After Monday night’s 18-17 Cardinals win, Larry Fitzgerald Sr. tweeted that we had just seen “the politics and business of football” at work.
That’s presumably in reference to his son seeing four targets from Carson Palmer during Arizona’s win, something that Palmer said the younger Fitzgerald didn’t seem bothered by while the game was unfolding. Palmer said he didn’t want to force balls to Fitzgerald when he was covered and coach Bruce Arians said that such decisions are left up to Palmer because he doesn’t care about “anybody’s numbers other than the ‘Ws.'”
“You have to ask the quarterback,” Arians said, via the team’s website. “[Larry] is going out for a pass every time. I don’t look at that. We don’t design plays for guys to get the ball. That’s interceptions waiting to happen.”
Arians and Palmer each referenced instances last season when Palmer forced balls in Fitzgerald’s direction that were intercepted by the opposition, something that should make them think twice about doing that again. There were also six games last season when Fitzgerald was targeted four times or fewer, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He wound up with 82 catches on 136 targets as the Cards won 10 games, so things wound up working out pretty well for all involved.