By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

On successive second-quarter plays from the New England 9-yard line Saturday night, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer made decisions atypical of a first-time NFL starter.

Carson Palmer was 12-for-19 passing Saturday night. • Photos of Saturday's game (Enquirer photo/STEPHEN M. HERPPICH)

On first down, after being forced right out of the pocket, Palmer tossed the ball into the seats to stop the clock at 46 seconds.

On second down, when his primary receivers in the end zone were covered, Palmer threw low and incomplete for secondary receiver Matt Schobel.

On third down, Palmer threw a screen pass to running back Kenny Watson, who caught the ball at the 12 and broke a couple of tackles before diving into the end zone.

"I knew, with (kicker) Shayne Graham, you're money inside the 30-yard line," Palmer said in explaining his thought process at that time. "You know you can get three points out of it because he's so consistent.

"I knew I didn't need to force anything in there and give up the three points. A couple different times they had us coverage-wise, and you've just got to get rid of it, stop the clock and call another play."

Palmer turned in a second solid preseason performance Saturday night in the Bengals' 31-3 win over the Patriots.

He can throw the deep pass, as witnessed by the 48-yard completion to Chad Johnson on the opening drive. It is Palmer's grasp of details that suggests he's the quarterback the team has been seeking since Boomer Esiason left after 1992.

"He knows how to play the position efficiently," coach Marvin Lewis said. "It's about living to play another day. Sometimes punting the ball isn't that bad."

TRAINING CAMP SCHEDULE

The Bengals have three days of training camp remaining: • Today: Practice, 4-5:30 p.m. • Tuesday: Practices, 8:45-11 a.m., 4-5:30 p.m. • Wednesday: Practice, 8:45-11:15 a.m. Team breaks camp.

Palmer's one interception, at Tampa Bay last Monday night, should have been a completion. Instead, wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh tipped the ball into the air.

The instruction of quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese is one of the reasons for Palmer's early success.

"Coach Zampese works us to death in practice about checking the ball down, knowing exactly where everybody is on the field at all times, just being patient," Palmer said. "That's the big thing I need to do this year is be patient and not force the ball, just take what the defense gives me."

Palmer played the first half against the Patriots. His 12 completions were to six receivers: three wide receivers, the tight end and two running backs. Tight end Tony Stewart had one touchdown catch, wide receiver Houshmandzadeh another, and running back Kenny Watson the third.

"I was very pleased with (Palmer's throwing short to secondary receivers)," Zampese said. "I don't want to take his stinger away, but know how to cut your losses when it doesn't look like it's going in our direction.

"Know how to handle the football and take care of the football. Coach Lewis talks about that all the time: Turnovers will kill us. But being afraid to throw the ball in there will kill you, too. There's a balance between the two, and you have to let him go and throw the ball up the field and do things for the reason he's here."

Palmer did rely on his arm strength on the 13-yard touchdown pass to Stewart. New England's rush forced him right. Palmer, on the run, threw back across his body from the 25-yard line and into the end zone. Stewart caught the ball between two defenders.

"I actually think I underthrew Tony," Palmer said, "but he came up and made a nice play on the ball."

Palmer has two completions of better than 40 yards in two games. He is averaging 9.4 yards per pass attempt. In 2003, Jon Kitna had a 6.9-yard average per attempt, and the NFL average was 6.6.

Palmer seems to take as much satisfaction in a completion to a running back as he does a catch by a wide receiver 25 yards down field.

"The easiest thing to do is to come and try to fit balls into tight spots and try to make the big play every time," Palmer said. "If I come out and be patient and move the ball down the field, we can be a pretty good offense."

The Bengals averaged 5.1 yards a carry with Palmer in the game in the first half.

"If our running game is working like it was tonight, we can be pretty explosive," Palmer said.

Said Zampese, "We're best when we're balanced."

In more than three quarters of play, defenses have sacked Palmer twice.

"My line is blocking great for me," he said.

And Chad Johnson came back to catch the 48-yard reception.

"It should have been a touchdown," Palmer said. "I needed to lay it out there a little farther, but I knew Chad could adjust for a big gain. In the future, that's going to be six (points). ... I've got three or four balls in my mind that I missed that I don't miss in practice. There is a ton of room for improvement."

So far, so good

Carson Palmer's statistics after two preseason games:

Opponent	Comp-Att	Yards	TD	Int.	Yards per attempt
Tampa Bay	3-8	74	0	1	9.3
New England	12-19	179	3	0	9.4
Total	15-27	253	3	1	9.4

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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