Chad Ocho Cinco and Terrell Owens are co-existing so far for the Bengals.  Carson Palmer has targeted Terrell Owens 24 times in the first two weeks while throwing the ball Chad Ocho Cinco’s way 22 times.  Chad Ocho Cinco has done a lot more with his chances so far for the Bengals.  He has caught 16 passes for 203 yards (12.7 avg) with 1 TD grab so far this year.  T.O. has only caught 10 passes for 110 yards (10.0 avg) so far this season.  I think the reason for the difference in numbers is because Carson Palmer knows Ocho Cinco a lot better than T.O.  I think that Owens’ numbers will improve as the season goes on.

Carson Palmer might be in line to have a huge game this week against the Ravens.  Terrell Owens, Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham are all new and improved targets for Palmer besides having Ocho Cinco back.  Palmer played well against the Ravens last year anyway so imagine what he could do to them this time around.  He completed 38 of 64 passes (59.4%) for 495 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT in the Bengals’ sweep of the Ravens last year.  Palmer also looked pretty decent in the season opener (mostly the second half) as he completed 34 of 50 (68%) passes for 345 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT.  I know…I know….they are playing the Ravens’ D but the Bengals are not likely to be intimidated at all by a team they swept last year.

The Bengals turned into a run first offense during the 2009 season meaning that the QB didn’t have to make as many plays as in the past.  30-year old Carson Palmer started all 16 games for the Bengals this season and he completed 282 of 466 passes (60.5%) for 3,094 yards with 21 TD passes and 13 INTs (83.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 39 times for 93 yards (2.4 ypc) with 3 TD runs this year.  Palmer has now played in 81 games in his career with the Bengals and he has completed 1,662 of 2,631 passes (63.2%) for 18,724 yards with 128 TD passes and 80 INTs (87.9 QB Rating).  Palmer also has carried the ball 147 times for 266 yards (1.8 ypc) with 5 TD runs in this career.  Palmer is one of the best QBs in team history, period.

30-year old J.T. O’Sullivan wasn’t needed much in 2009 and that was a good thing for the Bengals.  He played in 3 games for the Bengals last season and he completed 4 of 11 passes (36.4%) for 40 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (47.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 4 times for 12 yards (3.0 ypc) this year.  O’Sullivan has now played in 17 games in his NFL career and he has  completed 145 of 257 passes (56.4%) for 1,866 yards with 9 TD passes and 13 INTs (70.0 QB Rating).  O’Sullivan has also carried the ball 39 times for 145 yards (3.7 ypc) in his career to date.  The Bengals’ fortune continues to ride on Carson Palmer’s health because if he does down to injury they are done.

The Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) had 11 penalties for 85 yards and got less than 100 yards passing in their loss to the Minnesota Vikings (11-2) on Sunday.  Carson Palmer was almost shut down, throwing for only 94 yards on 15/25 passes.  He did find the endzone once when he hit Chad Ochocinco for a 15-yard touchdown pass.  Ochocinco didn’t do much else though, finishing the game with only 3 catches for 27 yards.  They did get 96 yards on 16 carries from Cedric Benson, but he failed to find the endzone.  For the first time in his career, Benson reached 1,000 yards in a season in this game.

On defense the Bengals let the Vikings build a 10-0 lead, but they did a pretty good job against Brett Favre.  Favre found the endzone once in the second quarter, but the Bengals held him in check most of the game.  He finished with 192 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception on 17/30 passes.  The Bengals did their best against Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson, but they could not keep him out of the endzone.  Peterson rushed for 97 yards on 26 carries (3.7 avg) which is well under his season average (4.5), but he scored twice.  With all of the penalties and the lack of execution on offense, combined with the defense giving up a season high 30 points, the Bengals didn’t give themselves much of a chance in this one.

The Bengals had a lot of problems with snaps early this season resulting in the release of Brad St. Louis.  This should improve things on special teams for the Bengals as Shayne Graham was off to a rough start this season through no fault of his own.  Graham has made 6 of 9 field goals this season and he is 17 of 18 on extra points.  The Bengals have left a lot of points on the field this season but that will likely change starting this week against the Ravens.