Wasted plays and wasted might....

[HairOnFire]

Southern Californians hold a special place in their hearts for Carson Palmer. Here's one reaction to his most recent Sunday in the park.

Browns win by putting own spin on Bengals' 45

Cincinnati's Carson Palmer passed for six scores and 401 yards, but it wasn't enough against Cleveland's new starter Derek Anderson, who had five touchdown passes and 328 yards in a beyond-stunner

By Christine Daniels, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 17, 2007

The first quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy for USC, Carson Palmer on Sunday became the first quarterback to throw for six touchdowns in an NFL game and lose to a 9-year-old expansion team notable mainly for debasing the once-proud "Cleveland Browns" brand on a weekly basis.

Palmer passed for six scores (one shy of the league record) and 401 yards (more than half of them to Chad Johnson), which was enough for 45 Cincinnati Bengals points. On most days, that would be more than enough points to beat any NFL team that doesn't play its home games in Indianapolis or focus spy-cams on opposing sidelines. On most days, that would be enough points to beat the Browns by five touchdowns, as these Browns usually need five days to score five touchdowns.

On the second Sunday of the 2007 season, however, 45 points by Palmer's Bengals meant a six-point loss to these Browns, who were quarterbacked, it should be noted, not by anyone named Otto Graham, Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar or Vinny Testaverde. These Browns, not to be confused with those Browns (although the league record book remains a mess about that), were quarterbacked by Derek Anderson, who was a bench-warmer behind Charlie Frye before a 27-point opening-week loss to Pittsburgh prompted these Browns to punch the eject button on the Frye era.

Few backup quarterbacks have ever moved into the starting lineup amid more charmed circumstances. Anderson was presented a home game against the Bengals' make-yourself-at-home defense and had a career in a day: five touchdown passes, 328 yards and his signature on a beyond-stunning 51-45 victory.

Worth considering: The Browns hadn't scored 51 points in their previous five games combined.

Five years ago, there were more than a few draft-day skeptics who believed Palmer to Cincinnati was not a great fit, something of an anxious reach. Now we know they had it half-right. The Bengals and their traveling-circus defense must drive Palmer into regular postgame fits of anxiety. He has to wonder: What do I have to do to win with this outfit, and where were the Ravens or the Bears when I really needed them on that fateful April day in 2002?

According to the Associated Press account, this is the third time in league history that two quarterbacks each passed for five touchdowns in the same game. Every time it has happened, it has become progressively more peculiar: from George Blanda and Tom Flores in 1963 (Blanda is an AFL all-timer; Flores was no slouch) to Billy Kilmer and Charley Johnson (Kilmer could sling it a bit; Johnson was a journeyman) to Palmer and yes-it's-no-typo Derek Anderson.

The Associated Press account also noted that the game was "a historic afternoon for the Browns, who had a 300-yard passer, a 200-yard rusher and two 100-yard receivers (Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow) for the first time since joining the NFL in 1950." These sorts of sentences in stories about the NuBrowns deserve the Barry Bonds treatment: Without an asterisk, they muddle the truth. These Browns joined the NFL in 1999. The Other Browns, the Graham-Sipe-Kosar-Testaverde Browns, those Browns, joined the NFL in 1950 and moved to Baltimore in 1996 and are now known as the Ravens. And those Ravens won the Super Bowl that culminated the 2000 season, which still grinds football fans in Cleveland, which has never celebrated a Super Bowl appearance, in any incarnation.

[walshfan]

Until they find a good MLB two DT's and a good SS this team will be runon at will .

[Kazkal]

Meh we had a good MLB in odell DT's are solid but ya SS def needs be upgraded...

Just need a DC who can be successful not a life time bum.

[BengalszoneBilly]

First, I must LOL at Hairs country music flavored title. I'd have never thought he'd be familiar with Felize Navidad Freddy.

And secondly there just simply is NO excuse for putting up 45 points, not to mention six passing TD's by your QB in a game and losing. None! Zero! Nada! Someone must be reprimand at least, and at best lose their job. ***cough***Bresnahan***cough***

In one single freaking game we returned to the preseason form that I was so losing it about. Now I'm right back at ground zero with this poorly coached defense! Sorry Chuck. You SUCK!