Carson Palmer Says the Week One Loss Was a Fluke
September 25, 2009 – 9:30 am by Jimmy ShapiroThis was written by Chris Fedor of WKNR in Cleveland. In 2008, the Bengals were one of the worst teams in the NFL. In 2009 they are talking the “P” word in Cincinnati. Why is a team that went 4-11-1 a season ago thinking about a playoff appearance this year? It’s simple. Because Carson Palmer is back healthy this season for the Bengals. There are not too many teams that are so reliant on their quarterback, but Cincinnati’s expectations hang on the health of their star quarterback.
The Bengals season started off shaky as they found a way to lose a game in one of the most bizarre ways that I can ever remember seeing, but they bounced back nicely last week with a win on the road against the Packers in Lambeau. The Bengals have a very stiff test in their AFC North opener this weekend against the defending Super Bowl Champion Steelers. If the Bengals want to show that they are for real and can be a sleeper team in the NFL, they have a chance to prove it this weekend against Pittsburgh.
Carson Palmer joined The Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio to talk about the week one loss against Denver, the bounce-back win against Green Bay, the loss of T.J. Houshmandzadeh and his health this season.
On the game this week against Pittsburgh:
“Well, that’s our first division game and it’s a chance to really start off on the right step in our division. The good thing is we have Cleveland after Pittsburgh and then Baltimore after Cleveland, so we’ve got three big division games where if we come out of those games 3-0, you can really kind of look at the rest of the year as controlling your own destiny as long as you take care of business.”
On the win this past week in Green Bay:
“It was great. To have a heartbreaking loss like we did and to lose in the last ten seconds of a game after you think the game is over and it’s won, then to go back and play at Lambeau and get a win in that environment against a good football team. Just momentum and confidence going into week three against a divisional opponent at home.”
Did you think “oh here we go again” after the Denver loss:
“Not at all. We came back with 2 minutes left, took the lead in a two minute drive and left I think 20 seconds on the clock or 30 seconds on the clock or something like that. That right there gave us kind of that confidence ’alright we’re good. We got back on track when we needed to and we took the lead.’ For a fluke thing to happen like that, that’s all we took it as was a fluke. We knew we were a good football team; we just needed to take care of business for all four quarters. For every second of all four quarters because that’s how important it is in this league and that’s the difference between winning and losing. You can lose with 10 seconds left on the clock.”
On his health:
“I’m 100 percent. I feel great. The body feels great. Last year when I got hit when I was trying to throw and I tore that ligament in my arm, I just knew the days were really coming down, I knew it wasn’t going to get any better and it wasn’t getting any better. That’s when they decided to just shut it down, hope that it healed and if it didn’t heal, then I was going to have Tommy John Surgery.”
On the loss of T.J. Houshmandzadeh:
“That’s a huge loss. That’s a question I’ve been asked a number of times and the answer is you don’t replace T.J. He was such a unique and is such a unique receiver and was so unique within our offense. He really understood our offense and I understood where he was coming in and out of breaks, when he was coming and why he was coming just because we have been working together for seven years. Losing him we didn’t try and say ‘alright this guy is going to do exactly what T.J. did the last four years which is catch about 100 balls a year.’ We’ve just got young guys that wanted that opportunity to step into his role and try to fill his shoes. Andre Caldwell is a guy that is a third round pick out of Florida in his second year. He’s a guy that sat back and watched T.J. learned from T.J. and is now trying to fill that role of Housh in the slot trying to win against linebackers and 3rd DB’s and see what he can do.”
Listen to Carson Palmer on ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt (8:30 into podcast)
Tags: AFC North, Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals, football interviews
