Palmer’s a Pro, Scout’s Honor

Sure, it seems as if he has been at USC forever. But Carson Palmer won’t last long on the first day of the NFL draft.

I asked several NFL general managers, offensive coordinators and scouts about Palmer this week, and they all said the Trojan quarterback had improved his pro stock dramatically this season. Beat Notre Dame? Win the Heisman Trophy? All that stuff is icing for a player who has made the jump from a second- or third-round selection to a projected high first-rounder.

“I think he made millions of dollars by staying in school,” an AFC offensive coordinator said.

The college scouting director for an AFC team said the 6-foot-5, 225-pound quarterback “has a combination of size and athleticism that’s kind of unique. He’s a much better athlete than, say, Drew Bledsoe. He’s got mobility, avoidance, ways to buy time. He’s definitely a threat as a runner.”

An NFC general manager said Palmer, the all-time Pac-10 leader in yards passing and completions, looks like a different player in his second season in Norm Chow’s offense.

“He’s potentially a top-10 player,” the GM said. “There’s no way I would have said that before this season. He just made too many mistakes before this year, too many bad throwing decisions. There were times he threw it right to the defender, kind of like, ‘Why ... are you throwing that thing?’

“He’s always had potential. But it wasn’t performance, just potential. I don’t know if he couldn’t learn the offense, couldn’t grasp it or what.

“[But] now he’s a whole different player. He just doesn’t look like the same guy. He has performed extremely well.”

The GM said Palmer’s performance in pressure games was particularly telling. In four starts against UCLA, Palmer is 3-1 with 1,036 yards passing, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.

“That just leads you to believe he really plays well in big games,” he said. “In evaluating players, you love to see that.”

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Feudin’ Time

The next time he plays against Green Bay, Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp had better keep his feet moving. Larry Beightol, offensive line coach for the Packers, said this week his players would retaliate for Sapp’s blindside hit on tackle Chad Clifton last Sunday.

Sapp, who got into a shouting match with Packer Coach Mike Sherman over the hit, was not fined by the league. Clifton, who temporarily lost some feeling in his legs and toes, suffered torn hip ligaments and probably is done for the season -- if not longer.

“It’s not a cheap shot, but there has to be something where these players look out for each other,” Beightol told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “There will be other games. There will be other times.”

Previously, Beightol said, he’d told his players to block Sapp high and avoid cut blocks, which could expose him to injury.

Tackle Jackie Slater, who had a Hall of Fame career with the Rams, absorbed his share of out-of-nowhere hits during 20 seasons. He said the Packers should not have been cutting Sapp any slack in the first place.

“I resent that,” Slater said of Beightol’s comments. “You can never go into a game against a top-level player like Warren Sapp with any thought other than doing whatever you have to do.... You have to teeter on the edge of total disaster in order to get a guy like that blocked. If you have to do something questionable, you do it.”

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Around the League

AFC WEST -- The Broncos are 3-3 at home, quite a change from their six Super Bowl seasons, when they went 42-5 at home. After the heartbreaking loss to the Colts, receiver Rod Smith lambasted his teammates for their lack of killer instinct, his shouts reverberating through the closed locker-room doors. “Rod said it all [Sunday] night,” cornerback Denard Walker told the Denver Post. “No more needed to be said by anybody after he was through. To me, it was a guy showing a lot of heart, and I respect that. I can’t fault him for saying the truth. We’re not doing enough if we’re losing like this. Because this team right now should be 10-1.”

Kansas City running back Priest Holmes accounted for 307 total yards from scrimmage in a 39-32 loss to Seattle last Sunday, a performance that ranks fourth in NFL history. The record belongs to former L.A. Ram receiver Flipper Anderson, who gained 336 yards (all receiving) in an overtime game against New Orleans in 1989. Second and third place belong to Houston running back Billy Cannon, 330, and Kansas City receiver Stephone Paige, 309.

AFC NORTH -- In losing to Pittsburgh last Sunday, the 1-10 Bengals reached a rather dubious milestone. They extended their streak to five consecutive seasons with double-digit losses. Since they last made the playoffs, in the 1990 season, the Bengals have gone 54-133. That said, things are looking up. Slightly. Cincinnati has outscored opponents in the last five games, 130-127, yet is 1-4 over that stretch.

Steeler running back Jerome Bettis rushed for 79 yards against the Bengals and finally surpassed O.J. Simpson for 11th place on the all-time list with 11,287 yards. At times, Bettis’ pursuit slowed to a crawl, prompting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette to write, “For a while, it seemed as if Bettis were chasing Simpson longer than the California Highway Patrol.”

