The elf was impressed

[derekshank]

I figured that since he seems like a fantasy nerd, that Clayton would be unimpressed with Palmers unimpressive stat line. I guess he actually watched the game... because he has nothing but praise to give the Palmer and the offense.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor...&id=2582251

[kingwilly]

an elf? I can see that. but to me he looks more like Gazoo from the Flintsones:

now look at Clayton:

[Kazkal]

Lol willy

[Stripes]

Point is, neither an elf nor Gazoo is a qualified football analyst.

Still, nice to see the nerdball give the Bengals some props. He took notice of the defensive line too, though how could anyone watching the game not do so?

[ArmyBengal]

I'm still seeing Chicken Little there !!!

WHODEY !!!

[BlainThePain]

I always thought he looked like the owl from the blowpop commercials.

[HairOnFire]

I've been calling Clayton the "Football Elf" for about a decade now. Ask Joisey if you don't believe me. And for the record, I tagged Clayton due to his uncanny resemblance to the old Cleveland Brown elf.

As for the article, I'm surprised Clayton ignored how rusty Palmer looked early and late, as well as the staggering number of times that he audibled into a running play even when facing 9 and 10 man fronts. Not that I minded much, as I was happy to watch the clock run down for the last 20 minutes of the game, but against a better team Palmer is going to have to challenge the defense more than he did during 3 of the 4 quarters.

[membengal]

No doubt, but I get the distinct impression, mostly b/c ML has confirmed it, that the offense was under strict instructions to pull their horns in for the last two quarters of that game. I think a lot of CP's audibles to runs were a part of carrying out those instructions...

[derekshank]

I've been calling Clayton the "Football Elf" for about a decade now. Ask Joisey if you don't believe me. And for the record, I tagged Clayton due to his uncanny resemblance to the old Cleveland Brown elf.

As for the article, I'm surprised Clayton ignored how rusty Palmer looked early and late, as well as the staggering number of times that he audibled into a running play even when facing 9 and 10 man fronts. Not that I minded much, as I was happy to watch the clock run down for the last 20 minutes of the game, but against a better team Palmer is going to have to challenge the defense more than he did during 3 of the 4 quarters.

Yeah... I'll admit that I stole the elf thing from you Hair.

Anyway... I'm unconcerned about Palmer's rust in the 2nd half. The first quarter rust was pretty obvious, and was cause for concern for a while. It may have just been the fact that is was the 1st regular season game... but whatever the reason, once Palmer ran the no-huddle effectively, resulting in 2 TD's, I lost any concern that he'd be himself again. After that, our game plan was clock control.

Palmer only threw the ball 5 times in the 2nd half, if I'm not mistaken. It's hard to get into a groove when you throw the ball only 5 times out of 28 plays.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar game out of Palmer against Cleveland either. We know how to run the ball on them. We'll run the no-huddle a couple drives, get out to a lead, and then drain the clock. We'll have to wait until week 3 to see the gaudy fantasy football stats for Palmer... and as long as we're winning, that's just fine with me.

[NYBengalfan]

No Clayton's not a nerd....... He's from PA!!!!

[Tasher]

Tell me what our record is after the TB game.

If you say 5-0 or 4-1, then I will tell you that we are in good shape. If it is 3-2, then we have our work cut out for us.

I will be impressed with 5-0; par for the course as defending champs will be 4-1. Period.

[derekshank]

Tell me what our record is after the TB game.

If you say 5-0 or 4-1, then I will tell you that we are in good shape. If it is 3-2, then we have our work cut out for us.

I will be impressed with 5-0; par for the course as defending champs will be 4-1. Period.

5-0 is certainly doable. The Pittsburgh game is going to be crazy, because even though it is early in the season, it's one that is circled on the calendar. The loser has to wait until the last game of the season to exact revenge, and by then, it might be a moot point. This is the one we want... because we don't want to be chasing them for the next 14 weeks.

That said, 4-1 still shouldn't be a problem. I say that because I don't feel like I need to wait until week 7 to reach an opinion on the Bengals. There are several things we know to expect (great offense, big play defense), and if you add the intensity we saw from the D-Line against KC, there is reason to be excited. I don't care that it was against back-up OT's. The effort and intensity would have been impressive if they had been playing a college team.

I really think this is a very good football team... and if we happen to lose to someone that we shouldn't it won't change my opinion. I've watched this team carefully, and I know what they're capable of. So if we're 3-2, I'll be very disappointed, but not yet dismayed, because a 3-2 record can still end up being 14-2 with the talent we have.

[HairOnFire]

Yeah... I'll admit that I stole the elf thing from you Hair.

Anyway... I'm unconcerned about Palmer's rust in the 2nd half. The first quarter rust was pretty obvious, and was cause for concern for a while. It may have just been the fact that is was the 1st regular season game... but whatever the reason, once Palmer ran the no-huddle effectively, resulting in 2 TD's, I lost any concern that he'd be himself again. After that, our game plan was clock control.

Palmer only threw the ball 5 times in the 2nd half, if I'm not mistaken. It's hard to get into a groove when you throw the ball only 5 times out of 28 plays.

First, feel free to steal anything I've written. It's all about the sharing.

Crunkity-bumpity-thumpity-boom.

As for the issue of Palmer's rust, Mooch reviewed the game and pointed out that Palmer's technique isn't back to 100%, and used the missed TD throw to Chad as an example of Palmer not stepping into the throw, perhaps due to concerns about players around his leg. He also claimed that the Bengals didn't ask Palmer to do very much in this game...pointing to the lopsided run/pass balance. Left unsaid was my point about the overwhelming number of audibles into running plays against a stacked front. I'd guess that Palmer audibled into a run play 80-90% of the time...a far cry from Palmer's own claim that the Bengals run almost 50% of time after audibles. Frankly, it isn't the lack of balance that bother me...it's the fact that the Chiefs were stacking against the run and Palmer wasn't making them pay for it as is his habit.

[NYBengalfan]

Tell me what our record is after the TB game.

If you say 5-0 or 4-1, then I will tell you that we are in good shape. If it is 3-2, then we have our work cut out for us.

I will be impressed with 5-0; par for the course as defending champs will be 4-1. Period.

5-0 is certainly doable. The Pittsburgh game is going to be crazy, because even though it is early in the season, it's one that is circled on the calendar. The loser has to wait until the last game of the season to exact revenge, and by then, it might be a moot point. This is the one we want... because we don't want to be chasing them for the next 14 weeks.

That said, 4-1 still shouldn't be a problem. I say that because I don't feel like I need to wait until week 7 to reach an opinion on the Bengals. There are several things we know to expect (great offense, big play defense), and if you add the intensity we saw from the D-Line against KC, there is reason to be excited. I don't care that it was against back-up OT's. The effort and intensity would have been impressive if they had been playing a college team.

I really think this is a very good football team... and if we happen to lose to someone that we shouldn't it won't change my opinion. I've watched this team carefully, and I know what they're capable of. So if we're 3-2, I'll be very disappointed, but not yet dismayed, because a 3-2 record can still end up being 14-2 with the talent we have.

Its a nice thought , but lets take it one game at a time!!!! Lets worry about takin care of Cleveland!!!!

[derekshank]

Its a nice thought , but lets take it one game at a time!!!! Lets worry about takin care of Cleveland!!!!

Nah. I'll let the Bengals players worry about that. I've said it, and won't apologize for it. I'm looking ahead to Pittsburgh!