San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers knows what it's like to deal with criticism and doubt, he's lived with a lot of it ever since Drew Brees left town for the Saints. Rivers went on XX Sports Radio in San Diego recently, and was asked about new Oakland Raiders QB (and now division rival) Carson Palmer. Make the jump to see what an active quarterback's perspective is on the situation.
Rivers knows what it takes to make it in the NFL, including what happens when a player gets injured. Here are Rivers' thoughts on brining in Palmer even though Campbell may return before the end of the season.
What are your thoughts on the Oakland Raiders trading for Carson Palmer and basically moving on from Jason Campbell so quickly?
"I think that is how it can look on the outside. I think there is a human element to it. I am sure there is a lot of guys in that locker room and that staff up there in Oakland or wherever else it is that when a guy gets hurt and they hate it to happen to Jason Campbell, but along the lines you are saying the ball is going to get kicked off next Sunday and the next Sunday and the next Sunday. You gotta move forward. It doesn't mean a lack of feeling towards the guy, who got injured, but you gotta go. Nobody is going to wait on you or feel sorry for you.
If there's one thing we all know about football, it's that it is a business first. You can sit and feel sorry for yourself or your team, you pick up the pieces and move along, which is exactly what the Raiders had to do and did it.
Rivers now examines the situation from the point of view of Carson Palmer, coming in from your comfortable family life to the had-nosed, living-out-of-a-suitcase lifestyle of the NFL.
As a quarterback put yourself in Carson Palmer's shoes and try to imagine what it would be like to not play and not go to training camp and literally be sitting in your house. Now all of a sudden you are going to compete in the NFL? How do you think that adjustment period goes for Carson Palmer?
"One thing for him is that he has done it for a bunch of years now. I know he didn't have a camp, but I am sure he has been throwing and staying ready. I know that is not the same as practice and being in the game situations, but in a way it may almost be easier for him then all of a sudden then...B-A-M! New team! It's going to happen so fast he is going to just go play. It's going to be as if someone called him for a pickup game and say let's go. You go out there and just let it rip. I imagine he will be just fine. He's done it on a high level and the system they run up in Oakland is the same system for the most part that he ran in Cincinnati and similar from a terminology standpoint to what we run here. I don't imagine it will be too tough for him to get into the swing of things."
I found it interesting that Rivers likened Palmer's situation to a 'pick-up game' that he is offered to play in, because in some regards it sort of is. But if you ask me, Palmer will be more ready than people think, knowing all along that an opportunity like this would probably been afforded to him, wanting to prove wrong the doubters who said he couldn't do it. It might take a game or two, but I expect him to play at a high level, and so does Phillip Rivers.