As he heads into his 13th season, Darren Sharper knows that he doesn't have many years left in his NFL career. He's not as much of a playmaker as he used to be, and the Vikings were OK with letting him go. But he probably has enough left to give the Saints secondary a big boost in 2009.
The Saints offense was one of the best in the league in 2008, thanks to Drew Brees. The defense was one of the worst in the league thanks in part to safeties Kevin Kaesviharn and Josh Bullocks. Even in the twilight of his career, Sharper should give the Saints a much steadier center fielder who has always had a knack for making big plays--he leads all active players with 54 interceptions.
On a Saints blitz, safety Kevin Kaesviharn hit Palmer and knocked him to the ground. Palmer stayed in on the next play ... but then left once blood started gushing out of his nose.
He has a small crack in his nose which took doctors ten minutes to put back in place (I know ... it's nasty!).
Palmer is questionable for Thursday night's preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colts. I'd doubt he'd play since ... well ... no one else on that Bengals offense is healthy enough to play either. Why get him killed?
Palmer is expected to be ready for the Bengals season opener against the Baltimore Ravens on September 7th.
Okay, that isn't an entirely true statement. The Bengals offense did stink ... but it didn't make Carson Palmer's nose bleed. Former Bengal and current New Orleans Saint Kevin Kaesviharn did that.
Kaesviharn blitzed Palmer, knocking him down. A play later, Palmer went to the sideline with blood running from his nose and a nasty cut on his lip.
Why the heck not? After all, Chad Johnson was injured last week ... while Rudi Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh have kept their streak of not playing preseason games. Antonio Chatman and Glen Holt were the starting receivers (the popular Chris Henry was in a t-shirt on the sidelines ... more on that later).
The offense was bad before Carson got hurt ... gaining a pitiful 165 yards all game. Remember, this was one of the NFL's best offenses over the past few years.
Today, they scored zero points. They had the ball for 11 possessions. They punted on the first ten of them. On their final possession, back-back-backup Jordan Palmer threw an interception.
The Bengals resigned Kenny Watson to a three year deal on Friday, which has to make you think that Chris Perry isn't being counted on for the 2007 season.
Watson is a solid third down back who does a lot of little things well. He's also an excellent special teams player, something that Marvin Lewis really seems to love from the non-marquee players. It's a smart move, because I'll be shocked if Perry is ever healthy enough to make a difference again.
This signing continued the Bengals focus on resigning most of their own free agent players, and a Bengals spokesman confirmed on Friday that the club had no outside free agent visits to confirm, which is a shame. Injuries had a lot to do with the Bengals troubles this past year, so they might not need an influx of players as much as other fringe playoff teams, but that doesn't mean a big free agent signing wouldn't have been helpful. That's never been owner Mike Brown's way of operating though, and he's apparently not changing now. My guess is that the Bengals will resign a couple more of their own free agents (Kevin Kaesviharn, maybe Reggie Kelly and Anthony Wright), possibly sign a lower tier free agent or two, and that'll be it.
That's the way the Bengals do things, and yet I find myself disappointed every single free agency season anyway. You'd think I'd know better than to hope for an Adalius Thomas type signing by now, but apparently not.
Levi Jones has been upgraded to questionable this week, which in my mind makes him likely to return this week.
I'm actually not all that convinced that the Bengals need him back as much as they did a week ago, but a healthy Levi Jones makes the Bengals better, so I'm not going to quibble with his return. In 2007 I'm hoping we'll look back on these past few weeks and be glad that Whitworth and Ghiaciuc both saw significant playing time this year. They've both obviously improved quite a bit, which should position the offensive line well for the future. Jones is a top 5 left tackle though, and I'm sure Carson will be glad to have him back.
Not a lot of other injury notes as of yet. Rich Braham is getting closer, Brian Simmons is questionable, and Kevin Kaesviharn is probable. I actually think the Bengals could have really used Kaesviharn last Sunday, as Keiwan Ratliff got way too much playing time. I think what I'm about to say says alot about this defense, but Kevin Kaesviharn makes them better when he's healthy.
Corner Greg Brooks was moved to IR. Brooks played in five games this year, mostly on special teams, but he'll miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Offensive tackle Adam Kieft was moved from the physically unable to perform list to IR. That's a slight upgrade I think. He's been out since early 2005 with a slow healing knee injury.
Defensive end Jonathan Fanene was cleared to return to practice on a roster exemption. Fanene played a little last year, and I was impressed with what I saw. He'll have three weeks to practice before the Bengals will have to decide what do with him.
Defensive tackle Marcus Lewis was waived from IR. I honestly hadn't even heard of Lewis. He was hurt back in the preseason.
The Bengals also upgraded Willie Anderson from questionable to probable. This shouldn't surprise anyway I don't think. Willie will play if he's at all able, that's just his character. There's a good chance that Brian Simmons and Kevin Kaesviharn will be out again on Sunday though, and I really think the Bengals miss both of those guys when they're not available.
Mark Curnutte has made it official over at the Enquirer. David Pollack broke a vertebrae in his neck, and he'll be out for the season.
The news surrounding the injury is mostly positive. He has feeling in his body, and his life should be fairly normal moving forward. What this means for his football career is pretty up in the air though.
Rahad Jeanty will be promoted to starter, and will take Pollack's place. No word yet on who'll replace him on the 53 man roster.
There's also news with regards to Rich Braham and Dexter Jackson. Neither will be playing this week against Pittsburgh. There are rumors out there that Braham will be missing six weeks and Jackson at least two, but we'll see. Dexter Jackson was huge for this defense, and it really hurts the Bengals to lose him. Expect to see a lot of Kevin Kaesviharn in coming weeks. And I don't even have to mention how devastating it is to lose Braham. He's the anchor of the Bengals offense.
You'd like to say this is terrible timing with Pittsburgh and New England coming up, but the truth is the schedule is so tough this year that there's never going to be a good time for injuries.
The mark of a good team is depth. Let's hope the Bengals can absorb all of this and keep rolling.
As he heads into his 13th season, Darren Sharper knows that he doesn't have many years left in his NFL career. He's not as much of a playmaker as he used to be, and the Vikings were OK with letting him go. But he probably has enough left to give the Saints secondary a big boost in 2009.
Bengals QB 
Okay, that isn't an entirely true statement. The Bengals offense did stink ... but it didn't make 
The Bengals resigned Kenny Watson to a three year deal on Friday, which has to make you think that Chris Perry isn't being counted on for the 2007 season.
Levi Jones has been upgraded to questionable this week, which in my mind makes him likely to return this week.
The Bengals made a few roster moves yesterday.
Mark Curnutte has made it official over at the Enquirer. David Pollack broke a vertebrae in his neck, and he'll be out for the season.
