On Sunday, Chris Mortensen demanded a trade. Monday morning, we reacted to it, with the smelly suspicion that we're dealing with an Area 51-sized conspiracy theory. Bengals owner and older cousin to one of the Libyans on Back to the Future said that the Bengals are not trading Carson Palmer and are not even fielding offers.
Palmer's agent, David Dunn, released a statement on behalf of Carson, arguing that a mutual split would be in the best interests of both sides.
"Carson met with Bengals owner Mike Brown recently. They both expressed profound disappointment in how the team fared last season, and in how it has generally performed during Carson's tenure with the team. Because of the lack of success that Carson and the Bengals have experienced together, Carson strongly feels that a separation between him and the Bengals would be in the best interest of both parties. Carson could no respect the Brown family any more than he does or be more appreciative of what the Browns have done for him and his wife Shaelyn and his family."
Perhaps less interceptions would have helped. Or maybe more third down conversions. But we're not into the blame game here.