Palmer key to rejuvenated Bengals' path to playoffs

CINCINNATI -- The words came rolling off Carson Palmer's tongue with all the cockiness you'd expect from a big-time quarterback -- and, despite what some of you may think, he is that.

Carson Palmer not only has the tools to carry the Bengals but also the swagger the team needs to succeed. (AP)

Trailing the Super Bowl-champion Pittsburgh Steelers by five points with 5:14 left in the game, and looking at 71 yards between him and a chance to help his Cincinnati Bengals perhaps shed the moniker of "Same-Old Bengals," Palmer looked at the 10 guys in his huddle and uttered these words.

"We need to take as much time off the clock because when we go down and score we don't want to give them the ball back," Palmer told them.

When we score, he said. Not if. That takes swagger, but, more than that, it takes the ability to back it up. Palmer did that by calmly leading the Bengals on a 16-play march to a touchdown, the score coming with 14 seconds left when he hit Andre Caldwell in the middle of the end zone with a 4-yard touchdown pass. The 2-point conversion gave the Bengals a 23-20 victory in a game they probably had no business winning, and also gave them their first victory over the Steelers since 2006 and first at home since 2001.

It's no wonder receiver Chad Ochocinco insisted that the music he picked out had to be played over the speakers inside the locker room after the game, even though he was urged not to play it because interviews were going on.

The song? Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come. A line from that song that is repeated over and over again is this: It's been a long, long time coming.

"You like the song?" Ochocinco asked anybody who walked by. "It fits today."

It sure did. A change has come to the Bengals. They are legit, a real playoff threat.

And it's because they have a healthy Palmer. On most quarterback lists, Palmer isn't given the due he deserves. Injuries have hurt his status. Losing has as well. So has wearing a Bengals helmet. But when he's healthy, and he has good people around him, he's a top-five passer.

"How do people not know he's as good as he is?" Ochocinco asked. He then answered his own question.

"Nobody pays attention to us," Ochocinco said.

Late-game drives to victories over the champs will bring that with time. If Palmer doesn't lead the Bengals on the game-winning drive Sunday, they're 1-2 with a home loss to their chief division rival. As it is, they're 2-1, one game behind undefeated Baltimore in the AFC North and one game ahead of the Steelers.

A loss would have meant everyone chanting these are the same, old Bengals. I would have been one of those.

"You know it," Ochocinco said.

Dominated for most of the first half, the Bengals scrapped and clawed and put themselves in a position for Palmer to put on his late-game show. On the game-winning drive, Palmer was 7 for 11 for 55 yards and the game-winning throw. He outdid Mr. Fourth Quarter, Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers quarterback.

After the game, Palmer seemed to relish the moment.

"That was the most fun I've ever had playing football," he said.

Ever?

"It was a blast," he said.

Without Palmer for much of last season as he battled injury, the Bengals struggled in a big way. They couldn't move the ball, finishing 31st in offense. As Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said this summer, his team found out what it's like not to get the big-chunk gains from Palmer.

It was painful -- especially to watch.

They didn't get many of those big plays early against the Steelers Sunday. They trailed 13-3 at the half and had just 91 yards of offense, while the Steelers had 258. But the Steelers settled for field goals twice, which kept the Bengals in the game.

A Jonathan Joseph interception return for a touchdown early in the third quarter gave the Bengals life and help set the stage for Palmer's late-game march.

Asked about his comments in the huddle to start the drive, Palmer said he didn't remember what he said.

"No special lines need to be said or a line from a movie script," Palmer said. "You just go out and do your job."

The drive included two game-saving fourth-down conversions, one a 4-yard completion to Laveranues Coles on fourth-and-2 at the Steelers' 20 and the other an 11-yard completion to backup running back Brian Leonard on fouth-and-10 from the Steelers' 15.

On that play, Palmer was flushed out of the pocket and found Leonard at the last second after finding none of his receivers open. Leonard caught the ball and scurried for the first down.

After a spike to stop the clock, Palmer found Caldwell open in the end zone. Caldwell was supposed to be in a different spot, but read the coverage and settled down in the zone. Palmer, who worked with Caldwell this summer at Palmer's home in California, didn't flinch. He found him wide open, setting off a jubilant celebration on the sideline and in the stands.

It was the third game the Bengals had decided in the final minute. The first week, Palmer drove them 91 yards to what should have been a game-winning score, only to see Denver get a miracle touchdown -- they hate that play here -- in the final seconds to give the Bengals a biting loss. Last week, they had to hold on for a road victory over Green Bay, almost blowing a 10-point lead late.

"Carson has been calling the touchdowns before the touchdowns," Ochocinco said.

"There was no doubt we would score."

No doubt? These are the Bengals. Of course there was doubt.

Palmer and his right arm are helping to remove some of that. Even on a day when he didn't play that well, completing 20 of 37 for 183 yards, Palmer found a way. It had to make it even sweeter coming against the team that knocked him out of the Bengals' playoff game loss to the Steelers in 2005.

"Carson has a great command and a composure in those situations," Lewis said. "It's almost uncanny how he feels. He has that fighter-pilot mentality. He thinks he's invincible."

That's a bit much. But this much isn't: The Bengals are contenders.