Marvin on Carson "quitting"

[flamingrey]

“At what point did Carson quit?” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis asked Les Carpenter of Yahoo! Sports. “At some point last year he decided he didn’t want to be here. This didn’t happen at the end of the season. There was a point earlier on when he said, ‘This isn’t the place for me.’ ”

Lewis said he didn’t want to convince anyone to play for him. Another team official put it in more understandable terms to Carpenter:

“We got rid of all our [expletive].”

Marvin Lewis: “At what point did Carson quit?” | ProFootballTalk

Ouch!

In the middle of a season, you'd think they'd let bygones be bygones.

I know Carson is too good for that stuff, but I hope at one point he goes off on Marvin and the organization because Carson's shit isn't the only one that stinks.

 

[flamingrey]

Lewis on the Yahoo! story -- "Quotes were taken out of context. It's a non issue. Let it go."

Twitter

 

[cincygrad]

Shaelyn,

Carson IS a quitter. What's so hard to understand about that? He was trying to sell your house and get out of dodge even as he had games to play. That's all Marvin was saying.

 

[flamingrey]

Shaelyn,

Carson IS a quitter. What's so hard to understand about that? He was trying to sell your house and get out of dodge even as he had games to play. That's all Marvin was saying.

Actually Katie - or would you rather me call you sugar - Carson put his house on sale in March.

 

[cincygrad]

So, you believe that Carson didn't consider leaving until the last game of the season was over?

 

[flamingrey]

Actually, according to the Carson insider, he first asked for a trade after 2009. Brown said to give it one more season. So, he considered leaving a LONG time before then.

But that doesn't mean he quit on the team in the middle of the season. That's ridiculous. Especially considering how his best 2 games of the season came the last 2 games.

 

[cincygrad]

And yes, I know that the house didn't go on sale until the spring. However, what's interesting is that back in November Sig (also went by Mr. Orange) made a post back on the ESPN board suggesting that Palmer was taking steps to suggest he would no longer be in Cincinnati. Sig cited some anonymous sources. While I know this is sketchy, I'll note that Sig was a stand-up guy and he wasn't one to make shit up. And we all know that we deal in rumors around here all the time - Especially when it comes to the insiders on the other board.

Anyway, Marv suggested that Palmer had checked out the season and wondered 'when' that happened. The suggestion is that it happened before the season was over. I find that easy to believe.

 

[flamingrey]

I'm sure he began making plans to leave as that's the deal he had with Brown. If the 2010 season didn't go better than 2009, Brown would trade Carson.

There's no question he wanted out. There's no question he was fed up. But that doesn't mean he quit. Again, I reference the last 2 games. Against the Chargers he threw for 4 TDs. The guys looked like they were having fun again. They took pride in trying to keep the Chargers out of the playoffs.

Additionally, I'm not even sure how that's possible. It's not like he's lined up at d-line where he quits pursuing as hard. He's the QB, he has one job and that's to hit open receivers. If he tries holding the ball too long, he gets drilled. If he throws lazy passes, they get picked off or his stats drop tremendously, and he's out of the league in no time.

 

[cincygrad]

It's more a locker room thing. Marvin suggests that the players started thinking Carson didn't want to be around and wouldn't be around for long. This has to have an effect on a team.

It was time for him to go and he had made that decision long before he played those games.

 

[Tubbs1518]

He is a whined and a baby and a quitter. It looked like he mailed it in early last season. I absolutely believe Marv on this one.

 

[DanBengalfan]

well, obviously he didn't "quit", he didn't want to be here.

He tried honoring his contract, but the verbal agreements were just smoke from Brown. Not wanting to be here, psychologically speaking, you can't give 100%, the slightest irritation is amplified, and there was plenty to be irritated about.

but... not our problem anymore.

it's over.

 

[flamingrey]

It's more a locker room thing. Marvin suggests that the players started thinking Carson didn't want to be around and wouldn't be around for long. This has to have an effect on a team.

It was time for him to go and he had made that decision long before he played those games.

So are you saying the team quit on him?

 

[cincygrad]

So are you saying the team quit on him?

Sure. I think there was a lot of quitting last season. Clearly his receivers quit on him. Neither of them have been back. I don't think Cedric quit - Mostly because I think he wanted a better contract. I don't think the young kids quit - because they wanted to make a name for themselves. Hell, many players probably figured Marv was gone, so why listen to him? Yes, lots of folks quit. When your leader checks out, it makes it okay for everyone else to follow. Palmer checked out and it had an impact on the team.

 

[flamingrey]

Sure. I think there was a lot of quitting last season. Clearly his receivers quit on him. Neither of them have been back. I don't think Cedric quit - Mostly because I think he wanted a better contract. I don't think the young kids quit - because they wanted to make a name for themselves. Hell, many players probably figured Marv was gone, so why listen to him? Yes, lots of folks quit. When your leader checks out, it makes it okay for everyone else to follow. Palmer checked out and it had an impact on the team.

Outside of the receivers who never showed up, I can't think of a single one.

Checking out isn't playing your best games at the end of the season.

 

[bengaldoug]

I'm not sure when he "quit", but it was easy to see by his body language pretty much from mid season on that he was unhappy with what was going on. As far as his best games being at the end of the season, maybe he had come to terms with his decision for the future, and TO and Chad weren't there, so he relaxed because of his peace of mind and just let it rip those last two games.....

 

[cincygrad]

They lost games against teams they were better than.... Clearly something was wrong with the team. The only major difference I see between this year's team (which has a nice record against teams they should beat) and last year's team is that they got rid of two quitters.

 

[cincygrad]

BTW -- Can we please stop pretending that Carson had some sort of amazing run at the end of last season? In his last 4 games he played @Pittsburgh, Cleveland, SD, and @Bal. He was horrible in Pittsburgh and cost us the game. He beat a horrible Cleveland team with a lame duck coach. He had an amazing performance against SD and chocked when he could have won it against Baltimore.

Yes, he played phenomenal against SD -- Congrats Carson!

 

[flamingrey]

They lost games against teams they were better than.... Clearly something was wrong with the team. The only major difference I see between this year's team (which has a nice record against teams they should beat) and last year's team is that they got rid of two quitters.

Most of the easy teams were in the beginning of the season which we lost due to epic chokage from a multitude of players (and coaches).

We also lost 8 games by 7 points or less. It's not like they blew bombshells all season. Better competition, worse defense, along with a coach who loves to keep it close, and those were the results. The team wasn't 4-12 bad.

As for the final 2 games, you already mentioned SD, but Carson played pretty well against Baltimore aside from the blown passes at the end of the game. Despite that and despite passing 45 times, he still managed to complete 71% of them (though he did have 2 interceptions). And you could tell the body language was different in those last 2 games with EVERYONE with the 2 divas out.

 

[vancelot23]

I could have sworn Carson quit 4 years ago. Maybe that's just me.

 

[flamingrey]

BTW -- Can we please stop pretending that Carson had some sort of amazing run at the end of last season? In his last 4 games he played @Pittsburgh, Cleveland, SD, and @Bal. He was horrible in Pittsburgh and cost us the game. He beat a horrible Cleveland team with a lame duck coach. He had an amazing performance against SD and chocked when he could have won it against Baltimore.

Yes, he played phenomenal against SD -- Congrats Carson!

Quit misconstruing the argument. It wasn't that he was all of a sudden an all-pro QB. The whole team was lively - including him - for the last 2 games. A player that quit midway through would not show that kind of body language the final 2 games of the season which coincidentally was without the divas.