Ever since his first battle against Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer has been the AFC North quarterback Steelers fans fear. He has the receivers, the arm strength and the accuracy to give any defense problems. And he's given the Steelers plenty of problems.Somehow that Carson Palmer was kidnapped and replaced by someone who looked a lot like Charlie Frye on Sunday night. Palmer missed on 27 of his 44 pass attempts. The Steelers defense has been very good this year, but this seemed to be more a function of Palmer missing high repeatedly. Sure it was wet, but after a little adjustment, the rain and the poor field conditions didn't seem to affect Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers. That same rain made the Bengals passing game melt. Not only did Palmer throw incompletion and incompletion, but he also failed to connect deep--his longest pass of the night was only 24 yards, and he averaged only 4.16 yards per attempt.
Because of Palmer's problems, the Steelers cruised to an easy win despite continuing problems with the running game. Big Play Willie Parker's longest run was only 12 yards, but he did spice things up with two fumbles and another two near fumbles that were only overtuned on challenges. Ben Roethlisberger once again bailed out the Steelers with an assist from Hines Ward.
In addition to breaking John Stallworth's team record for career touchdowns, Ward was great at extending drives. Roethlisberger threw his way on six third down plays--he converted the first down five times. His 11 catches was his most since he caught 13 against the Bengals in 2003 and he caught more than half of all of Roethlisberger's completions.
