'He's a fighter'

So far, Bengals' Palmer as good as advertised

GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- In a couple days spent Carson Palmer-watching at Bengals camp this week, the most impressive thing I heard about him is the story making the rounds regarding his two-interception NFL debut last Sunday against the Jets.

Both of Palmer's picks in the second half were returned for touchdowns by New York, sealing its 28-13 victory. When Cincinnati's rookie quarterback finally threw a scoring pass to the right color jersey in the game's dying seconds, Bengals defensive end Duane Clemons secured the historic ball for his new teammate and proffered it to Palmer as fodder for his trophy case.

Palmer shrugged and declined the memento, pointing out that the 10-yard strike to rookie Bengals receiver Chesley Borders was merely his third NFL touchdown pass.

The perfect response. How can you not love that kind of perspective from a Heisman Trophy winner and first overall pick in the draft? If you want to take anything away from Palmer's first game, take away the distinct impression that two interceptions in a rain-soaked preseason affair won't break this guy. And by extension, Palmer won't be daunted by the prospects of becoming the newest chapter in the Bengals' history of failure, either.

"The best thing, the most important thing, was his reaction to that game," Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said of Palmer's mixed-bag debut. "It didn't surprise me, because that's where he's different from most guys. He knew he didn't do good, and he knows he can do a hell of a lot better.

"And yet he wasn't moping and getting down on himself. He's a fighter. He know he's got to come back and do it the right way. He knows he had a chance to kind of be the hero, which would have been fun. It would have been neat. But not doing it this time won't stop him from doing it the next time."

Fans and the media love to take the temperature reading of a young quarterback every five minutes. But with Palmer -- unlike, say, Tim Couch's hot-and-cold experience with those cross-state Browns -- I get the sense there's going to be a lot of boring 98.6's on the way. With Palmer you get what you see: A humble and well-adjusted 23-year-old who knows how to quickly get back up after he's been knocked down. He's taking the marathon approach to playing quarterback in this league, not a sprinter's mindset.

"I thought I did a couple good things and a couple bad things, but I'm not stuck on that game at all," said Palmer, who was 12-of-22 for 140 yards passing against the Jets, including a pair of scoring drives. "I'm moving on. It was a preseason game. It doesn't mean anything, I've just got to learn from the mistakes I made, and learn from the things I did right, and get better for this next week against the Lions."

Between the rain, the interceptions, and the fact that the radio headset in his helmet didn't work for much of his second-half stint -- he actually wore fourth-string quarterback Tommy Jones' helmet for his first drive -- Palmer could have gone to pieces against the Jets. I mean, isn't Murphy's Law what being a Bengals quarterback is all about? Right, Gus Frerotte?

Admit it, seeing nothing but the highlights of Cincinnati's loss at New York, watching as those two picks were returned to the house, you thought, "Well, Carson Palmer's a Bengal now. That didn't take long."

But here's what stood out to Cincinnati's coaches and players: Palmer's poise in a very difficult situation, and him keeping things together while plays had to be either signaled in or ferried in from quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese on the sideline. Palmer executing a pretty 10-play, 80-yard fourth-quarter scoring drive, and ending on an up note with the touchdown pass to Chesley after the two interceptions, only one of which was his fault.

"The truth is he's been even better than we expected so far," Lewis said this week. "Just the other day against the Jets, to move and avoid the rush and it's all getting knocked back into him. He's so big and he's got the presence to move away from it. And then when he runs, he's fast enough that they can't catch him, and he's able to still throw the football. He's learning that he's got to dump the football in the NFL and not make a bad play worse. But he is learning that."

This week, Palmer is also learning how to play with pain. He aggravated a previously undisclosed plantar fascitis strain sprinting after the second of the Jets' two interception returns for touchdowns, and has missed most of the Bengals' training camp workouts at Georgetown College. His status for Saturday night's preseason home opener against Detroit will be a gametime decision, although if he does play, Lewis said this week it will be in the first half, after starter Jon Kitna.

Maybe more than anyone, it is Kitna who marvels about how much ground Palmer already has covered this preseason, and how smoothly he has embarked on his quest to handle the snake-bit role of Bengals' franchise quarterback.

"I didn't really think that a rookie could be as far along as he is," Kitna said Thursday. "He's very well adjusted to the game. He understands protections. He understands where his third and fourth receivers are supposed to be, and that's the thing that puts him ahead of most guys.

"I don't see that rookie quarterback glaze in his eyes. I just don't. He's very confident. He knows where he wants to go with the football and most of the time he's right. He's handled it very well, and I think he's going to be as good as advertised."

Now understand, as good as advertised isn't a phrase the Bengals ever heard used in connection with David Klingler and Akili Smith, the franchise's last two savior quarterbacks to arrive via the first round of the draft. Then again, with first-year head coach Lewis on hand, Palmer has benefited from the "new-day" mentality that has built steadily in the Queen City this offseason.

Palmer stood up at the NFL Scouting Combine media room podium in February and said he wasn't afraid of the Bengals' sorry past, and so far he has only heard tell.

"The only thing I know is just the change around here," Palmer said. "We'll be doing a drill and guys will start telling a story about what somebody would do last year or the year before, where guys would be sitting down on the sidelines not even practicing. It's just unbelievable to me that that would happen. But that doesn't fly now with coach Lewis and his staff.

"I don't know how bad it was and how bad it can get, but just from hearing stories from guys and hearing the excitement that guys have about this season, that was never there before. In the past guys just dreaded being here because they knew they were going to lose. Hearing that makes you realize this place has changed. Everybody talks about the change, but it's for real."

Is it too early to add "as is Palmer?" As is his style, the Bengals' rookie quarterback won't go there. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

"It's coming, and I keep getting asked the question," said Palmer, who is No. 3 on the team's depth chart, behind Kitna and veteran backup Shane Matthews. "Everybody wants to know when are you going to be comfortable? When are you going to have it? I wish I knew. I wish there was a timetable and Sept. 9 I was going to know everything and I'd be fine. But that's not how it works for anybody.

"It comes in parts, and it comes in practice. It's not sitting in the meeting and looking at a play on the wall that's drawn up in marker. It comes in preseason games, in throwing picks here and throwing picks there. In making bad reads here and there. You learn from it all. That's how I'm going to get there."

When he does get there, when the good far outweighs the bad, and the touchdowns out-number the interceptions at least 2-to-1, I'm guessing he still won't want to keep the ball.

That's the thing about Palmer that's really worth saving.

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.

 

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