Offense, defense duel

TDJets72027 · Aug 3, 2007

Carson Palmer hit all five of his passes for 69 yards during his 11 snaps while staking the offense to a 12-3 lead here Friday night in the Bengals intrasquad scrimmage before an estimated crowd of 8,500.

And the offense held on to win, 35-31.

Palmer hit wide receiver Chad Johnson three times for 44 yards, one on a twisting 16-yard fade on the sideline against cornerback Keiwan Ratliff. Running back Rudi Johnson got the touchdown on the sixth play of the night on a six-yard run up the middle.

Linebacker Ed Hartwell got three points for the defense when he stuffed Johnson on a third-and-one on the next series.

That signaled a defensive run that cut the offenses's lead to 15-11. Cornerback Brandon Williams picked off backup quarterback Doug Johnson gunning for wide receiver Chris Henry for five pointsand linebacker Caleb Miller and free safety Madieu Williams combined on two stops of rookie running back Kenny Irons inside the 5.

Working against renmants of the second and third offensive lines, the first defense surged to an 18-14 lead when tackle Domata Peko logged his second tackle for a loss of the night and tackle John Thornton sacked Johnson.

Palmer checked back into the game with the first offensive line abd promptly threw an interception to linebacker Andre Frazier over the middle that tied the game at 23 after the offense got a touchdown pass from Johnson to wide receiver Skyler Green.

But Palmer had the last laugh, looking to an old friend on third down and goal. Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who led the AFC last season in third-down catches, slithered away from linebacker Eric Henderson for an eight-yard touchdown catch that gave the offense a 29-23 lead.

Palmer finished seven of nine for 79 yards.

Then when rookie quarterback Jeff Rowe checked into the game, Irons jacked the lead to 32-23 with the help of a 16-yard bolt to the perimeter. He also earned some points with a first down on six-yard grinder up the middle.

Irons' quickness came as advertised and he broke a 24-yard run on a slick cutback up the middle, but he fumbled at the end of the run and when rookie defensive end Xzavie Jackson recovered the defense had cut the lead to 35-31.

Irons ripped off 65 yards on his first 10 carries.

PRE-GAME NOTES: The guys to watch Friday night are the guys you never see or haven't seen yet, thanks to injuries and rehab.

Scott Kooistra, who has one career start, gets the start at right tackle in place of Willie Anderson when the Bengals' No. 1 offense goes against the No. 1 defense here in the intrasquad game.

Reggie McNeal, who has 0.0 NFL catches, leapfrogs to No. 3 wide receiver. Keiwan Ratliff, who has eight NFL starts, gets the nod in place of Johnathan Joseph at cornerback with the hope that Joseph (foot) returns to practice after Thursday's preseason opener in Detroit.

One of those guys shelved, wide receiver Tab Perry (hip) got some work in during pregame. He just blindly picked a group of pre-teen boys hanging out by the locker room entrance looking for autographs and led them down to the Toyota Stadium field here at Georgetown College.

For about an hour the gang ignored the 90-degree, dinnertime heat and paraded up and down the field in a touch football game with Perry, naturally, the automatic quarterback.

"See? I'm OK," said Perry, whose insisting his hip is fine. "I just saw these guys and they looked ready to go. its sandlot football, it's great."

The kids were from everywhere. Fort Jennings, Ohio. West Virginia. Westwood in Cincinnati.

"This is the greatest experience of my life," pronounced Mark Peters, 11, from the Cincinnati suburb of Maineville. After all this, McNeal has emerged as the club's third wide receiver. He needed some help along the way with Perry and Antonio Chatman and Glenn Holt (hamstrings) unable to play Friday, and he'll apparently take the field before Bennie Brazell.

With Perry fighting the doctors and Chatman and Holt indicating they'll be back next week, it may be a brief appearance but certainly McNeal has a chance this weekend no one thought possible before the injuries.

"He's the most improved out of my guys and all of them have improved," said new wide receivers coach Mike Sheppard. "All I know is this spring and now, and he's made the biggest strides. His biggest challenge is developing those receiver skills because it's obviously a new position for him."

McNeal, the transplanted quarterback from Texas A&M, had exactly one more rush (one) than catches last season during a rookie year he played in seven games. But he has advanced enough that he's able to play both inside and outside on both sides while Brazell is purely an outside receiver.

"Reggie has the ability to see the big picture. He can see concepts and I think he gets that from his days as a quarterback," Sheppard said. "He sees something and he can remember it."

Perry was back on campus after taking an MRI and getting checked out in Nashville by Dr. Thomas Byrd and he says nothing new was found in the hip that cost him to lose 14 games last year with a severe bone bruise.

He says he can play now, but the Bengals have turned deaf to his pleas and scratched him from this weekend's activities. And even then he'll be day-to-day starting Monday.

"I know they're taking precautions, but I feel great," he said.

Another guy that's going to get a lot of snaps at receiver is free agent rookie Jesse Holley. Holley, who was a member of North Carolina's national title basketball team as well as a wide receiver for the Tar Heels, made the play of Friday's morning practice when he made a leaping one-handed grab over the middle on a slant pattern.

"An alley-oop," he said.
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http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=6169

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Offense, defense duel

TDJets72027 Rex Ryan baby

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Offense, defense duel

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