Guestblog: The Pressure of Being Palmer (or Bratkowski)

Guestblog! I was tempted to tag this one "Bradleyblog," as he is becoming more and more of a regular contributor thanks to his passion for local sports (which, outside of love for the Cyclones, I have a hard time brimming over with). Thank you Bradley!

I saw this juicy little piece of graph show up in my feed reader the other day, and couldn't help but share.

Now, it goes without saying that anything a sports writer says is based on the assumption that big players stay healthy, that nobody dies unexpectedly, or nobody gets arrested outside of a night club. No matter how much hype is put into a team, they can always fall apart worse than the Blues Brothers' car.

So with all the excitement of the draft picking up several key players, and having filled any major holes with the free agency, the Bengals-- like all teams-- move on to "phase two" of the off-season: cutting the fat. Off-season workouts and minicamps will start springing up like wildflowers, which means evaluating who's put in the starting position, and who gets a less-fortunate, uh... re-adventure.

So why the graph is so interesting, is that we're hearing from some two thousand people what their concerns are for who's been put under the microscope. This is a big deal, people, because football teams work like clocks, and if one gear doesn't work, well, we're off by another year.

So I'd like to just take a look at the two most important parts of the chart: Carson Palmer and Bob Bratkowski (our starting quarterback and offensive coordinator, respectively). Both have come under fire the past few years for their inability to perform at a level that the fans and the team expect. Palmer, however, faces the challenges of injuries and an equally struggling offensive line to keep him safe from sacks throughout the season. With the lack of a solid tight-end as well, he fought hard to make plays with this receivers under enormous pressure from the opposing pass-rush.

Basically, being a quarterback.

So when you cross-reference a few facts, you start to realize why Palmer is under the kind of pressure he is. First of all, he gets paid a lot. A lot. And for the kind of stats he's put up the last few seasons, the fans are expecting one hell of a bounce-back. As well, Palmer is injury prone: fighting off multiple kinds of injuries with varying severity. That kind of thing can jar a QB mentally, forcing him to get rid of the ball prematurely out of fear of being tackled-- and breaking a very important role of the quarterback: staying cool in the pocket.

Thirdly, Carson's not getting any younger. And even if he was-- which would be strangely unsettling-- I'm not sure it could launch him into the "elite" status he should have. We have to face that Palmer will soon be starting to wrap up his career as injuries take hold and age sets in. So, pressure? This guy could cook a pot-roast with the pressure he's facing.

However, has put himself in a stranger place than ever in terms of pressure. For the first time since I started enjoying football, Carson is starting a season without coming off of a major surgery, a playoff run that resulted in the Bengals shattering expectations. He's got a Ukrainian arms deal worth of weapons at his disposal, an established running game to rely on, Chad Ochocinco catching everything in his zip code, and a young group of players eager to win. With this kind of team, Palmer is facing the pressure of having to have an amazing season.

As for that little bratwurst.

Now current football theory goes something along the lines that a football team should have an established run game that can provide sufficient yardage, and a viable threat to the opposing team throughout the whole game. Once you can prove your running game is a threat, that provides the option to hit your opposing D with a multidimensional offensive plan, including a passing game. From there, "fake runs" that are actually passes, or "play action" plays can be used as the defense is still trying to cover against the run.

Or, if you're Bob Bratkowski, ignore your QB and receiving corp, don't even acknowledge the tight-end, and run the ball on every play. Establish your running game several times, and don't let up on ground attack.

Okay, so maybe I'm taking a few unfair shots at Brat, because of how bad our offense was last year-- putting up a pretty awful passing game, placing the bulk of the weight on our running back Cedric Benson. But my exaggeration comes from a place of truth. We ran the ball a lot last year,* but it never seemed to materialize into a better passing game.

*We had the second-highest running play average, behind the New York Jets.

I can't imagine how much trouble we would have been in if Benson had a more severe injury in the '09 season. Or if we would have lost key run-blockers. My point is, Bratkowski put us in a great offensive position to win several years go. We were starting to conquer our opponents with a two-headed beast of passes and runs: one complementing the other. But the past few seasons, Kowasaki has run our plans into the ground. Literally?

He's put himself in the hot seat-- one I feel is hotter than Palmer's-- for the pressure he's taking. Bengals fans hate him for not opening up our offensive to at least what it was. And more importantly, for coming under fire about play-calling. What makes it worse is that with Mike Zimmer (our defensive coordinator) as a shining example of perfection, it's hard not to notice where the Bengals are starting to falter.

But where I draw the biggest difference between 'Kowski and Palmer, is that Palmer has the Bengals Nation behind him. Coaches and players don't stay with teams in the same way, in that coaches have a much smaller room for error in terms of performance and production. With Palmer-- before putting any fault on him-- you first have to look at the strength of the offensive line, the strength of the opposing defense, and the overall climate of the game.

You see my point? Palmer has more room for error, while Bratkowski has to see immediate results in order to keep his position wearing black and orange. When you've spent as much money on Palmer as we have, and when half of Cincinnati is wearing his jersey, and when his name is synonymous with the Queen city, it's much easier to fire somebody everyone already hates, than to cut to a crowd favorite.