Sweetness_34
Footballguy
http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5356
Cautious Palmer eases in
By GEOFF HOBSON
July 29, 2006
Updated: 7-30-06, 4:30 a.m.
GEORGETOWN, Ky. - The knee brace stepped on the field at 6:50 p.m. as a roar went through the crowd of 4,200. An hour after the “Carson Palmer” chant, the man of the hour connected deep on the very first one-on-one route of the season as Chad Johnson sped past Tory James and the offseason dreams of Bengaldom were complete.
The faithful had begun lining up their cars at the entrance of Georgetown College a good five hours before the 7 p.m. practice to greet the defending AFC North champs. “Awesome,” Palmer said, which could very well describe his rehab from reconstructive knee surgery. But the gushing optimism of June gave way to the stiff rust of July as Palmer put the brakes on that automatic Opening Day start and just hoped he could be ready by the third preseason game.
“I think I’m being realistic,” Palmer said under the stands after the debut was over. “It’s unrealistic to say I’m going to start against the Chiefs. It’s realistic to say I might start against the Chiefs. That’s my goal. We’ll just see how it works out.”
First of all, when Palmer got carted off the field against the Steelers with two torn knee ligaments and a dislocated kneecap back on Jan. 8, only a fanatic believed he’d be back out there as soon as Saturday night, cleared and taking the snaps of the No. 1 quarterback.
He was. But he can’t run full speed yet, he’s still not exploding into his five-step drop, he’s still a bit ginger and still has a bit of a limp, as well as anxiousness about taking a hit. He says this first week is “a big test” to see if he can work once or twice a day.
“My grandfather can still go out and take a five-step drop,” Palmer said before practice. “I’m not mentally ready to do everything, but I’m going to see what I can do, see how it feels ... what kind of reaction I get from my knee, whether it’s swollen, stiff or sore. And then that will kind of predict the future.”
The Bengals, wearing helmets and shorts, had just one 11-on-11 session and Palmer took six of the 14 snaps for that 40 percent ratio offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski wants to hand out early on. That’s mainly because he wants to give Anthony Wright and Doug Johnson enough snaps to see if Wright can solidify his hold on the No. 2 job, but Palmer admitted he looked stiff and awkward Saturday both because it was the first day and because of his knee.
“Typical first day of camp,” Palmer said after. “Everybody was late. Balls were being thrown behind people, in front of people. Dropped balls. We’ll get better from here.”
If it looked like Palmer has spent weeks throwing to wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, it’s because he has at a passing camp based in Carson, Calif., during the bulk of July. Along with Antonio Chatman, Tab Perry and tight end Ronnie Ghent. Although it is run by Chad Johnson guru Charles Collins, Johnson couldn’t make it because of a variety of off-field commitments, but that didn’t stop Palmer from hooking up with Johnson again running past James in the drill.
“With Chad, (the timing) will take a couple of days,” he said. “By tomorrow it will be there with the guys I’ve been throwing with. ... It doesn’t matter with T.J. He’s such a consistent route runner that you always know where he’s going to be.”
But Palmer can’t tell you where he is right now. Bratkowski can’t tell you where he is now, planning to dole out the snaps late in the week on feel. Palmer says he’ll have a better idea in practice nine, 10, 11.
“I’m not confident in my knee to, you know, hop over a fence or do anything too crazy,” he said before practice. “I’m confident in running with it, and planting and cutting. But, as far as getting hit, having to run full speed and stopping in a small area, I’m not mentally ready for that. And I don’t think my knee’s ready for that. But I’ll keep testing it and see exactly what I can and can’t do.”
After watching Palmer even do receiver drills on some days at the passing camp, Houshmandzadeh said Saturday he’s ready to bet his check that Palmer will be ready for the Sept. 10 opener in Kansas City. Palmer isn’t even ready to bank he’ll go the third preseason game Aug. 25 against the Packers. Playing in the first two of preseason didn’t seem to be an option Saturday.
“Plans are great if you can stick by them and they work, but going into uncharted territory like this, you just don’t know,” Palmer said. “The plan is of course to play against Kansas City, and if it works that’s great. But if it doesn’t, then we roll with the punches and move on. We can sit here and say that I’m planning to play in that third preseason game against Green Bay, but plans could change tomorrow. It could change the day before the game. We don’t know.
If Palmer isn’t at a full run yet, neither is his schedule. Head coach Marvin Lewis has crafted a plan so that Palmer is not only “immersed” in football, but also the chunk of the strength and rehab program that got him to this point.
"His concern is," Lewis said, " 'I've been working so hard and been able to do my thing and I've had a lot of people around me. Now these other 83 guys are going to get in my way. So where is my time?' I think we're just making sure of that more than anything."
