Late in the fourth Bengals possession, Carson Palmer was pulled after a noticeable limp turned out to be an ankle sprain. This comes after his elbow, nose, knee (twice) have all suffered some damage in his NFL career. There's no doubt that quarterbacks take some of the most vicious hits, standing upright in the pocket, unable to brace themselves for impact. Quarterbacks can only withstand so much punishment before they break down. And you have to wonder that if Friday night's game was a regular season game if he would have just toughed it out anyway.
As a result, I ask you this. Do you find yourself getting more concerned each time Palmer is hit, wondering if he'll pop up for the next snap? More so than normal, anyway?
As of now, there's no word if Palmer will play Thursday night against the New England Patriots. He's wearing a boot on what they're calling a "high ankle sprain", to keep the swelling down. Palmer wants to play, saying "It's early in preseason. It's still early in training camp. I want to work. I've got a lot of work to do and I don't [want] to miss any time. We’ll see."
On one hand, we have to go back into protect-Palmer-by-not-playing-him mode, to get back to 100%. However, If you think that Palmer is rusty, I'd agree partially; the deep pass doesn't have that touch we're accustomed to seeing. However of the "19 snaps he took, 11 were passes [where] he connected with six different receivers."
Should Palmer play Thursday night? Or would you rest him?