The Bengals could halt a five-game road losing streak with their way with a punchless and mistake-prone Panthers bunch nike air max 2009 that had rookie Jimmy Clausen making his first NFL start at quarterback. Carolina occured to 267 yards by Cincinnati’s sturdy defense and converted just 2-of-11 third-down opportunities, while turning the ball over four times.
Despite the Panthers’ wherewithal to Cheap Abercrombie mount a sustained attack, the Bengals carried merely a three-point lead into the fourth quarter because of their own offensive limitations and failure to make the most of opportunities. Cincinnati didn’t convert any of its first three takeaways into points and badly mismanaged their final drive from the opening half, as time passes expiring as the team moved down to their opponents’ five-yard line.
“We have a hard time making it easy,” head coach Marvin Lewis admitted afterward.
Of perhaps greater concern to the Bengals was a second straight shaky performance out of quarterback Carson abercrombie outlet Palmer. The battle-tested veteran looked more like a player of Clausen’s level of experience on the afternoon, missing several open targets and making a truly alarming quantity of head-scratching decisions with the football in overseeing an offense that stalled for a good portion from the game.
Palmer made good on just 19-of-37 throws for 195 yards along with a touchdown while being intercepted twice, though there have been additional passes that went out and in of defenders’ hands. The former Heisman Trophy winner also wasn’t sharp in the Bengals’ Week 2 verdict over Baltimore, completing under 1 / 2 of his attempts and finishing with a modest 167 yards.
Over Cincinnati’s first three games, Palmer includes a pedestrian 71.3 passer rating along with a 56.6 percent completion rate, numbers strikingly similar to his injury-riddled 2008 campaign when the Bengals won just four times.
While Lewis acknowledged the offense’s need for better execution in the Monday presser, he didn’t seem overly worried by Palmer’s early struggles.
“I think he is doing a great job of directing us,” said Lewis of his quarterback. “He’s been a great leader. When he’s opportunities to throw the football and deliver the ball, he is doing a great job. [Sunday[[]|]|[]|] he’d some guys less than do the items he needs these phones do right. Everything reflects back on the quarterback.”
Cincinnati sets its sights on the second straight road triumph when the reigning AFC North champions Nike Dunk High visit -3 Cleveland this Sunday. The Bengals is going to be entering the most recent Battle of Ohio having won eight consecutive times against division members.