http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-tom-brady9-2009aug09,0,1673970.story

He isn't saying anything that Bungs observers didn't pick up on just from watching him play, but it is interesting to hear his comments about it. I didn't think he owould ever admit that it affected his play so much.



--But Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, who in early 2006 suffered a remarkably similar knee injury, said the psychological effects linger even now.


"The biggest part was the mental block of the confidence of following though on your throws," said Palmer, who, like Brady, suffered tears of the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee.

"Still to this day I'm trying to get over this mental block. There's just somebody somewhere near you -- because your eyes are so focused downfield and you're looking at five different things in one play -- that there's somebody two yards away from you, two inches away from you, eight yards away from you, and you feel that."

What's more, Palmer said, it's very easy for bad things to happen to your passes if you fail to complete your throwing motion.

"It's just something where you've got to go out on a limb and just say, 'I'm going to step through every throw,' " he said, speaking last month at the NFL 101 event in Los Angeles. "Because what happens is the ball starts sailing on you, balls start dying, interceptions happen, tipped balls happen, and your completion percentage drastically goes down."--

A few more comments from Palmer and some from Brady and Belichick too. A pretty good read. Makes you wonder if Palmer just lacks that competitive edge to become elite. Not knocking the guy, good guy, says the right things, all the physical gifts a QB could ask for. Some guys just don't have that win-at-any-cost mentality. Not saying he doesn't, but I am not convinced of it.


"We do do, and we do it at a very, very high level," Lewis said.

Also, interesting that he said you just have to go out on a limb and step through every throw.

I guess with the piece meal lines he has been playing behind, he really does feel like every throw he is taking a chance. Sad, maybe it's impossible to have that kind of competitive drive playing for this organization when you know your efforts are likely futile anyway.

"We do do, and we do it at a very, very high level," Lewis said.

I think I noticed that in Palmer early last year CIN-C. He looked like he was throwing with his arm only much of the time, and not stepping into it. That made his throws get to the receivers just a hair late and that was sometimes enough to cause either an incompletion or an interception. He needs to regain confidence in the O-Line so he can step up and let it loose without worrying about his front leg.

...."I think I noticed that in Palmer early last year CIN-C. He looked like he was throwing with his arm only much of the time, and not stepping into it. That made his throws get to the receivers just a hair late and that was sometimes enough to cause either an incompletion or an interception. He needs to regain confidence in the O-Line so he can step up and let it loose without worrying about his front leg."


It might be easy to do that if he didn't have to deal with the fact that:

a) his current center was an undrafted hack who couldn't beat out Ghiachek

b)his left guard was an undrafted hack who is only starting cause they had to move their left guard to left tackle

c)his left tackle is a guard

d)his right guard is a good but aging vet

e) his right tackle is sitiing on the couch gaining weight as we speak

Good fuggin luck

THANKS MIKEY

Be easy Dacow, I hear they added some depth to the guard position.

...I forgot, they got Jason Shirley!!!! I remember his video from spring drills last year. What footwork!!!! If I were Carson, I'd be relieved with that move.