Topic: Palmer Leads 3-0 Bengals Past Steelers

Team Infidel

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...s012500D09.DTL

Carson Palmer made no secret of his hatred for the Pittsburgh Steelers during his rehab. After the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback sent the defending Super Bowl champions to a 1-2 start, the feeling might be mutual.

Alternating between brilliant and awful, Palmer threw two touchdown passes to T.J. Houshmandzadeh less than a minute apart midway through the fourth quarter following Steelers turnovers and the unbeaten Bengals (3-0) rallied for a 28-20 victory Sunday.

"I didn't take anything personal into this game," said Palmer, who during the offseason said how much he hated the Steelers. "I didn't come in here thinking, `It's payback time, let's get these guys.' I came in here thinking it's a divisional game and let's get a win."

Palmer seriously injured his knee in January when Kimo von Oelhoffen rolled atop it early in Pittsburgh's playoff victory. In his first game against the Steelers since, he had three fumbles, two interceptions and was sacked six times, but overcame that with four touchdown passes.

"It shows how good your team is when your quarterback doesn't play well and you get a win," Palmer said.

Ben Roethlisberger, recovering from an offseason motorcycle accident and appendicitis attack, was an ineffective 18-of-39 for 209 yards for the Steelers.

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