Carson Palmer: “We Haven’t Won Anything Yet”
October 14, 2009 – 9:15 am by Jimmy Shapiro
Don’t look now, but the Cincinnati Bengals are 4-1 and at the top of the tough AFC North. Coming in to the year, many people thought the AFC North would be a two-team race between the two teams that represented the AFC in the Championship game, the Steelers and the Ravens. The Bengals didn’t get that memo. These are no longer the Bungles of the past. The Bengals are a fluke play away from being undefeated this season. This is a very good, tough, physical team that understands what it takes to win in the NFL and is now winning games at the end when they used to fold.
One of the biggest reasons for their turnaround is Carson Palmer is back healthy and making things happen when it matters the most. It has certainly helped to have Cedric Benson play like the top-five pick that he once was, but the Bengals will go as far as Carson Palmer will take them. So far he’s taken the Bengals to the top of the AFC North.
Carson Palmer joined Fox Sports Radio to talk about their 4-1 start, the play of Cedric Benson so far this season, and not getting overconfident after such a great start to the season.
On how he feels about the 4-1 start to the season:
“Extremely happy. As you said, we’ve come a long way and gotten a lot better as the season has gone on. We’ve progressed each week. This team really started coming together in April when we all reported back for OTA’s, workouts, minicamps and all that. We just started working then. We had a couple of new coaches added and changed some schemes offensively and defensively. Since we started and reported way back early in spring, we’ve just slowly gotten better. We need to continue to do it because we still have a number of things to clean up if we want to be the team we want to be late in December and early in January.”
On the off-the-field issues that happened in the past in Cincinnati:
“I don’t think we’ve had anything really in the last couple of years. We definitely had our run-ins in the past and a number of those players aren’t on the team anymore. But the guys that have had some issues and are still on the team, have really changed their lives, made big steps, became better people and really made smarter decisions on and off the field.”
On the play of Cedric Benson:
“My perception when he first got here was negative. I’d never met him. I’d only heard through the media on the Chicago Bears website and I’d see on ESPN all these negative things come out. I tried to clear my mind and really not take anything that I’d heard in his past and let it effect the way I was going to view him. I was pretty open-minded and there was a little bit of a negative perception, but he absolutely, 110 percent, wiped every negative thing I had in my head away. He’s been nothing but a great teammate, he’s a leader, he works his butt off, he’s in the weight-room all day long, he studies film, he asks questions, he loves it when other guys score touchdowns, he’s a completely selfless player and if you’ve been watching the Bengals at all, he’s an absolute beast coming out of the backfield. He had a 35 yard touchdown run against the Ravens to kind of seal the game in the fourth quarter. (He) ran away from their defensive backs but also ran through a Ray Lewis tackle. He’s a fantastic back, he’s explosive, he’s fast and he’s been a great guy.”
On not getting overconfident because of the great start:
“It’s still so early in the season. We’re just getting past the first quarter of the season and we have a long way to go. NFL seasons are long. 16 weeks is a lot of games and we haven’t’ won anything yet. We’ve won a couple of games and some close games that have been dramatic at the end. We’re playing for what counts at the end of the year. The games in September and October are definitely nice to win, but it’s the games you want to win in December and January that put you in the playoffs.”
(This post was written by Chris Fedor of WKNR in Cleveland)
Listen to Carson Palmer on Fox Sports Radio with Petros & Money
Tags: AFC North, Carson Palmer, Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals, football interviews, last second NFL wins