AFC SOUTH -- Some people in New York called the Giants’ 16-14 loss to Houston the low point in franchise history. People in Dallas said the same thing when the Cowboys lost their opener to the expansion team. So how does that make the Texans feel? “It kind of comes with the territory,” Texan Coach Dom Capers said. “If you’re an opponent playing the Houston Texans, the worst thing that could happen to you is to lose to the Houston Texans. Anytime we’ve beaten somebody, it’s the worst loss in their history, so that doesn’t say a whole lot for us.”

When he single-footedly beat the Broncos in a driving snowstorm, Indianapolis’ Mike Vanderjagt became the first player to kick field goals of at least 50 yards to force overtime and to win the game. A 54-yarder tied the game, and a 51-yarder won it.

“That second one was straight out of ‘Hoosiers,’ ” Vanderjagt told reporters. Colt Coach Tony Dungy later confessed he needed to be talked into giving Vanderjagt a chance from that distance in overtime, considering the blizzard conditions. It was the long snapper who did the sales job. And it was a perfect guy to do it: Justin Snow.

AFC EAST -- Buffalo’s defense is allowing an NFL-worst 28.8 points a game and is on pace to surrender 461, which would break the franchise record of 454. The Bills simply do not force turnovers. They have only five interceptions this season -- four during a horrendous game by Miami’s Ray Lucas and the other when Chris Watson picked off a Hail-Mary pass at the end of the first half against Detroit. The NFL record for fewest interceptions in a 16-game season is six, set by Atlanta in 1996. “Everybody always says those things happen in bunches,” Buffalo Coach Gregg Williams said of turnovers. “We need to have them happen in bunches for us. It’s huge. We’ve done a great job of preventing turnovers. We need to take the ball away.”

More on that Lucas fiasco: He completed 13 of 33 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions and two fumbles, for a 26.3 quarterback rating.

He is coming off impressive performances against Baltimore and San Diego, though, and gets another chance against the Bills on Sunday. “Same guy physically,” Dolphin Coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Different guy mentally.”

NFC WEST -- San Francisco Coach Steve Mariucci went to great lengths Monday to check on the condition of Philadelphia quarterback Koy Detmer, who’d suffered a dislocated elbow against the 49ers. After the game, Mariucci walked into the showers in the visiting team’s locker room ... wearing a business suit.

NFC NORTH -- When the Lions won the overtime coin toss and chose to take the wind instead of the ball -- a decision that backfired -- Chicago’s Larry Whigham immediately offered his appraisal: “I told the captains, ‘Y’all are stupid. That’s dumb.’ ” No argument here.

It’s hard to disagree with Chicago defensive coordinator Greg Blache, who called the game “two bad teams praying, and they were just worse than we were.” Added Blache, “We’re still a bad football team. A miracle on offense bailed us out. We played atrociously. We’re an ugly defensive football team right now.” Bad time to be heading to Green Bay.

NFC SOUTH -- Once billed as one of the weaker divisions, the NFC South now boasts a league-best record of 26-17-1.

If the season were to end today, the NFC playoff bracket would include Tampa Bay (9-2), Atlanta (7-3-1) and New Orleans (7-4).

Tampa Bay quarterback Brad Johnson was scorching in November, completing 63.5% of his passes (61 of 96) for 700 yards with nine touchdowns, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 116.7.

Carolina running back DeShaun Foster recently had microfracture surgery on his injured knee. The procedure involves punching tiny holes in the bone to enhance blood flow and create scar tissue, which acts as cartilage. Three former Panthers -- Patrick Jeffers, Chuck Smith and Eric Swann -- had the surgery, and in each case the player’s career ended shortly thereafter. Foster, the former UCLA standout, has not played a down this season. He suffered the knee injury in an exhibition game against New England and was supposed to miss four weeks. He later was placed on injured reserve, meaning his season is over.

NFC EAST -- The Giants have a way of keeping games close. Seventeen of their last 23 games have been decided by seven points or fewer, and New York has not won by more than seven in nearly 14 months.

After his team lost quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Detmer to injury, Eagle Coach Andy Reid received a letter from comedian Bill Cosby, a Philadelphia native offering his services as a fill-in passer. “Realizing there’s an opening,” Cosby wrote, “I felt the adrenaline begin to pump. I ran down to the basement, pulled out my old Central High School leather helmet (without face mask) and shoulder pads, got the missus up, and with a Whiffle ball, had her bending over and I took snaps.”

He signed the letter, Bill “Go Long” Cosby.