That WR Larry Fitzgerald and QB Carson Palmer were connecting Wednesday at Fitzgerald's annual summer workouts at the University of Minnesota is a sign that, at least philosophically, the Cardinals' greatest star and most important offseason acquisition are on the same page.
"Look, this is a big year for me, coming off my worst season as a pro," Fitzgerald told USA TODAY Sports. "I know Carson wants to play well this year. This is a huge year, and we're leaning on each other. It's simple as that. I need him as bad as anybody, and I'm going to go out there and give everything I can for him."
"It's great. (Fitzgerald) runs the show," Palmer said. "He's got all these guys dialed in. They're all following him, working behind him, watching him do it, and there's no better guy to watch do it. It's been great, just being a quarterback and having a player of his caliber makes life easier."
The payoff hopefully is increased chemistry and a firmer grasp on the team's new offense — "Coach Arians' baby," as Fitzgerald calls it — which features more formations, route adjustments and hot reads than Palmer is accustomed to using.
"That's the goal," Palmer said, "is to come into training camp and be ready, not have a day or two where you're kind of getting back into the swing of things and try to get rhythm and timing down. It's just a good chance to work some of the kinks out and talk about plays, talk about angles of routes and clean some of those things up."
Fitzgerald had a season to forget (71-798-4) thanks to terrible QB play and regular double- or triple-coverage. Even the mediocre Carson Palmer should be a huge upgrade at QB. New HC Bruce Arians is a good offensive mind, so Fitzgerald should bounce back in 2013. It's great to see that Fitzgerald and Palmer are hooking up this summer for some preseason practice. Palmer should be a nice QB2 available in the later rounds. He has a nice receiving corps and is playing for a good offensive mind in HC Bruce Arians.
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