Editing Carson Palmer (section)

====2006 season====
[[File:Carson Palmer 2006.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Palmer playing against the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] in 2006]]

{{See also|2006 Cincinnati Bengals season}}

Palmer returned from his injury in time for the 2006 preseason. After the Bengals' 48–17 pre-season victory over the visiting [[2006 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay Packers]] on August 28, 2006, which saw Palmer complete 9 of 14 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns in just less than two quarters of play in his much-expected debut (which included an 11-yard run for a first down that culminated in a slide on his surgically repaired left knee), Palmer reiterated his position that he was to start in the Bengals' season opener at Kansas City.

His performance drew rave reviews from many experts, many of whom expected far less of him less than a year after such a serious injury. [[ESPN]] analyst [[Joe Theismann]], himself a former quarterback with the [[Washington Redskins]] (whose own career was ended by a gruesome broken leg against the [[New York Giants]] on November 18, 1985), praised Palmer for his mental toughness in taking hits and not being gun-shy about staying in the pocket where chances of injury are often high.

Palmer ended up starting all 16 of the Bengals' regular season games, missing only one snap, due to his getting the wind knocked out of him. He did not become totally comfortable with his repaired knee until Week 9 against the [[2006 San Diego Chargers season|San Diego Chargers]] when he threw for a career high of 440 yards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals – November 12th, 2006 |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200611120cin.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105125038/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200611120cin.htm |archive-date=January 5, 2020 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |website=[[Pro Football Reference]] |language=en}}</ref> Despite his previous injury, he passed the 4,000 yard mark for the first time in his career, finishing the season with a franchise record 4,035 passing yards and 28 touchdowns, only 13 interceptions and 93.9 rating.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Carson Palmer 2006 Game Log |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/PalmCa00/gamelog/2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063624/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/PalmCa00/gamelog/2006 |archive-date=January 6, 2018 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |website=[[Pro Football Reference]] |language=en}}</ref> He also made the [[Pro Bowl]] for the second year in a row, becoming the first Bengals quarterback to do this since [[Boomer Esiason]] in 1988 and 1989. Palmer was named Most Outstanding Player at the Pro Bowl, leading the AFC down the field in the final two minutes for the win. He completed 8 of 17 passes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns, one to his Bengals teammate [[Chad Ochocinco|Chad Johnson]]. Palmer placed 3rd in voting for NFL Comeback Player of the Year, behind [[Drew Brees]] and [[Chad Pennington]]. Unfortunately, his team suffered quite a few misfortunes, such as missed point afters and field goals, while slipping from an 11–5 record in 2005 to 8–8 in 2006 and failing to make the playoffs due to a game 16 loss against their rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2006 Cincinnati Bengals Statistics & Players |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cin/2006.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063744/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cin/2006.htm |archive-date=January 6, 2018 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |website=[[Pro Football Reference]] |language=en}}</ref>

After winning the Pro Bowl MVP, Palmer declared, "This is a huge honor and extremely exciting and I feel very blessed just to be here, let alone for the outcome to be this. But my goal's to be in a [[Super Bowl]]. And to win a [[Super Bowl]]. That's where my mind's at, and after this week I'm going to start focusing on that again." During the 2007 off-season, Palmer had scheduled workouts with not only Chad Johnson (which he usually did), but wide receivers [[T. J. Houshmandzadeh]] and [[Tab Perry]]. He also said he was fully comfortable with his knee.<ref name="aol">{{Cite web |last=Travis |first=Clay |date=September 9, 2010 |title=Fantasy Geeks: Carson Palmer's Ready To Rip It Up! – FanHouse – AOL Sports Blog |url=http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/07/29/fantasy-geeks-carson-palmers-ready-to-rip-it-up |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922152744/https://www.aol.com/sports |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |access-date=September 20, 2010 |website=AOL Sports}}</ref>