Palmer makes case for new-look Bengals

[BengalszoneBilly]

He's pouring the koolaide by the gallon!

Palmer makes case for new-look Bengals

By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports

Carson Palmer(notes) has one of football’s most potent arms, but his powers of persuasion might be even stronger. When the Cincinnati Bengals’ ultra-convincing quarterback gets that tone of abject certainty in his voice, it’s extremely difficult not to buy in, no matter how illogical his statements might sound.

This was a lesson I learned three years ago, when Palmer, attempting to return from a horrific knee injury after a mere eight months, looked me in the eye and insisted he’d be fully functional. Sure enough, Palmer started the season opener, and each of the 15 games that followed, and ended his comeback campaign as the Pro Bowl MVP.

Now, coming off another injury that some doctors feared could be career-threatening, Palmer is predicting big things again – not just for himself, but for his team. Given that the Bengals, who went 4-11-1 in ’08, have had just one winning season since 1990, he’s well aware that the natural reaction to such a proclamation lies somewhere between an eye roll and outright laughter.

Clearly, he’s not letting that stop him.

“We’re gonna be really good, I guarantee it,” Palmer said during a recent phone conversation. There was a long silence before he continued:

“We’ve got a great thing going this offseason. We’ve got such a good locker room. There’s so much more competitiveness this year. I really think we’re gonna surprise people.

“They’ll be saying, ‘Wow, the Bengals are 6-0 … Wow, the Bengals are 10-2. Where did this come from?’ We’re set up perfectly. We’re kind of under the radar. We have no prime-time games. There’s absolutely no hype. And for a young team trying to find itself, that’s perfect.”

Wait, did Carson Palmer just become the first person on earth to climb aboard the 2009 Bengal bandwagon?

I believe he did, and weirdly enough, I’m not ruling out the possibility of joining him.

That’s because he swears he’s fully recovered from the frayed elbow ligament in his throwing arm that limited him to four games in 2008. Going against the advice of numerous doctors who recommended Tommy John surgery, or ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, Palmer instead let nature do the job and has been wildly pleased with the results.

Palmer injured the elbow in the Bengals’ Week 3 loss to the Giants when a blitzing defensive back pulled his wrist back as he was throwing a pass. The following week, when Palmer tried to practice, the velocity and accuracy of his throws had appreciably declined. He sat out two of the next three games and remained in New York following Cincy’s Oct. 12 defeat to the Jets to consult with one of the New York Mets’ team physicians.

Expecting to be told to rest the arm for two weeks, Palmer was stunned to hear, “You’re going to need surgery.” The physician pulled out an MRI that showed a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and told the quarterback he could clear his schedule and operate first thing the next morning.

Recalls Palmer: “I said, ‘What? Slow down!’ I literally had to say, ‘Time out’ and call my wife and agent.”

Palmer visited four other doctors, each of whom concurred that reconstructive surgery was the best option. Finally, Dr. Arthur Rettig, one of the Colts’ team physicians, agreed with an earlier diagnosis by the Bengals’ team orthopedist, Dr. Angelo Colosimo, that rest would heal the injury.

According to Palmer, surgery “was the best decision I never made. My arm’s 100 percent. I’ve been throwing and working out and there are no limitations. Allowing the ligament to heal on its own was a great thing. It proved a lot of people wrong.”

If what he says is true – if Palmer can once again throw like Palmer can throw – Cincinnati can dare to dream.

Will the promise Marvin Lewis’ team showed in 2005, when the Bengals went 11-5 to win the AFC North and hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card playoff game, only to lose Palmer to a blown-out knee on their second play from scrimmage, finally be fulfilled? After three frustrating seasons marred by off-the-field issues and internal drama – most notably the conspicuous attempts by star receiver Chad Ochocinco (yes, that’s his real name now) to force a trade – Palmer is finally convinced that he’s got the guys to do it.

Never mind that many of them are guys you haven’t heard of; to Palmer, that just makes the whole situation even cooler.

Ask Palmer about the departure of leading receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh(notes), who signed a free-agent deal with the Seattle Seahawks, and he raves about the work ethic of Houshmandzadeh’s replacement, former New York Jets starter Laveranues Coles(notes).

Solicit his opinion about Ochocinco, the tempestuous wideout formerly known as Johnson who has stayed away from the team’s voluntary offseason workouts for the second consecutive year, and the quarterback not known as Nueve can barely conceal his disdain.

“To be honest with you, I have no clue what’s going on with Chad,” Palmer says. “There are a lot of guys who want to take his position, I’ll tell you that. Chad’s got more skins on the wall and is obviously still an unbelievable talent. But these guys aren’t scared. They want his spot, and they’re going to compete every day of the offseason.

“We’ve got guys who want [Ochocinco and Houshmandzadeh’s] jobs so bad, it’s crazy. They’ll do anything. Guys like Andre Caldwell(notes), who’s a hungry young receiver, and Jerome Simpson(notes), a second-year guy from Coastal Carolina. They’re ready to do whatever I ask them, and whatever coach asks of them. The team chemistry overall is awesome.”

Palmer concedes that this isn’t the most talented team the Bengals have had since he arrived as the first overall pick in the 2003 draft. Talent, he says, is overrated.

“We’ve had a very talented team, but we struggled,” Palmer says, presumably speaking of the 2006 group that slipped to 8-8 after the playoff season or the ’07 squad that went 7-9. “We had a bunch of individuals on our roster, and we never came together.

“I’m convinced it’s not about talent; it’s guys that understand what their role is, and guys who’ll compete week in and week out and who love being here. You can’t say that Indy’s Super Bowl team [from the ’06 season] had more talent than anybody. They were a unit; they were a team.”

Quietly, Palmer has noticed the way some of his less-heralded teammates have grown into leaders. “I see guys like [guard] Andrew Whitworth(notes), [safety] Chris Crocker(notes), [cornerback] Leon Hall(notes) and so many others who are realizing that now is the time,” he says. “Guys aren’t afraid to put their necks on the line if someone’s not doing something right.”

Palmer, too, has been more vocal about holding his peers to a higher standard of commitment. Put it this way: If the Bengals end up doing what he thinks they will in ’09 and beyond, their theme song should be the Beatles’ “Revolution No. 9.”

“You feel it,” Palmer said toward the end of our conversation. “You feel the opportunity. This is a different group. Trust me.”

It’s impossible to see an eye roll over the phone, but Palmer definitely sensed my skepticism.

“Mike,” he said, “we’re gonna be good.”

Against my better judgment, perhaps even involuntarily, I started nodding my head in agreement.

[HAPPYJAQ]

He's basically saying to hell with Chad Ochocinco/Johnson, and that's fine with me.

How many years have the Bengals have had a Franchise QB and a rapidly improving defense, going into the season?

If Carson is healthy with a presumably improved O-line and a better running game, we're a 9-win team, at the minimum.

Assuming that those three things are true, it matters less who we have at WR, and I feel more than comfortable with some combination of Coles, Caldwell, Henry, Simpson and whoever else that steps up.

All of this sounds GREAT to me, but maybe I'm drunk on the Kool-Aid, too.

[HoosierCat]

He's pouring the koolaide by the gallon!

Way to keep up there, sport!

Glad to have you aboard the bandwagon, tho.

[BengalszoneBilly]

He's pouring the koolaide by the gallon!

Way to keep up there, sport!

Glad to have you aboard the bandwagon, tho.

Oops. The thread title there threw me. My bad.