Palmer, Bengals ready to play spoiler Sunday

The Cincinnati quarterback would like revenge for the 51-45 loss in Game 2.

GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BEREA — It’s cold in Cincinnati, but Carson Palmer needn’t set his thermostat on 58.

Four days after Christmas 2005, Palmer received a put-another-log-on-the-fire contract, $118.75 million over nine years.

In a salary-capped league, to have is to have not.

The Bengals lost one of Palmer’s favorite players, Eric Steinbach, because they couldn’t make a competitive bid. The left guard went to a team with cheap quarterbacks and money to burn — for Steinbach, $49.5 million.

Palmer’s deal is worth more than twice as much as Steinbach’s, but their records are transposed. Cincinnati (5-9) hosts Cleveland (9-5) on Sunday.

“We miss him a lot,” Palmer said Wednesday. “He was probably our most productive offensive lineman.”

Steinbach is a first alternate to the Pro Bowl. Palmer thinks he’s more than that.

“He brought a lot of attitude, good athleticism, good feet,” Palmer said. “We ran screens well with him and power plays. He’s very missed out here.”

Palmer still doesn’t get sacked much, just 17 times this year. Steinbach’s new quarterback, Derek Anderson, has been sacked 12 times in 14 games, a year after Charlie Frye was sacked 44 times in 13 games.

“We definitely didn’t want to see him go inside our division and make another team better,” Palmer said.

The Bengals, 2005 AFC North champs, have gone south. It started, Palmer says, with a 51-45 loss Sept. 16 at Cleveland.

“Since that game,” Palmer said, “we really haven’t gotten back on track. It kind of set the tone for both teams, the winner and the loser.”

Hard to believe Palmer’s 401-yard, six-touchdown passing day marked the beginning of the end.

“You could say it’s a little bit of a revenge factor,” Palmer said.

The Browns can clinch a playoff spot by winning at Paul Brown Stadium.

“We’ll have some fun with it and try to knock these guys off the pedestal they’re on,” Palmer said. “We’re gonna come out gunning with nothing to lose.”

Palmer noted that Cleveland did the Bengals dirty another time.

Cincinnati was still alive in a playoff race before a lost Browns team won, 22-14, at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 28, 2003.

Palmer is in his fourth year as the Bengals starter after he sat out 2003 as a rookie No. 1 overall draft pick.

He was thought to be emerging in the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady stratosphere before his team took a dive this year.

How much responsibility does he assume for preventing Cincinnati from reverting to same-old-Bungles mode?

“All of it,” Palmer said.