The Bengals decided to scrimp on the backup QB in 2008 and they paid for it when Carson Palmer went down with a elbow injury.  29-year old Carson Palmer only played in 4 games (all starts) last season before shutting it down.  He completed 75 of 129 passes (58.1%) for 731 yards with 3 TD passes and 4 interceptions (69.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 6 times for 38 yards (6.3 ypc).  Palmer has now played in 65 games (all starts) in his career with the Bengals and he has completed 1,380 of 2,165 passes (63.7%) for 15,630 yards with 107 TD passes and 67 interceptions (88.9 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 108 times for 173 yards (1.6 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  The Bengals’ offense goes as Palmer does so it was no surprise the team had trouble scoring when he was out.

26-year old Ryan Fitzpatrick was the guy thrown into the fire when Carson Palmer went down and he didn’t play too well.  Fitzpatrick played in 13 games (12 starts) for the Bengals last season and he completed 221 of 372 passes (59.4%) for 1,905 yards with 8 TD passes and 9 interceptions (70.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 60 times for 304 yards (5.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  Fitzgerald has now played in 19 games (15 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 297 of 507 passes (58.6%) for 2,682 yards with 12 TD passes and 17 interceptions (66.9 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 77 times for 368 yards (4.8 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  The Bengals would be better off signing someone like Jon Kitna to back up Carson Palmer next season.

Carson Palmer’s younger brother Jordan (24 years old) was the #3 QB for the Bengals last season.  He played in 3 games (0 starts) last season and he completed 7 of 12 passes (58.3%) for 41 yards with 0 TD passes and 2 interceptions (25.3 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 1 time for 4 yards.  It will be interesting to see if the Bengals keep the younger Palmer around in 2009.