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Steel Resolve Palmer, Bengals upend Steelers to remain unbeaten
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- He hated the eight months of exhausting rehabilitation,
and the team that made him go through it. Carson Palmer didn't play the way
he wanted against the team he dislikes the most, but the result couldn't
have been more satisfying. Alternating between brilliant and awful, the
Cincinnati quarterback threw two touchdown passes to T.J. Houshmandzadeh
less than a minute apart midway through the fourth quarter following
Pittsburgh Steelers turnovers and the unbeaten Bengals rallied for a
28-20 victory Sunday over the Super Bowl champions. "We're a better team than we were last year and we expected to come in
here and win this game,but it took everything we had," running back Rudi
Johnson said.
Especially from Palmer, whose focus has been on the Steelers almost
since the moment Kimo von Oelhoffen tore apart his knee by rolling atop
it early in Pittsburgh's playoff victory in January. Palmer had three fumbles,
two interceptions and was sacked six times, yet overcame them with four
touchdown passes while going 18-of-26 for 193 yards. "I didn't take anything
personal into this game," said Palmer, who during the offseason said how
much he hated the Steelers. "I didn't come in here thinking, `It's payback
time, let's get these guys.' I came in here thinking it's a divisional game
and let's get a win." Chris Henry, the wide receiver hurt on the same play as Palmer, wasn't as
diplomatic. "We planned on coming back this year and beating Pittsburgh
two times," said Henry, who caught Palmer's other two TD passes among his
five receptions. For the Bengals (3-0), it's one down and one to go. They already own a
two-game lead in the AFC North over the Steelers (1-2), who couldn't
withstand a second mediocre game in seven days by their own rehabilitating
quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger, recovering from an offseason motorcycle accident and
appendicitis attack, was an ineffective 18-of-39 for 209 yards and three
interceptions. Kevin Kaesviharn made the third and final pickoff, on a
third-and-10 from the Bengals' 16 with Pittsburgh trying to drive for the
tying score in the closing seconds. With the Bengals scoring 21 points off Steelers turnovers, Palmer twice
hit Henry for touchdowns for a 14-7 halftime lead. Then, after the Steelers
seemed in control even while leading only 17-14 in the fourth, Palmer
took advantage of fumbles by punt returner Ricardo Colclough and running
back Verron Haynes to hit Houshmandzadeh on TD throws of 9 and 30 yards only
54 seconds apart. Houshmandzadeh had missed two games with a heel injury but, with the Steelers
limiting star Chad Johnson to one catch for 11 yards, took advantage of man
coverage to make nine catches for 94 yards. Colclough's fumble at the Steelers 9, recovered by Tony Stewart, was the turning
point. An inexperienced returner, Colclough tried to catch a tumbling punt that
was aided by a strong wind with his hands over his head but never controlled it,
and the Bengals scored on the next play. "You can put that on me, too," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said of using an
inexperienced punt returner in a key situation. Besides the turnovers, Cowher was especially unhappy the Steelers had penalties
for excessive celebration and taunting. "That will not happen again. That's on me," he said. The Steelers, coming off a 9-0 loss Monday to Jacksonville, couldn't have gotten
off to a much better start. They drove 80 yards for the first of Willie Parker's
two short touchdown runs, a 3-yarder, less than six minutes into the game. Parker
ran for 133 yards. Palmer then had what might be the worst three-play sequence of his career --
fumbling on consecutive plays, with the Bengals recovering each time before
his pass was intercepted by Deshea Townsend at the Steelers' 46. "It shows how good your team is when your quarterback doesn't play well and
you get a win," Palmer said. The Steelers, with a chance to quickly make it 14-0, drove to the Bengals'
6 before Madieu Williams picked off Roethlisberger's pass into the end zone
the first regular-season interception Roethlisberger has thrown inside an
opponent's 20. "I put a lot of pressure in myself to produce," Roethlisberger said. "There
were a lot of ebbs and flows, but I think today was a big step for me." Notes: ... Cincinnati has started 3-0 the last two seasons, a franchise first.
... Johnson doesn't have a touchdown catch in his last four games against Pittsburgh.
... Roethlisberger is 8-2 against the AFC North, with the only two losses to Cincinnati.
... The Steelers had won 27 of 33 before losing two in a row.
... The road team has won six of the last seven in the series and each of the last four. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
