills exactly seven months later. That’s a faster recovery than Sam Bradford, 27, who tore his ACL in August, and the Rams’ 20-year-old running back, Todd Gurley, who also had surgery in November but hasn’t yet returned to practice. (The Cardinals were one of seven teams who held their veteran minicamp last week; the rest of the league, except the Rams, will hold it this week).
Did Palmer surprise even himself with how quickly he’s returned? “No,” he says definitively. “I really didn’t. This was my goal.”
Palmer previously tore the ACL in the same knee in a much more extensive injury in 2006, so his experience guided him throughthe tedious process of not only retraining his body to walk, jump, etc., but also re-learning the precise footwork the quarterback position relies on. For instance, he started walking through three-, five- and seven-step drops at the beginning of March. Then, he moved steadily faster: At 30 percent speed, 60 percent, 80, 90, up to full speed. Next, he rehearsed sliding in the pocket and avoiding the defender. Each step of the process, he said, was weeks long.
Confident players often say they’ll return better than they were before the injury, but in Palmer’s case, there is a tangible improvement he believes he’s making. Since he had to retrain his body anyway, he used the time to correct a flaw in his throwing mechanics–a bad habit he slipped into last season. He noticed on film that when he was working through reads on the left side of the field, as he was getting his eyes and his body to his second, third and fourth reads, he was putting his weight in his heels and leaning back, instead of staying on the balls of his feet. When that happens, he explains, your body naturally falls that direction. He saw on film that he was drifting to his left in the pocket, sliding into the left tackle and throwing off-balance.
“Going back to the foundation and starting from the ground up has paid dividends for me, mechanically,” Palmer says. “I’ve gotten back to the basics, some of the things I was really good at as a younger quarterback, and may have not spent enough time on over the years. It’s something you don’t typically do in the offseason.
“It will help my completion percentage, it will help with my accuracy and it will also help us as a unit, because I won’t be making my left tackle’s job as difficult. In turn, I’ll be able to step into more throws. As I’m getting to my second and third and fourth read, I’m holding onto the ball a little bit longer and that pocket is getting slowly smaller, so it will give me more room to work with inside the pocket because I will be more centrally located.”
He worked on this in some capacity, he says, each day for the past five months. During minicamp, there was a play that encouraged him about where he’s at physically—he went through 90 percent of his throwing motion, but then had to pull the ball back down to reload and get to his second read. He stepped to avoid a pass rush, and was still able to make an on-balance throw.
Successful rehabs depend on details, but Palmer took it to the extreme. One example: he got blood drawn every six weeks, the kind of extensive bloodwork boxers do before big fights. “The lady at the blood lab was arguing with me,” Palmer says, “telling me she’s never seen this much blood be taken from somebody.” The tests showed some deficiencies in vitamins that promote healing and tissue regeneration, so Palmer started taking a special pack of vitamins three times a day.
The Cardinals looked like a Super Bowl contender early last year, and Palmer signed a $50 million extension in November. But just a few days later, after his season-ending injury, he expressed uncertainty about his place on the team, saying he just hoped he was part of the equation moving forward. “I knew I wanted to be back and play for this organization, but you don’t get to control that,” he says now. “If we had gone on and won a Super Bowl with Ryan Lindley, I probably wouldn’t be back here.”
Instead, the Cardinals’ season veered off course without him. Palmer was 6-0 in games he started in 2014, but after backup Drew Stanton was also injured in December, the Cardinals lost their final three games—including a first-round playoff loss in which they managed just 78 yards of offense with Lindley at quarterback.
“[It’s] as big of a feeling of unfinished business as you could have,” Palmer says. “That’s the main thing. We were 9-1, and things ended for me, and we just didn’t finish the year strong, and it left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths—no more than mine.”
That’s why Palmer didn’t stop for vacation. After his mandated Tahoe trip, he’ll get back to work: physical therapy one day a week, and throwing three days a week. Some of his receivers and tight ends will join him in Southern California—including promising second-year receiver John Brown—to put in extra reps before camp.
Palmer’s first goal for 2015 was to be ready for mini-camp. Check. You can guess what his last goal is. At age 35, and coming off his second knee surgery, the No. 1 overall pick in 2003 is actively aware of the fact that his window to win a championship is closing.
“I think about that all the time. Absolutely,” Palmer says. “You only get so many shots. I’m hoping this is lucky No. 13. I believe it is. It is another thing, though, to go out and prove it.”
*******************************************************
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/06/15/carson-palmer-arizona-cardinals-mike-tannenbaum-miami-dolphins-nfl/
Matt York/AP
Unfinished Business
After a 9-1 start in 2014, the Cardinals limped to a weak finish after losing Carson Palmer to an ACL injury. Will the now healthy QB pick up where he left off? Plus, Mike Tannenbaum's second chance, inside HBO's new football show and more
By Jenny Vrentas
The most important knee in Phoenix will be resting in Lake Tahoe today. Not by choice, though. Carson Palmer hasn’t taken a vacation since he had surgery to repair the ACL in his left knee Nov. 18—and he wasn’t planning on taking this one.