Even choosing a knee brace is going to be done here by feel and experiment. He’s going to try three, knowing that it didn’t matter how big or strong the brace he was wearing when Steelers defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen caved in the side of his knee.
“One of them is bigger and more protective, one of them is a little bit lighter, and one of them is a little bit like the one I was wearing,” Palmer said. “I’ll just see what feels comfortable. It’s really not which one’s stronger, because they’re all strong, and they’re all made to do the same thing.
”I was told after the last injury that it didn’t matter if I had a steel rod going down my leg. When you put pressure like that of someone’s body weight on your leg, and your foot’s planted, there’s not much you can do. I’m not going to go on which looks stronger or feels stronger, I’m going to go with what’s more comfortable and lets me move around as much as possible.”
Usually, quarterbacks want nothing to do with getting hit. But Palmer can't wait.
"Very important. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play in either the third or fourth preseason game and just see how it holds up," Palmer said. "I'm looking forward to getting knocked around a little bit, to get those first hit couple of jitters out of my body."
Palmer admits after the euphoria of working four straight minicamp practices last month that things have slowed a bit in mind and body. But there’s no question that the adrenaline was pumping Saturday night with the crowd chanting while No. 9 pulled on his jersey and flipped a ball to center Rich Braham.
Two hours later, fans reached over the fence to get his own No. 9 in ink. If Lewis and Chad Johnson were Paul and Ringo in New York, Palmer was Elvis everywhere as the faithful wished him good luck.
“It’s awesome just to see it at the first practice,” Palmer said. “We got out of meetings at about 3:30 and saw the stands starting to fill up. It’s fun to be a part of this team, it’s fun to be in this city and everybody fired up with the season a month away.”
As the fans greeted Palmer, right tackle Willie Anderson waved his arms for more volume. Dexter Jackson, the new safety picked up from Tampa Bay, jogged on to the field and joked, “Do they always cheer the offense like this?' ”
If it’s Palmer and Johnson, yeah.
“It’s not very comfortable for me,” said Palmer, still humble after all these Sports Illustrated covers. “It’s an honor to be able to hear people chant your name and be fired up and respect your game and all that.”
And Saturday night proved that six months and Kimo von Oelhoffen couldn’t take that away.
Even if he knows he doesn’t know about Opening Day.
Cautious Palmer eases in
By GEOFF HOBSON
July 29, 2006
Updated: 7-30-06, 4:30 a.m.
GEORGETOWN, Ky. - The knee brace stepped on the field at 6:50 p.m. as a roar went through the crowd of 4,200. An hour after the “Carson Palmer” chant, the man of the hour connected deep on the very first one-on-one route of the season as Chad Johnson sped past Tory James and the offseason dreams of Bengaldom were complete.
The faithful had begun lining up their cars at the entrance of Georgetown College a good five hours before the 7 p.m. practice to greet the defending AFC North champs. “Awesome,” Palmer said, which could very well describe his rehab from reconstructive knee surgery. But the gushing optimism of June gave way to the stiff rust of July as Palmer put the brakes on that automatic Opening Day start and just hoped he could be ready by the third preseason game.
“I think I’m being realistic,” Palmer said under the stands after the debut was over. “It’s unrealistic to say I’m going to start against the Chiefs. It’s realistic to say I might start against the Chiefs. That’s my goal. We’ll just see how it works out.”
First of all, when Palmer got carted off the field against the Steelers with two torn knee ligaments and a dislocated kneecap back on Jan. 8, only a fanatic believed he’d be back out there as soon as Saturday night, cleared and taking the snaps of the No. 1 quarterback.
He was. But he can’t run full speed yet, he’s still not exploding into his five-step drop, he’s still a bit ginger and still has a bit of a limp, as well as anxiousness about taking a hit. He says this first week is “a big test” to see if he can work once or twice a day.
“My grandfather can still go out and take a five-step drop,” Palmer said before practice. “I’m not mentally ready to do everything, but I’m going to see what I can do, see how it feels ... what kind of reaction I get from my knee, whether it’s swollen, stiff or sore. And then that will kind of predict the future.”
The Bengals, wearing helmets and shorts, had just one 11-on-11 session and Palmer took six of the 14 snaps for that 40 percent ratio offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski wants to hand out early on. That’s mainly because he wants to give Anthony Wright and Doug Johnson enough snaps to see if Wright can solidify his hold on the No. 2 job, but Palmer admitted he looked stiff and awkward Saturday both because it was the first day and because of his knee.
“Typical first day of camp,” Palmer said after. “Everybody was late. Balls were being thrown behind people, in front of people. Dropped balls. We’ll get better from here.”
