Bengals' Palmer At His Best In Closing Minutes

CINCINNATI -- The crowd is so loud that it's difficult to hear the quarterback's signals. The minutes are dissolving away. There's a long way to go and no room for error. One last drive, win or lose.

Carson Palmer is the only one who talks in the Cincinnati Bengals huddle.

"He tells us to shut up, and he says we're going to go down here and score," receiver Chad Ochocinco said Wednesday. "When you hear something like that, that type of reassurance is pretty cool, especially in those situations."

The Bengals are playing for first place in the AFC North this week because they've been able to save themselves in those situations, the ones that seem to be bringing out the best in their California-cool quarterback.

"There's a calmness that he has in those situations," coach Marvin Lewis said. "He has command of the things that he likes, when it's up to him to make the calls."

In those frantic moments, he's performed like the NFL's comeback player of the year.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure how calm or un-calm I am," Palmer said. "There are so many things going through your head from play to play and from one second to the next. I like being in that, and we like being in that as an offense. You control your own destiny when you have the ball last. You either do or you don't. You either win or you lose."

Palmer missed all but four games in 2008 after partially tearing a ligament and tendon in his passing elbow, dooming the Bengals. They lost their first eight games and finished 4-11-1 while Palmer's elbow healed without surgery.

By training camp, the elbow was fine. A sprained left ankle forced him to miss the last three preseason games and left him rusty heading into the regular season. It showed in the opener against Denver, when the Bengals were being shut out 6-0 before they got the ball back on their own 9-yard line with 6:21 to go.

That's when the magic began.

Palmer went 5 for 5 for 63 yards during a 91-yard touchdown drive that put the Bengals up 7-6 with 38 seconds to go. It got overshadowed when Brandon Stokley caught a tipped pass for an 87-yard touchdown that gave the Broncos a win.

The Bengals didn't need a late drive to beat Green Bay, but found themselves in a similarly desperate situation a week later against Pittsburgh. They trailed 20-15 when they got the ball back at their own 29-yard line with 5:14 to go. Palmer took it from there, throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell with 14 seconds left to win the game.

Last week in Cleveland, Palmer pulled off two such drives. Down 20-14 with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter, he led the Bengals on a 70-yard drive that culminated in his 2-yard touchdown pass to Ochocinco with 1:55 left. The extra-point attempt was blocked, so the Bengals were forced to do it again in overtime, with Palmer driving the Bengals in range for Shayne Graham's winning field goal with 4 seconds left.

During those last-minute drives against the Broncos, Steelers and Browns, Palmer went 21 for 31 (excluding two spikes) for 221 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 68 percent of his throws under the most intense pressure. His passer rating during those drives is a Pro Bowl-caliber 109.7.

The rest of the time, he has completed 56 percent of his throws and has four touchdowns with five interceptions, which works out to a subpar rating of 66.3.

During those late drives, the Bengals have converted four fourth-down plays to keep going.

"It's like we play better under pressure or something," said Ochocinco, who had two touchdown catches in Cleveland. "Now if we can make this a four-quarter pressure game, we'll put up 100 points."

The Bengals and Ravens are both 3-1 as they get ready for their division battle in Baltimore on Sunday. The Bengals have a sense that their quarterback, the missing piece in their lost 2008 season, is just now getting back to where he was before the injuries got him off track.

"I think that was Carson's best football game to date, this year," Lewis said of the Browns game. "My memory doesn't go much longer than that. I think he's playing better and better each week. His decision-making was as good as it's been this year.

"I think he's very confident. He's getting back into playing."

The comebacks have Palmer dreaming about pulling one off on the biggest stage.

The Bengals have been to the playoffs only once during Palmer's six years in Cincinnati, a loss to Pittsburgh in 2005 when he got his left knee shredded on his first pass.

He wants to go back.

"I look at our schedule every day," Palmer said. "It's up in our team room. Whether it's daydreaming or wishful thinking, I start putting numbers together - wins and losses - and try to figure it out."