Carson Palmer Guys Quotations

I take a lot of heat because guys say, 'You're lucky you don't have to run today,' but when you're in the position I'm in and you're hurt that's when you want to be running. I wish I could be out there running. It's like that for everyone in the season. When (tight end) Reggie (Kelly) broke his hand last year, he was standing on the sideline and some people were jealous of him, but there's nothing more he'd rather been doing than practicing.

We realize our offense got a lot of guys back, and we've done a lot of things to improve our defense, ... We were 8-8 last year. We need to step up from there. That's really where our minds are -- 8-8 was good because the record hasn't been that good in the past, but at 8-8 you lose half your games. That's nothing to write home about, nothing to be proud of. We're definitely expecting to take drastic steps from last year into this year.

That's why we're 2-0 right now. It's created tons of points and taken points away from teams. We need to keep doing that. It's going to be tough for us because we've got some amazing numbers. We've got one guy with three picks and three guys with a pick in one game, that's a huge bonus for us offensively and defensively.

I don't know how bad it was and how bad it can get, but just from hearing stories from guys and hearing the excitement that guys have about this season, that was never there before. In the past guys just dreaded being here because they knew they were going to lose. Hearing that makes you realize this place has changed. Everybody talks about the change, but it's for real.

It's one of those things you can't go into full-bore, ... You need to see what you're comfortable with and test it and move on from there step by step. It can be a disaster if you don't do it right. If you try to do too much, guys are confused. We've taken it really slow and tried to improve on it.

It seems like we're on top of the world right now. But I don't think guys in this locker room really feel like that. I think they feel we haven't arrived yet.