Will Carson Palmer return to the Bengals?

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Carson Palmer has now found a buyer for his house in Indian Hills, Ohio after putting it up for sale earlier this year. This would seem to add further weight to his threat that he will retire from the NFL if the Bengals refuse to trade him.

However, Cincinnati Bengals President, Mike Brown has said that they have no intention of trading Palmer and wishes for him to return to the franchise. Brown also said that they will go with rookie Andy Dalton at quarterback should Palmer stick to his guns and not come back once play resumes in the NFL, but ideally he would like to have both of them.

Quarterback, Andy Dalton who the Bengals drafted in the second round out of Texas Christian University would seem like a good prospect at the position. Nevertheless it would likely be of great benefit to him if he could spend some time learning from an eight year veteran like Palmer.

It would seem like a difficult position to be in for the management in Cincinnati. If Palmer does decide to retire then they will have lost quite a valuable player. On the other hand if he comes back they will have to choose whether they want to start him or Dalton. If Carson is as unhappy playing in Cincinnati as he seems to be then he probably won’t give it his all, meaning it may of more benefit to the Bengals to trade him. However Mike Brown is a stubborn man and I don’t think he would be prepared to set such a precedence by giving in to Palmer’s demands; whatever the situation is, after all  he didn’t give in to Chad Ochocinco’s desire to be traded in the past. If I was Carson Palmer I wouldn’t get my hopes up for a trade.

Bringing an NFL game to Wembley

For the fifth straight season the NFL has decided to bring a regular season game to Wembley stadium, with this year’s game is to be contested between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears.

The Buccaneers will be the first NFL team two have played two games in the United Kingdom. They will no doubt be hoping to set the record straight after a comprehensive 35-7 defeat at the hands of the New England Patriots on their previous outing to the U.K in 2009.

The Bears finished the 2010 regular season with a winning record of 11-5; making it all the way to the NFC championship game where they lost out to the eventual super bowl champions the Green Bay Packers.

Although they didn’t make it to the playoffs, the Buccaneers did put up a solid 2010 performance recording a total of 10 wins. This was a vast improvement on their 2009 season where they finished with a record of 3-13, earning them the third overall pick in the draft.

All in all I think we have a very interesting match up to look forward to this year at Wembley and I for one can hardly wait. However, whether or not the game goes ahead is dependent on the current labour dispute being resolved by August 1^st. If the two sides cannot come to a solution before that date then the game is to be relocated to the Buccaneer’s, Raymond James Stadium; which will lead to the disappointment of thousands of U.K fans.

On a more positive note you can register your interest in tickets at www.nfluk.com.