GLENDALE, Ariz. -- So much for the notion that quarterbacks don’t like getting hit, especially in the preseason.
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer wants to get knocked down, tossed around and tackled as much as possible between Saturday and the start of the regular season.
“If your body’s not used to being that kind of sore, because it’s so rare -- it only happens five months a year -- that soreness kinda lingers on through the week for a little bit longer,” Palmer said. “So, I like to get that soreness out of the way before the regular season starts.”
But don’t expect Palmer to tell his tackles, Jared Veldheer and Bobby Massie, to start letting defensive ends come off the edge untouched.
"No, I don't want those guys knowing that," Palmer said with the hint of a smile. “(But if) we miss a block here or there, it’s OK."
Palmer doesn’t have a player or two he’s fears getting hit by most. It’s how he gets hit that concerns him, not by whom. Yet, one player came to mind -- 340-pound defensive tackle Shaun Rogers. He’s currently a free agent but his Twitter handle, @QBComa92, says it all.
“He landed right on my sternum one time,” Palmer said. “You think of not individual players as much as the way they can hit you. When a 400-pound player lands right on your sternum and just crushes you and separates ribs and those kind of things, [those] are the ones you think about, not necessarily individual guys.”
Palmer has been sacked 244 times in his career, including 41 in his first season in Arizona, the most he’s taken in one season. There’s no way to prepare for it, he said, except for getting manhandled.
“You can’t replicate standing up and just getting slammed into and knocked a couple feet in the air then hitting the ground and rolling,” Palmer said. “Your body is not used to it. You can lift weights. There’s a million things you can do but unless you do that, your body is not used to it and just get your muscles used to that soreness ... that type of soreness.”
