CINCINNATI -- When Carson Palmer faces his old team Sunday night, he won't be going through the motions of any ordinary game.

"When you play against a former team, it's not just another game," Palmer said Wednesday on a conference call with Cincinnati Bengals media. "There's definitely a lot on this one for me in particular."

Sure, Sunday night's game between the 35-year-old quarterback's Arizona Cardinals and the team that made him a first-overall pick, the Bengals, could very well be a Super Bowl primer. And sure, it will be a prime time game that will draw eyeballs from around the globe in his direction for another week. But it's the fact that Palmer is meeting his old coach and a few of his old teammates in this showdown that has him more fired up than usual.

As Bengals coach Marvin Lewis' first draft pick back in 2003, Palmer went on to lead the team to two playoff berths (2005 and 2009) before being traded to the Raiders in Oct. 2011. Just before the trade, animosity had built between Palmer and some around the team. The previous April, the organization had drafted Andy Dalton, a clear sign Dalton was its future. Dalton started the Bengals' preseason opener that year, and hasn't missed a regular season or postseason game since.

In April 2013, Palmer was traded from Oakland to Arizona, where he has had a career revival. His 82.2 Total QBR leads all quarterbacks this season, and his 23 touchdown passes are second only to Tom Brady's 24.

Although he's well aware of the storyline involving him and his old team, Palmer contends that for everyone else on the Cardinals' roster, this game between the 7-2 Cardinals and 8-1 Bengals is about more than just him.

"It's about us and executing what we do and focusing on our jobs at hand and going out and trying to get a win," Palmer said.

You know Carson Palmer would particularly enjoy having a big game against the Bengals, his former team. Steve Dykes/Getty Images

When asked how much pressure he felt the only other time he has played the Bengals -- a Nov. 2012 blowout loss in Cincinnati while he was with the Raiders -- Palmer simply said pressure came with his position.

"Obviously there's more because it's a team I used to play for," Palmer said. "But at the end of the day there is so much pressure on you and expectations, anxiety, all those things with just playing this position. It adds a little bit more but not anything noticeable. There is so much expected of me within this offense, within this system, that I really don't think too much about letting anything else affect my preparation.

"I just have to go through my daily plan, respect the process and get myself ready to play on Sunday night."

Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, the man in charge of recruiting Palmer to USC in the late 1990s, believes the quarterback will be ready Sunday night.

"I'm not surprised by anything he does," said Jackson, who also was Palmer's head coach in Oakland. "He knows how to lead. He's always had those characteristics. That's what got him to USC, that's what got him drafted as the first player here, that's what's carried him throughout his career."