CINCINNATI — Carson Palmer admitted he felt a little rusty during Sunday’s game against the Broncos. The rest of the Bengals’ offense could have said the same thing too.
Palmer was 21-of-33 passing for 247 yards and two interceptions in the season-opening 12-7 loss to the Broncos.
“It took a little bit to get the rust off. I wasn’t exactly comfortable, but I didn’t expect to be,” Palmer said. “I knew I was going to have some butterflies and some rust with some foot issues. It took a little while to get those out.”
In a theme that has continued from the preseason, the Bengals were able to move the ball, but they didn’t have many points to show for it.
It wasn’t until their 10th drive of the game that everything finally clicked with an 11-play, 91-yard drive, which concluded with Cedric Benson’s 1-yard touchdown run. Before that, the Bengals had gone three-and-out on their previous four second-half drives. That followed a first half when they had driven into Denver territory five consecutive times, but had nothing to show for it.
“If I knew the answer to the quick fix, we would have scored points in the first quarter, the second quarter and the third quarter,” Palmer said. “It’s unacceptable, and I’ll take the heat on my shoulders. It’s my job as the quarterback to move the ball and get the ball in the end zone. I didn’t do that today.”
In the first quarter, penalties killed the Bengals twice. On the first drive, an offensive holding penalty by Chad Ochocinco in Broncos territory wiped out a 14-yard run by Benson to stall the drive. On the first play of the next series, an illegal man downfield call on center Kyle Cook nullified a 16-yard reception by Ochocinco at the Denver 34. Ochocinco also was called for offensive pass interference on the last play of the third quarter, which wiped out a 23-yard reception.
The one time the Bengals got into field goal range, things ended badly. On their second possession, they drove to Denver’s 10 before Brad St. Louis had a long snap go awry for the second consecutive time against the Broncos. In 2006, it was on a game-tying extra point attempt. This time, it was on Shayne Graham’s 27-yard field goal attempt.
While Denver was comfortable during the first half, giving the Bengals the short and medium routes, it didn’t allow anything deep all day. Chris Henry, who had four touchdowns during the preseason, was double-teamed and had only one catch for 18 yards.
Another receiver who struggled was Laveranues Coles, who had the ball thrown to him five times but had only one reception for 11 yards with two drops.
“I know we missed some tackles and gave up some big plays after catches, but I thought we disrupted Palmer’s rhythm and didn’t let him get going,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said.
Andre Caldwell led Bengals in receptions with six for 54 yards. Ochocinco finished with five catches for 89 yards.
