UPDATE: Carson Palmer didn't practice Saturday, Questionable against the St. Louis Rams

by Josh Kirkendall on Aug 22, 2009 4:44 PM EDT in Injury

Even though the Bengals next take the field on Thursday against the St. Louis Rams, Carson Palmer remains questionable. Joe Reedy writes that we "should know more on Palmer after he hits the practice field [later] this afternoon." [UPDATE: The Bengals tweet that Palmer didn't dress for practice on Saturday]

Palmer's absence Thursday allowed J.T. O'Sullivan to showcase his own talents with the first team. For the most part, he didn't make mistakes and late in the first half, he made a perfect throw to Chris Henry, which eventually won the game, in the face of an eight-man rush.

As this pace, O'Sullivan is the Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback. It would take a disaster through the remaining two preseason games, as well as near perfection by Jordan Palmer, to shake up the depth chart. With that thought in mind, let's compare the numbers between O'Sullivan and Fitzpatrick through the first two games.

Quarterback comparison through two games.

Season	Quarterback	QB Rating	Comp.	Yards	TDs	INTs	Sacks
2009	J.T. O'Sullivan	136.3	79.2%	241	2	0	4
2008	Ryan Fitzpatrick	109.0	73.9%	170	1	0	2

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I know it's preseason and all, but JTO looked decent against the Pats first team.

Which is a little bit more encouraging than the specter of Fitzpatrick. But it’s obviously a huge drop off. I don’t mind waiting for Carson to get healthy, but he needs to get some reps in against live action, lest he risk a Peyton Manning-esque slow start to next season due to lack of rhythm and game speed practice.

by jsl413 on Aug 22, 2009 4:57 PM EDT reply actions

Reedy tweets that Palmer is walking fine and did rehab work at PBS today.

by jsl413 on Aug 22, 2009 6:49 PM EDT reply actions

Not encouraging :/

I worry the lack of games will yield a timing offense that is unsynchronized. That would mean the 4th preseason game is the dress rehearsal vs. the colts scrubs. I can’t see that as getting the Bengals ready for the Broncos.

by mskiles314 on Aug 23, 2009 12:18 AM EDT reply actions

Well, Thursday is still a few days away.

I agree that there are chemistry issues at stake, but more important is Palmer being healthy. I don’t think it’s worth it to rush him back, though. The season is relatively short compared with other sports, but 1 game of poor timing won’t tank the season.

by jsl413 on Aug 23, 2009 12:25 AM EDT up reply actions