Carson Palmer has been around the NFL for a while. The 35-year-old former USC star is in his 12th season and playing for his third team, the Arizona Cardinals.
But so far, Palmer has been brilliant. When the 49ers travel to Arizona for a Sunday matchup with Palmer’s Cardinals, the San Francisco pass defense – coming off a woeful performance against the Steelers – will be challenged again.
In a 48-23 victory over the Bears this past Sunday, Palmer connected on 17-of-24 throws for 185 yards and four touchdowns. Carson three times hit star wideout Larry Fitzgerald for scores (from 8, 28 and 9 yards), plus he had a 6-yard scoring pass to Jaron Brown.
Through two games, Palmer has the third-highest quarterback rating in the NFL (124.4), with seven TD passes vs. just one interception. He’s averaging 8.79 yards per pass attempt and has yet to be sacked. Fitzgerald, meanwhile, is the league’s fifth-ranked receiver in yards, with 199 on 14 catches – five of those receptions going for 20 or more yards.
After watching the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger combine with wide receiver Antonio Brown this past Sunday on a number of deep throws against his secondary, 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula said Monday that the secondary will work hard this week to plug its leaks and be ready for Palmer.
“We’ve got to make sure they’re not behind us,” Tomsula told reporters. “We’ve got to make plays. We don’t want to give up the big play. I’ve been here for what, nine years? That’s always been what we talk about, what we pride ourselves in. We stop the run and prevent the big play.”
Matt Barrows, who covers the 49ers for the Sacramento Bee, noted Tuesday that young cornerback Kenneth Acker was the defender most burned by Roethlisberger and Brown. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown picked up 120 of his 195 receiving yards when Acker was matched with him.
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Tomsula said pass coverage issues will be acknowledged and cleaned up. But he offered no excuses. He said the 49ers must work this week to get better and bounce back. They opened the season with a solid win against Minnesota, but were shredded by Pittsburgh. Now they can get back in the win column at Arizona.
“We were outplayed,” Tomsula said. “I mean outcoached. I mean, we lost. We lost the football game and all I’m talking about is, own it, fix it and move on.”
