Dear Jesus. Thank you for Carson Palmer

[walzav29]

As I was watching the Lions lose with Jeff Garcia last night and also seeing the scroll of Alex Smith's horrible stats. It made me remember the bad old days, and I hope we all know how great it is to finally have a great QB. Even if he has a couple of down years in the next 15 years. We have to let him slide. I just wanted to publicly thank Jesus for finally blessing all of us tortured Bengal fans who have endured some of the worst QB's in the history of the NFL.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

When his worst game of the year ends up in a win, you know we are going in the right direction.

By the way, who was it that said before the season there was no way he wouldn't have 30 TDs and less than 10 interceptions?

Doesn't look that unbelievable now does it?

[ShulaSteakhouse]

I agree Walzav. Palmer will get better with time and as this franchise hopefully stabilizes/upgrades itself also.

What's funny is that this team really isn't even the 4th or 5th best in the NFL technically. But when you have a rare, great QB, he can lead you to 10-3 records. Hell I think Palmer's already won 17 games here as a starter in his 2nd year playing.

With Kitna back there this is another 8-8 team - they did not do anything to upgrade this team in the off-season outside of the draft again, and that's why I say that.

Palmer really wasn't "that" bad yesterday, he had maybe 2-3 bad throws total, but it was a lack of possessions and time to throw and drops that cut drives short and the defense couldn't get off the damn field again....leading to a bad #'s day.

He still threw for a TD and made some nice/clutch throws to keep drives alive as usual and did his job.

He's the difference between winning and losing right now more so than anyone else on that team - coach or player.

[dave]

Couldn't agree more. It's almost easy to take for granted how good he is until I watch other games, and see QBs missing their targets badly. Granted, Orton is a rookie, but he had a few throws yesterday that were just unbelievably bad.

[Columbusbengal]

and the defense couldn't get off the damn field again....leading to a bad #'s day.

I agree with Shula about Palmer. However, I thought the stats showed the Bengals had more time of possession than the Browns. Am I wrong??

[H.B. Bengal]

I am hoping that his list of things to do, had the QB situation of the Bengals, WAY low on the bottom.

I am happy that Carson found a way here though.

[Stripes]

I agree with Shula about Palmer. However, I thought the stats showed the Bengals had more time of possession than the Browns. Am I wrong??

I believe the Browns had the ball for about a minute longer than we did. We managed to score fairly quickly even with the run.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Just looking at that killer 8+ minute drive Cleveland had, and two others in the 4-5 minute range. That's just too long for your offense to be sitting on the bench in freezing cold, windy weather constantly.

Both teams had similar posession times - but the Bengals did it by running the ball, the Browns did it with big 3rd down plays and nickel and diming the defense to death, making for very long drives.

It's a combo of things as always - but if the defense gets the Browns off the field like they're supposed to on 3rd and long more often - Carson has 2-3 more possessions to work with - and every single possession this offense gets is a potential TD and we all know that.

so, obviously, Cleveland played exactly the type of game they wanted to yesterday.

All that said their defense was actually pretty stout except for the 1st half rushing yards, and a few big running plays in the 2nd half. The Bengals' wr's were not open all day long, and Carson was jumping around in the pocket under pressure again without a lot of time to set up deep throws.

[HairOnFire]

Just looking at that killer 8+ minute drive Cleveland had, and two others in the 4-5 minute range. That's just too long for your offense to be sitting on the bench in freezing cold, windy weather constantly.

I'm not sure you can blame the offensive lack of passing production on the weather or the long drive surrendered by the Bengal defense. Despite the steady success the Bengals were having running the ball, and the obvious problems they were having in the passing game, they started both the 3rd and 4th quarters by going 3-and-out, throwing incomplete passes on all 6 plays. So for whatever reason the Bengals seem determined to attempt throwing the ball after every prolonged break in the action despite the fact that each occasion ignored a chance to feature a fresh and rested Rudi Johnson. And I guess that trend includes when Palmer made his biggest mistake, throwing a silly interception immediately after the nearly 10 minute delay that followed Chris Perry's injury.