The look on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer's face when he went down with an injury, mere days after signing a three-year, $50 million contract extension with the team, was heartbreaking.
The injury, which turned out be a season-ending ACL tear, was devastating both for Palmer - a player the team had announced it would be "building around" - and for the fan base - the Cardinals offense was almost non-existent for the remainder of the year, culminating in a playoff performance by third-string quarterback Ryan Lindley of such immense ineptitude that the franchise broke the NFL record for fewest yards gained in a postseason game.
Luckily for fans of the NFL's desert-dwelling franchise, Lindley will very likely be gone next year and Palmer, per an update from general manager Steve Keim, seems very much ahead of schedule in his return to the field.
"He's awesome," Keim said, while appearing on an episode of Arizona Sports 98.7. "He came in, I believe it was yesterday and I talked to him at length, he's more energized than ever and he looked fantastic.
"It looks like he put on some lean muscle; he is working his tail off. And I know he's at a point in his rehabilitation process where he's doing some running and he's ahead of schedule. And again, he's more energized than ever."
Palmer was having a statistically fantastic season prior to his injury - he had led the team to a 6-0 record by completing 62.9 percent of his passes for 1,626 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The team managed a playoff berth after his injury in early Nov., but that was due almost solely to the performance of the defense.
Attempting to win in the NFL with one arm tied behind your back is an impossible proposition and the D suffered a number of major injuries of their own and stumbled down the stretch and eventually could no longer make up for the offense's inability to score.
With an offseason to return some important pieces, like Palmer, to health, the Cardinals and head coach Bruce Arians will look to, once again, prove themselves the class of the NFC.