If it looked like Palmer has spent weeks throwing to wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, it’s because he has at a passing camp based in Carson, Calif., during the bulk of July. Along with Antonio Chatman, Tab Perry and tight end Ronnie Ghent. Although it is run by Chad Johnson guru Charles Collins, Johnson couldn’t make it because of a variety of off-field commitments, but that didn’t stop Palmer from hooking up with Johnson again running past James in the drill.
“With Chad, (the timing) will take a couple of days,” he said. “By tomorrow it will be there with the guys I’ve been throwing with. ... It doesn’t matter with T.J. He’s such a consistent route runner that you always know where he’s going to be.”
But Palmer can’t tell you where he is right now. Bratkowski can’t tell you where he is now, planning to dole out the snaps late in the week on feel. Palmer says he’ll have a better idea in practice nine, 10, 11.
“I’m not confident in my knee to, you know, hop over a fence or do anything too crazy,” he said before practice. “I’m confident in running with it, and planting and cutting. But, as far as getting hit, having to run full speed and stopping in a small area, I’m not mentally ready for that. And I don’t think my knee’s ready for that. But I’ll keep testing it and see exactly what I can and can’t do.”
After watching Palmer even do receiver drills on some days at the passing camp, Houshmandzadeh said Saturday he’s ready to bet his check that Palmer will be ready for the Sept. 10 opener in Kansas City. Palmer isn’t even ready to bank he’ll go the third preseason game Aug. 25 against the Packers. Playing in the first two of preseason didn’t seem to be an option Saturday.
“Plans are great if you can stick by them and they work, but going into uncharted territory like this, you just don’t know,” Palmer said. “The plan is of course to play against Kansas City, and if it works that’s great. But if it doesn’t, then we roll with the punches and move on. We can sit here and say that I’m planning to play in that third preseason game against Green Bay, but plans could change tomorrow. It could change the day before the game. We don’t know.
If Palmer isn’t at a full run yet, neither is his schedule. Head coach Marvin Lewis has crafted a plan so that Palmer is not only “immersed” in football, but also the chunk of the strength and rehab program that got him to this point.
"His concern is," Lewis said, " 'I've been working so hard and been able to do my thing and I've had a lot of people around me. Now these other 83 guys are going to get in my way. So where is my time?' I think we're just making sure of that more than anything."
Even choosing a knee brace is going to be done here by feel and experiment. He’s going to try three, knowing that it didn’t matter how big or strong the brace he was wearing when Steelers defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen caved in the side of his knee.
“One of them is bigger and more protective, one of them is a little bit lighter, and one of them is a little bit like the one I was wearing,” Palmer said. “I’ll just see what feels comfortable. It’s really not which one’s stronger, because they’re all strong, and they’re all made to do the same thing.
”I was told after the last injury that it didn’t matter if I had a steel rod going down my leg. When you put pressure like that of someone’s body weight on your leg, and your foot’s planted, there’s not much you can do. I’m not going to go on which looks stronger or feels stronger, I’m going to go with what’s more comfortable and lets me move around as much as possible.”
Usually, quarterbacks want nothing to do with getting hit. But Palmer can't wait.
"Very important. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play in either the third or fourth preseason game and just see how it holds up," Palmer said. "I'm looking forward to getting knocked around a little bit, to get those first hit couple of jitters out of my body."
Palmer admits after the euphoria of working four straight minicamp practices last month that things have slowed a bit in mind and body. But there’s no question that the adrenaline was pumping Saturday night with the crowd chanting while No. 9 pulled on his jersey and flipped a ball to center Rich Braham.
Two hours later, fans reached over the fence to get his own No. 9 in ink. If Lewis and Chad Johnson were Paul and Ringo in New York, Palmer was Elvis everywhere as the faithful wished him good luck.
“It’s awesome just to see it at the first practice,” Palmer said. “We got out of meetings at about 3:30 and saw the stands starting to fill up. It’s fun to be a part of this team, it’s fun to be in this city and everybody fired up with the season a month away.”
As the fans greeted Palmer, right tackle Willie Anderson waved his arms for more volume. Dexter Jackson, the new safety picked up from Tampa Bay, jogged on to the field and joked, “Do they always cheer the offense like this?' ”
If it’s Palmer and Johnson, yeah.
“It’s not very comfortable for me,” said Palmer, still humble after all these Sports Illustrated covers. “It’s an honor to be able to hear people chant your name and be fired up and respect your game and all that.”
And Saturday night proved that six months and Kimo von Oelhoffen couldn’t take that away.
Even if he knows he doesn’t know about Opening Day.
