Professor

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...021/1066/rss07

Palmer: 'I felt good'
BY MARK CURNUTTE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer participated in seven-on-seven pass drills this morning in minicamp practice, the first time he has faced a defense since injuring his left knee Jan. 8 against the Steelers.

“I felt good. I felt confident with my reads, confident with what I was doing on the field, didn’t quite feel athletic and fluid like I should and normally am,” he said.

“And that’s going to take a while to get the rust off and just get the strength and all the balance back. But it was a first good opportunity to get back on the field and throw against the defense and doing quarterback drills. Overall it was a good first day.”

Palmer said he resisted driving hard back from center in his backpedal and, for the first time in his career, is realizing he has limitations in how much he can do physically.

Teammates were enthused by Palmer’s performance.

“Nothing happened to his arm,” said wide receiver Chad Johnson, who caught a 45-yard fly pass from Palmer.

Right tackle Willie Anderson said the entire offense got a lift from seeing Palmer on the field.

“He stepped right in and had great command of the huddle,” Anderson said.

Before practice, Bengals head trainer Paul Sparling said Palmer is ahead of schedule in his rehab from major knee surgery, a "model patient" and has only experienced "minor bumps in the road.”

Sparling said the coaches, trainers and front office remain "cautiously optimistic" that Palmer would be able to play in the opener Sept. 10 at Kansas City.

"He comes into the training room and asks, `What’s next?’" Sparling said of Palmer’s attitude in rehab. "We’ve never had to push him, not once. He tells us what’s bothering him, what’s sore."

Palmer has worked on drop-back movements, thrown and shuffled over ground pads to improve his agility.

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Professor

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5298

Sept. 10 is 86 days away, but it crept a little closer Thursday afternoon when Carson Palmer capped the busiest day of his rehab by briefly commandeering the No Huddle offense in his first team action since he led his team to the playoffs five months ago.

Palmer called it “a great day,” but it’s only the first day of many first days heading into Opening Day.

“I would much rather have a little bit more time,” said Bengals trainer Paul Sparling Thursday of the eight months separating Palmer’s surgery from the Chiefs. “That being said, given the position that he plays, given the successful surgery, given the fact he’s had an uneventful rehab, it’s very conceivable.”

Thursday’s milestone day did nothing to chill the optimism as the Bengals opened their mandatory minicamp with two practices.

“He actually looked better this afternoon than he did this morning,” said offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski.

The decision to put Palmer in his first 11-on-11 action since he tore up his knee in the Wild Card Game against the Steelers came on the field during Thursday’s second practice. And it shows how the Bengals are going to treat his comeback.

By feel.

How he feels.

“I’m the only person that is going to be able to tell me when I’m ready and what I can do,” Palmer said. “It’s myself and how my body responds. Everything has felt great.”

But Palmer wasn’t happy with the practice. He did rifle a completion a come-back to wide receiver Kelley Washington in front of cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, and he dropped a mid-season 20-yard dart to wide receiver Chad Johnson on the sideline in between Ratliff and dropping defensive lineman Justin Smith. Yet he groused about under throwing Johnson over the middle on a pass middle linebacker Caleb Miller couldn’t tuck away for a leaping interception.

“When you’re in no pads, the defensive line isn’t rushing so there’s not a big worry about a bunch of things going on at your feet,” Palmer said. “It’s just a good chance to kind of get back in the swing of things and throw the ball with people around you.

“Overall, it was a great day. I wasn’t bored watching practice,” Palmer said. “I got to throw some balls. That was fun. It wasn’t a good practice as far as I’m concerned, personally. I felt rusty and felt awkward at times and off-balance, but that stuff will come.”

Palmer may have felt out of sorts and maybe no one is willing to say if he’ll be back for Kansas City or the July 29 start of training camp. And he admitted it began to sink in Thursday, when he only did one 11-on-11 drill, that he’s simply not ready.

“It felt great to be on the field, but at the same time I realize I’m not ready to step in there,” he said. “I need to tell myself and feel for myself when I’m ready and not ready. Because that’s what it all is. It’s not the doctors’ call all the time. At some point he needs to turn it over to the player and the player needs to be honest and up front and tell him what he’s ready for.

“I’ve always felt like I could do anything,” Palmer said. “But I’m starting to feel I’m not quite ready for everything and that’s good going into training camp, the preseason games, and going into the season just knowing when my body is ready and not ready.”

If Thursday was a sobering day, it was also clearly a major day in his battle back from reconstructive surgery on the most cherished left knee in Bengaldom. Palmer, wearing his helmet and No. 9 jersey for the first time since he was carted off the field Jan. 8, is now focusing on his football timing in his rehab and that was on display in Thursday morning’s practice when he took part in 7-on-7 for the first time this spring.

"He looked like the same old Carson Palmer to me," said cornerback Rashad Bauman, one of the seven linebackers and defensive backs who worked against Palmer. “It wasn’t his am that was hurt, that’s for sure. It looked like he hasn’t lost a step. It’s like he’s been there every day. Carson is Carson. He can make all the throws. He didn’t miss a beat. He’s pinpointing them everywhere they should go.”

Wide receiver Tab Perry took one of those throws in between the “8s,” of his jersey.

“It was a deep come-back route,” Perry said. “I had an inside release and he put it between the linebacker sitting in the flat and the corner and he hit me just as I was coming out of my break.