“I’m being forced to do nothing,” he said by phone Thursday, the morning after Cardinals coach Bruce Arians ended the team’s mandatory minicamp a day early to reward his players for their work this spring. “I’m being forced to get away from my house, where I have a gym to train, so that I actually have to take a day off. The trainers and doctors are saying it will do way more for me than spending this first week back grinding hard.”
Right before we spoke, Palmer had received a text from a member of the Cardinals’ athletic training staff reminding him again of the mandate: During the first week of summer vacation, he’s only allowed to do a daily swim workout, and no other training.
But first, I wanted to start with an update from Arizona, where some news that could have a huge impact on the 2015 season happened somewhat quietly last week: the Cardinals’ 35-year-old quarterback, whose team was 9-1 when he tore his ACL Nov. 9 against the Rams, was full-go on the practice field in 11-on-11 team drills exactly seven months later. That’s a faster recovery than Sam Bradford, 27, who tore his ACL in August, and the Rams’ 20-year-old running back, Todd Gurley, who also had surgery in November but hasn’t yet returned to practice. (The Cardinals were one of seven teams who held their veteran minicamp last week; the rest of the league, except the Rams, will hold it this week).
Did Palmer surprise even himself with how quickly he’s returned? “No,” he says definitively. “I really didn’t. This was my goal.”
Palmer previously tore the ACL in the same knee in a much more extensive injury in 2006, so his experience guided him throughthe tedious process of not only retraining his body to walk, jump, etc., but also re-learning the precise footwork the quarterback position relies on. For instance, he started walking through three-, five- and seven-step drops at the beginning of March. Then, he moved steadily faster: At 30 percent speed, 60 percent, 80, 90, up to full speed. Next, he rehearsed sliding in the pocket and avoiding the defender. Each step of the process, he said, was weeks long.
Confident players often say they’ll return better than they were before the injury, but in Palmer’s case, there is a tangible improvement he believes he’s making. Since he had to retrain his body anyway, he used the time to correct a flaw in his throwing mechanics–a bad habit he slipped into last season. He noticed on film that when he was working through reads on the left side of the field, as he was getting his eyes and his body to his second, third and fourth reads, he was putting his weight in his heels and leaning back, instead of staying on the balls of his feet. When that happens, he explains, your body naturally falls that direction. He saw on film that he was drifting to his left in the pocket, sliding into the left tackle and throwing off-balance.
“Going back to the foundation and starting from the ground up has paid dividends for me, mechanically,” Palmer says. “I’ve gotten back to the basics, some of the things I was really good at as a younger quarterback, and may have not spent enough time on over the years. It’s something you don’t typically do in the offseason.
“It will help my completion percentage, it will help with my accuracy and it will also help us as a unit, because I won’t be making my left tackle’s job as difficult. In turn, I’ll be able to step into more throws. As I’m getting to my second and third and fourth read, I’m holding onto the ball a little bit longer and that pocket is getting slowly smaller, so it will give me more room to work with inside the pocket because I will be more centrally located.”
He worked on this in some capacity, he says, each day for the past five months. During minicamp, there was a play that encouraged him about where he’s at physically—he went through 90 percent of his throwing motion, but then had to pull the ball back down to reload and get to his second read. He stepped to avoid a pass rush, and was still able to make an on-balance throw.
Successful rehabs depend on details, but Palmer took it to the extreme. One example: he got blood drawn every six weeks, the kind of extensive bloodwork boxers do before big fights. “The lady at the blood lab was arguing with me,” Palmer says, “telling me she’s never seen this much blood be taken from somebody.” The tests showed some deficiencies in vitamins that promote healing and tissue regeneration, so Palmer started taking a special pack of vitamins three times a day.
The Cardinals looked like a Super Bowl contender early last year, and Palmer signed a $50 million extension in November. But just a few days later, after his season-ending injury, he expressed uncertainty about his place on the team, saying he just hoped he was part of the equation moving forward. “I knew I wanted to be back and play for this organization, but you don’t get to control that,” he says now. “If we had gone on and won a Super Bowl with Ryan Lindley, I probably wouldn’t be back here.”
Instead, the Cardinals’ season veered off course without him. Palmer was 6-0 in games he started in 2014, but after backup Drew Stanton was also injured in December, the Cardinals lost their final three games—including a first-round playoff loss in which they managed just 78 yards of offense with Lindley at quarterback.
“[It’s] as big of a feeling of unfinished business as you could have,” Palmer says. “That’s the main thing. We were 9-1, and things ended for me, and we just didn’t finish the year strong, and it left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths—no more than mine.”
That’s why Palmer didn’t stop for vacation. After his mandated Tahoe trip, he’ll get back to work: physical therapy one day a week, and throwing three days a week. Some of his receivers and tight ends will join him in Southern California—including promising second-year receiver John Brown—to put in extra reps before camp.
Palmer’s first goal for 2015 was to be ready for mini-camp. Check. You can guess what his last goal is. At age 35, and coming off his second knee surgery, the No. 1 overall pick in 2003 is actively aware of the fact that his window to win a championship is closing.
“I think about that all the time. Absolutely,” Palmer says. “You only get so many shots. I’m hoping this is lucky No. 13. I believe it is. It is another thing, though, to go out and prove it.”
