Carson Palmer finally looked like he was on the same page with all of his receivers last week, though he still couldn’t lead his team to a win.
Palmer and the Cincinnati Bengals will be looking to put together a complete effort on both offense and defense when they attempt to snap a three-game slide against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The Bengals (2-4) went off for a season-high 32 points last Sunday at Atlanta, but the Falcons managed to squeeze out 39 points to walk away with the victory.
Trailing 24-3 at the half, Palmer took to the air in the second half and finished 36 of 50 for 412 yards and three touchdowns. Chad Ochocinco caught 10 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown and Terrell Owens added nine catches for 88 yards and a score. Jordan Shipley led the team with 131 yards on six receptions.
Palmer had looked lost at times during the first five games, including a three-interception performance in a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 10. But the former No. 1 overall pick seemed to answer the questions with his performance against the Falcons, especially during the final scoring drive when he completed 7 of 8 passes to pull Cincinnati within one score with 1:33 left.
It was the defense that let the Bengals down, especially the secondary. Matt Ryan passed for 299 yards, including 201 to Roddy White, who consistently outworked the coverage. The Bengals’ pass rush wasn’t much help, failing to take down Ryan once in the contest.
Cincinnati’s defense took another hit this week when it was revealed that cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones would miss the remainder of his comeback season due to a herniated disk in his neck. Jones, who recovered a fumble and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown against the Falcons, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday and might need surgery.
The Dolphins (3-3) are coming off a frustrating loss of their own after falling at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-22. It looked as though Miami had secured the win when the defense forced Ben Roethlisberger to fumble just shy of the goal line and appeared to recover the ball in the end zone with 2:26 left in the game.
But officials reviewed the play and could not determine which team actually came away with the ball, giving it back to Pittsburgh, which kicked a field goal on the next play to take the lead.
Chad Henne threw for 257 yards and a touchdown in the loss but the Dolphins were repeatedly forced to settle for field goals after failing to convert third downs.
Miami coach Tony Sparano did not show much faith in his offense, electing to kick instead of going for it on fourth down and short on five different occasions despite being in Pittsburgh territory each time.
But at least Miami is back on the road this week, where they have gone 3-0 this season.