There is no way to sugarcoat it: Carson Palmer got off to an awful start to the season in Detroit on Sunday. The Cardinals quarterback finished the game 27-of-48 for 269 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.
One of the picks was returned for a score, and Palmer was saddled with a quarterback rating of 53.2, more than 44 points worse than his career norm.
"I'm disappointed in myself," Palmer said after the game.
While it was an ugly showing, Palmer had plenty of company across the NFL in Week 1, as myriad established quarterbacks started the season slowly.
New England's Tom Brady was 16-of-36 passing for 267 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions in a loss to the Chiefs. Seattle's Russell Wilson finished 14-of-27 for 158 yards with no touchdowns or picks in a loss to the Packers.
Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Marcus Mariota and Joe Flacco all finished even or negative in touchdown-to-interception ratio. And then there was Andy Dalton, who had the worst game of anyone. The Bengals' quarterback was 16-of-31 for 170 yards with no touchdowns, four interceptions and was sacked five times in a shutout loss to the Ravens.
According to Chase Stuart of FootballPerspective.com, the league-wide adjusted net yards per pass attempt is down 17 percent from the opening week of 2016.
It's fair to wonder about Palmer, who is one of the older quarterbacks in the NFL and made several cringe-worthy throws in Detroit. But this is also a reminder that it's only one game, as even some of the top arms in the league had their issues on Sunday.