“Every time he’s out there, it makes us feel good, even if he’s just doing little things,” Perry said. “To see he’s out there, fighting back. That’s our guy. That’s our leader.”

That was Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis’ point of the day. He didn’t think Palmer’s outing jolted his team with adrenaline because they’ve seen him working on the little things every day. But Lewis thinks it’s important that guys who got dinged up and still played last year, such as running back Rudi Johnson, see Palmer grinding to get back and vice versa.

“When you see him taking the reps after what he’s been through, it definitely boosts the morale of the team,” said left tackle Levi Jones, who knows of such things after not missing a game in 2003 despite undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery between Sundays.

“That sends a message to everybody else,” Jones said. “He’s trying to do everything possible. What are you doing?”

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Professor

Sparling also said he had some minor cartilage damage as well as the tears to the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament. But he said the injury to the kneecap that had been called major is not an issue because Palmer suffered some tears of the connective tissue around the patella tendon “not uncommon,” with an ACL injury.

But everyone would like a little more time for what no one can deny is a serious injury. Palmer’s Pro Bowl wide receiver, Chad Johnson, says he’s ahead of schedule but even if he wasn’t hurt there are always timing routes to perfect. Palmer himself said, “I wish we had a couple of more (months) just for me personally. But look at the flip side, if I am ready to play that game that day, it can’t come quickly enough.”

Sparling says it’s impossible to tell if he’s weeks ahead of schedule, ludicrous to pull out a crystal ball to circle a date, ridiculous to predict how much work he needs to get in preseason to be ready for Week One.

It all gets back to timing and time.

“It’s healing tissue. We can’t speed up biology,” Sparling said. “It comes down to comfort and confidence. As Carson challenges his knee more and more, his confidence and comfort level increase. It’s a day-by-day process. . . Time is the ultimate judge. We’re cautiously optimistic he’ll be ready for the opener. If he’s not ready, we’ll go from there.

“If we make a mistake, it’s going to be holding him back too long, not pushing him out too soon. There’s too much riding on this. He knows it, we know it. We’re not going to be foolish about it.”

Chad Johnson has already urged Palmer not to push it now: “I want to see you for the entire 16 and the playoffs.”

“I tell him to get it back right so there are no setbacks once the season starts and we make the run for Miami (site of the Super Bowl),” Johnson said. “If he can do some of the things he’s doing now, he’s going to be able to play. The question in my mind is will he able to adjust to the hits. How will it affect his knee? That’s the only thing you have to worry about because, like I said, there’s nothing wrong with his arm.”

Palmer is just starting to understand it’s going to be the mental gymnastics more than the sweat that decides how it comes out. Particularly after Thursday morning’s practice.

“I can definitely sense there was something else,” Palmer said. “Normally I’m out there making my point on protection, reading defenses, and going through my reads. There was something in the back of my head that made me slow down a little bit and not explode out from the center and fly back there. It’s something that is in the back of my mind and I need to keep being aware of it. As soon as I feel my body is ready to take over and I’m ready to play, I need to wipe that out and just play football.”

But Sparling couldn’t ask for a better patient. Not once, he says, has his staff had to push him and that’s not always the case. Every day Palmer comes into the training room asking, “What’s next?” When he has some soreness and stiffness, which Sparling calls typical minor rehab stuff that hasn’t impeded his progress, Palmer says, “Let’s go. I can deal with that.”

“He makes it easy,” Sparling said. “He doesn’t whine, he doesn’t pout, he doesn’t mope.”

That’s easy, Palmer says, when he thinks of the motivation.

“Just thinking back to being at Pittsburgh, being at Detroit, being at home and coming out of the tunnel,” Palmer said. “Being at Chicago, on the road, big wins. Getting to that playoff game. That’s why we play football. That feeling (when) you step on the field, and the feeling when you walk off the field. In Chicago. ‘We just beat Pittsburgh at home.’ The game. Hopefully, it’s Sept. 10.”

It just got a little closer.

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J-Unit

That has to be great news for the Bengals, no one knew how he was going to bounce back.

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University of Tennessee Lady Vols 2007 National Champions

MickeyG

Well with Kitna gone they need him to come back strong or it will be a real up hill battle to try and win the division.

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J-Unit

Is Anthony Wright their back-up?

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University of Tennessee Lady Vols 2007 National Champions

J-Unit

Yes they will be however. It all depends on how Roethlisberger bounces back as well as Steve McNair. The Bengals fate doesnt just lie on Palmer.

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University of Tennessee Lady Vols 2007 National Champions

gruntbygod

The AFC North could be the strongest division by the end of the season,The Bengles and Steelers will be up there with the top in confrence, and Baltimore, with Mcnair should be able to fight for a Wildcard. I also think the Browns could surprise alot of people this year

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Professor

yes he is and lets just say for argument's sake that carson does miss four games. With the talent around Wright, I think he could easily go 2-2 in those 4 games, which would give palmer time to heal up nicely and work on practice(essentially his preseason) and come in and finish the season strong, as long as he doesn't go 0-4, it is the games won in november and december that take you to the playoffs and it is certainly better to have a healthy palmer for that stretch.

Jeb

I know the Browns could be a bigger contender this season. That means the whole divison is nothing but one big brawl, ...this will be good!

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