Bold Predictions for the 2013 NFL Season

Oct. 14, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver (11) Larry Fitzgerald celebrates a fourth quarter reception against the Buffalo Bills at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Bills defeated the Cardinals 19-16 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Tim Dillon (@omfsmtim): “Larry Fitzgerald will lead the league in receiving yards.”

You know the saying, “If a tree falls in a woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, but the football version would be “If a quarterback throws for 4,000 yards in Oakland and no one is around to see it, does it make headlines?”. What I’m trying to say is that Carson Palmer threw for over 4,000 yards last season in Oakland and no one noticed or cared because of how awful the rest of his team was. Now he’s in Arizona under new head coach Bruce Arians and he’s exactly what Fitzgerald has been waiting for. Palmer may not be the best quarterback in the league, but he still has a strong arm and instantly becomes the best quarterback Fitzgerald has had throwing to him since Kurt Warner retired. Fitz had an awful season last year because even though he was open on a lot of passing plays, the quarterback (whoever it may have been that week) was unable to get him the ball. Part of the blame lies on Arizona’s offensive line which was bad enough to get a quarterback killed, but the line should be improved this season now that they took Jonathan Cooper with their first round draft pick. Despite Palmer’s accuracy problem, as long as he can get the ball close to Fitzgerald, he will catch it. If the offensive line does indeed improve, the Palmer-Fitzgerald connection could be as strong as the Palmer-Polamalu connection was back when he was a Bengal.