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Carson Palmer said his shoulder felt fine. "I felt great," the Bengals quarterback said. "I didn’t play great." Forced to answer questions this week about a sore shoulder suffered in Monday night’s loss to Indianapolis, Palmer didn’t necessarily put the issue to rest with his performance for most of Cincinnati’s 24-23 loss to Denver yesterday.
Palmer threw with his normal velocity but not with his accustomed accuracy. He missed Chris Henry and Chad Johnson on deep balls when the receivers had gotten behind the coverage. He had T.J. Houshmandzadeh open in the end zone on Cincinnati’s first possession but overthrew him and was intercepted. Palmer was intercepted again when he threw slightly behind Chad Johnson and All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey picked off the pass. "When playing against the best in the league, you have to be on the money," Palmer said. Through the game’s first 56 minutes, Palmer had completed only 17 of 33 passes for 144 yards. But he made some critical throws when the Bengals needed them most. He led a 90-yard touchdown drive, which included a dart to Houshmandzadeh for 22 yards on fourth-and-9. He lasered another pass to Houshmandzadeh for a 10-yard touchdown. He was hoping for a chance to direct a winning drive in overtime, but that was thwarted by the botched extra-point. Afterward, he said the billing of the game as a must-win might have affected the Bengals. "We talked all week about how big of a game it was," Palmer said. "It might have come down to us playing tight, nervous and scared. I don’t know. I just feel it was overstressed how big this game was. It’s the NFL. Every game is big." Jones returns
Levi Jones returned after missing nine games because of a knee injury. Rookie Andrew Whitworth started the game, but Jones replaced him for Cincinnati’s third possession after Whitworth was beaten for a sack on the previous series.
The Bengals scored on Jones’ first possession, and he escorted Rudi Johnson on a sweep for a 6-yard touchdown. The Bengals had success running behind the left side most of the game. "I felt good, but it didn’t amount to much because we took an ‘L,’ " Jones said. Houshmandzadeh hits milestone
With a 26-yard reception at the start of Cincinnati’s final touchdown drive, Houshmandzadeh went over 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his six-year career. Houshmandzadeh needed 57 yards and got 94 on nine receptions.
"I ain’t worried about that," he said. "Our goal was to win and get to the playoffs." Not all blissful. Columbus Dispatch http://columbusdispatch.com/bengals/bengals.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/25/20061225-E3-00.html |
