Ya gotta admit it was an overall success

[BengalszoneBilly]

Speaking only in the terms of rating the performance of our young and now not quite as inexperienced as before QB Carson Palmer, I'm sure most fans will agree it was more successful than the majority of us could have ever hoped! Even most network commentators that I listened to were more than impressed with his play against the Jets, especially when you consider it was played on the road and against their crowd roar as well!

His numbers for his 1st start went like this:

18 completions out of 24 attempted passes.

2 TD passes against one late INT while trying to rally back in the last 2 minutes.

11 yards rushing with no fumbles. Handled the pressure of the rush/blitzes well.

Fairly evenly spreading out his completions among 7 different Bengal recievers!

No delay of game penalties or other mental lapses to otherwise hurt the team.

***correction...1 delay of game penalty. I missed it. So sue me. ***

After putting all of this into perspective...I'll quite happily take it!

Think about this:

How does the performance of Carson Palmers 1st start in the NFL compare to other league greats such as Elway, Marino, Montana, Farve, etc.? Favorably...VERY favorably. A couple of those aforementioned QB's had debuts that were no where near as impressive as our former Hiesman winner from USC. And what's even more exciting is knowing that he's only going to get better as his career grows longer! :player:

Edited September 13, 2004 by billybroome

[kevnz]

Gotta agree with you Billy.

Look at what the other first rounders from last year did.

B. Leftwich: 18/36, 147 yards, 1TD, 2 INTs

K. Boller: 22/38 191 yards 0tds 2ints

R. Grossman: 16/35 227 yards 0tds 2ints

easily the best of the lot and unlike the rest had no starts last year. I love what we have seen of Palmer and I feel that the sky is the limit for him...Damn could any of us ever have said that about Klingler or Smith? I mean ever???

[jditty47]

i definately agree and all good points. I had totally forgot about that run that he did for a first down, man that came out of no where and shocked the hell out of me.

[CTBengalsFan]

palmer looked like he'd done before

our run d however, was beyond terrible

[Sox]

Palmer looked great,other than the underthrown pass at the end.

The defense needs their collective asses kicked.That effort was unacceptable.

[kevnz]

Just remember where we have come from...This time last year (and the year before that) we were totally ripped apart on opening day...So we are already a step or two ahead of that. Offense is clicking over pretty good, our kicker is automatic, our punter get's better everytime he get's the ball, our special teams rock...Now if something can be done about that defense....giving up yards is one thing...But it's the big plays they gave up that pisses me off.

But then who knew Rudi was gonna have his first fumble in ages either? He didn't fumble at all last year...He holds onto that ball, and it's a different game.

[TecmoFever]

Good points all around. We had two problem areas today: our running game (which was average) and our defense (which was as bad as it gets). The only time we stopped them was when they dropped balls, went for fake punts, etc. Did they punt all game? That's a bad sign.

On the positive side, Kyle Larson punted great, our collective special teams is solid (even Housh contributed on his kickoff returns), Palmer looked great (and that run for a first down was impressive--and so was that TD thrown to Watson while on the run), and Chad Johnson punched his ticket to Hawaii again this year in Week 1.

Get the defense going, Marvin and Leslie. Two notes of encouragement. We should get Simmons and O'Neal back and we play Miami, whose offense may be the worst in the league at this point. Start Fiedler again, Dave Wannstedt.

[85inthehall]

you actually had 1 delay of game penalty -- 2nd half you have a illegal man down field call around your 20 and the following play had a delay of game penalty

[BengalszoneBilly]

you actually had 1 delay of game penalty -- 2nd half you have a illegal man down field call around your 20 and the following play had a delay of game penalty

Thanks 85, I stand corrected. I must have been in the bathroom on that one. I can live with one I suppose. I watched Kitna do it too from time to time last season.

[Bobcat Bengal]

Speaking only in the terms of rating the performance of our young and now not quite as inexperienced as before QB Carson Palmer, I'm sure most fans will agree it was more successful than the majority of us could have ever hoped! Even most network commentators that I listened to were more than impressed with his play against the Jets, especially when you consider it was played on the road and against their crowd roar as well!

I couldn't hear any of the commentary on the game at all, those muthaf**king Browns and Steelers fans made entirely too much noise! I didn't need the commentary though to tell me what went down in that game though, for sure.

As far as Carson doing well, what do you expect? Quick quiz: Who's the most decorated player ever for the Bengals? I'll give you a hint, he attended USC....

Don't worry, Carson's gonna be alright....I even saw the guy crack a smile after that missile he launched to Chad in the endzone. It's alright Carson, have some fun out there!

[Bobcat Bengal]

i definately agree and all good points. I had totally forgot about that run that he did for a first down, man that came out of no where and shocked the hell out of me.

Damn that was a nice run!

I'm pissed off I never got down to PBS last year to get his autograph...long story... ....I have a feeling its gonna haunt me for a while....

[HoosierCat]

Just remember where we have come from...This time last year (and the year before that) we were totally ripped apart on opening day...So we are already a step or two ahead of that. Offense is clicking over pretty good, our kicker is automatic, our punter get's better everytime he get's the ball, our special teams rock...Now if something can be done about that defense....giving up yards is one thing...But it's the big plays they gave up that pisses me off.

But then who knew Rudi was gonna have his first fumble in ages either? He didn't fumble at all last year...He holds onto that ball, and it's a different game.

Yup. And the Bengals should have had that Pennington fumble, too, the refs totally blew that call. I was watching the game with a friend who's a Jets fan and even he thought that was total BS.

[shworge]

Good points all around. We had two problem areas today: our running game (which was average) and our defense (which was as bad as it gets).

If that was average, I would hate to see below average. 24 carries for 70 yards (an average of 2.9 a carry) is absolutely terrible. I am not totally blaming Rudi for this, he was consistently hit behind the line of scrimmage. I was disappointed to see him chased down by DE's on sweep plays though.

[kevnz]

Good points all around.  We had two problem areas today: our running game (which was average) and our defense (which was as bad as it gets).

If that was average, I would hate to see below average. 24 carries for 70 yards (an average of 2.9 a carry) is absolutely terrible. I am not totally blaming Rudi for this, he was consistently hit behind the line of scrimmage. I was disappointed to see him chased down by DE's on sweep plays though.

Rudi isn't the only running game. Watson had 1 run for 25 yards, and P-dub had one run for 8 yards which helps boost the total yardage to 103 at about 3.9 yards a carry.