On two separate occasions during Tuesday's press conference about the Carson Palmer trade between the Bengals and Raiders, Marvin Lewis said team owner Mike Brown is a very patient man.
"My boss is a very patient man," he said laughing. "You don't want to play poker with him do you?"
Throughout the majority of the press conference, Lewis did what he's famous for during press conferences; he gave the answers to some basic questions that we already knew the answers to and he danced around the questions that we really wanted answered to.
When he was asked if this transpired as a result of Jason Campbell's injury, Marvin just said that Hue Jackson had an interest for a little bit and that it wasn't his place to speak about the timing and specifics.
When he was asked how many trade offers have their been since the lockout has ended, he simply said there had been some.
And when he was asked what he thought about the comments that trading Palmer in less than a season and waiting three seasons to trade Chad Ochocinco was a double standard, he just said he had no comment.
What he did say were the things we expected him to say. He wishes Carson luck and he appreciates everything he's done for the team. He's excited about the team's future, especially with nine draft picks in the first three rounds of the next two drafts, including two guaranteed first-round picks in 2012. He feels that this was a great deal for both teams.
Lewis was asked if Andy Dalton's play through the first six games of the season factored in to Brown's decision to trade Palmer, to which he replied:
"Well I would be on board with that but I think it's helped Mike become comfortable with the whole situation," Lewis said. "We are who we are and we're six games into our year and we have a lot of football ahead of us. We have a lot of growth, a lot of getting better to do and we're excited about it. "
He was also asked how he would feel if the Bengals and the Raiders battled for a spot in the playoffs (both teams are 4-2 at this point.
"I would welcome that opportunity," Lewis said. "Once you make the choice and decision, you can't worry about what happens on the other side from that point. if you go through life that way, where are you going? You'd chase your tail all the time and you're not moving forward."
It was clear that Lewis was happy, and he should be happy. He giggled more often than usual in a press conference. No longer does the shadow of Carson Palmer hover over the 2011 Cincinnati Bengals and instead of people focusing on how the Bengals didn't do what they were supposed to do with Palmer, they can just focus on the team and the success they've found through the first six games of the season. And while Lewis said that he would have preferred to sit through the press conference as a coach of a 6-0 team, he's happy this trade got done.
He was asked if the Palmer trade made him feel as if a huge elephant has been cleared from the room even though he hasn't been in Cincinnati.
Marvin Lewis just said yes.