By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - With the exception of his last throw, Carson Palmer made a smashing NFL debut Sunday.

But the Bengals' defense was simply smashed in the opening loss to the New York Jets.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Sunday's game

The defense allowed 24 points and 438 yards in total offense - half of that coming on the ground. The Jets defense scored the other touchdown in their 31-24 victory before 77,230 fans at the Meadowlands.

A winnable game was lost, and coach Marvin Lewis' goal of a fast start for the Bengals took a hit.

"We did some bad things in all three phases," he said. "That's not acceptable. We've got to get a lot of things corrected."

Clearly, the defense was the worst offender. Jets tailback Curtis Martin rushed for 196 yards and one touchdown, and quarterback Chad Pennington threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns. Most of his seven incomplete passes were overthrown or dropped.

The Bengals have allowed more than 200 rushing yards in three of their past five games.

"It's disappointing, it's weird how stuff happens," defensive tackle John Thornton said. "Guys in here expect better of ourselves."

The Bengals' only statistical sack came when Pennington lost his grip while throwing a pass.

Palmer's ability is not the Bengals' greatest worry. It's the defense.

QUICK HITS

0-1, again It is the third straight season the Bengals have lost their opener, and sixth time in the past seven seasons. Nice debut Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer completed 18 of 27 passes for 248 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Nowhere to run Rudi Johnson had trouble finding room to run all day. His nine-yard TD run gave the Bengals a 7-0 lead, but he finished with 70 yards on 24 carries (2.9 yards per carry). Jet propulsion Jets veteran running back Curtis Martin rushed for 196 yards on 29 carries and scored two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. It was his highest rushing total since 2000. As advertised Jets quarterback Chad Pennington completed 20 of 27 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. He wasn't intercepted. AFC North Cleveland 20, Baltimore 3 The Browns are 1-0 for the first time since their rebirth in 1999. They held Jamal Lewis to 57 yards rushing. Pittsburgh 24, Oakland 21 The Steelers blew a two-touchdown lead then won on Jeff Reed's 42-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining. Up next The Bengals host the Miami Dolphins (8:30 p.m., ESPN) Sunday. Miami lost to Tennessee 17-7 Saturday. The Dolphins said Sunday A.J. Feeley would start at quarterback. • Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 1 p.m. • Cleveland at Dallas, 4:15 p.m.

Palmer was 18-for-27 passing for 248 yards and two touchdowns. He and wide receiver Chad Johnson, who caught a 53-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter that pulled the Bengals to within seven, form the heart of a potentially great pass offense.

The defense did get the ball back for Palmer, forcing the Jets to punt with 3:57 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Jets led 31-24 at the time.

Palmer led the Bengals out from their 5-yard line. Rudi Johnson ran for 16 yards. Palmer threw for 30 yards to Peter Warrick, giving them first down near midfield.

Then Palmer tried to hit Johnson in heavy coverage. The ball cleared the two defenders Palmer saw but was picked off.

Rookie Jets safety Erik Coleman, beaten by Chad Johnson on a touchdown pass, picked the ball out of the air to seal the victory.

"He seemed to come out of nowhere," Palmer said. "The safety made a great play."

Bengals special teams played well. Reggie Myles recovered a Jonathan Carter fumble on the opening kickoff at the Jets 25-yard line. Four plays later the Bengals were in the end zone on Rudi Johnson's nine-yard run.

But the Jets scored touchdowns the first two times they had the ball. A 31-yard pass to Santana Moss was the big play of the first drive. Pennington picked on rookie starting cornerback Madieu Williams for much of the first half. Martin scored on a three-yard pass to tie the score. Pennington again went after Williams on the second drive, throwing a 46-yard touchdown pass to Carter, who beat Williams one-on-one. There was no help from a safety.

"He got inside of me," said Williams, starting in place of the injured Deltha O'Neal. "I tried but couldn't make a play on the ball."

The Bengals trailed the rest of the way. The running game was spotty. A forced shuffle on the offensive line didn't help. Center Rich Braham, 11 days after arthroscopic knee surgery, could not play after the second quarter. Larry Moore switched from left guard to center, and Eric Steinbach - coming back from an elbow injury - was inserted at left guard.

The Bengals had seven rushing attempts of zero or negative yards. Rudi Johnson had a pair of 16-yard runs but otherwise was held to 38 yards on 22 carries.

"We have all the people we need to fix it, so we have to fix it this week in practice," said Johnson, whose first fumble in 246 NFL carries was costly. In the third quarter, Jets linebacker Sam Cowart hit Johnson as he made a cut, forcing the ball loose, and cornerback Donnie Abraham recovered and ran 41 yards for a touchdown.

Repair and atonement were twin themes in the postgame locker room.

Lewis made reference to the 2003 preseason opener, also played at the Meadowlands against the Jets, on Aug. 10.

The team is clearly his. Just 14 players remain from coach Dick LeBeau's 2002 opening-day roster. Lewis is confident the problems can be fixed, and he told reporters about his post-game address during his news conference.

"I told our guys, we were here a year ago, I had about 20 guys in there who wanted to play football," Lewis said. "I just walked out of here with 53 ...

"Our football team is going to be fine. They played their tails off to the end. That's what I feel good about. We lost a football game on the road."

Ninth-year right tackle Willie Anderson agreed with Lewis that the 2004 Bengals are different - better than even the 2003 team and prepared to make the necessary steps to win.

"Just the guys he brought in, just the guys who are still here, he's instilled a new attitude in us," Anderson said of Lewis. "You have to admit, this (game), in years past, would have been a blowout.

"He's coaching us to keep us in the games to win in the fourth quarter. The offense couldn't finish off the last drive, but that's going to come.

"Emotionally, we're happy with the way we played. Technically, we can do better."

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Bengals (0-1)

PASSING
	CP/AT	YDS	TD	INT
C. Palmer	18-27	248	2	1

RUSHING
	ATT	YDS	TD	LG
R. Johnson	24	70	1	16
K. Watson	1	25	0	25
C. Palmer	2	10	0	11
P. Warrick	1	8	0	8

RECEIVING
	REC	YDS	TD	LG
C. Johnson	5	99	1	53
P. Warrick	5	76	0	30
T. Houshmandzadeh	3	38	0	20
K. Watson	2	15	1	9
K. Washington	1	9	0	9
J. Johnson	1	8	0	8
R. Kelly	1	3	0	3

FUMBLES
	FUM	LOST	REC	YDS
R. Johnson	1	1	0	0
R. Myles	0	0	1	0

KICKING
	FG	LG	XP	PTS
S. Graham	1/1	22	3/3	6

PUNTING
	NO	AVG	I20	LG
K. Larson	3	50.3	2	51

KICKOFF RETURNS
	NO	AVG	TD	LG
T. Houshmandzadeh	5	25.4	0	32

DEFENSE
	T-A	SCK	INT	FF
K. Herring	9-2	0.0	0	0
M. Williams	8-1	0.0	0	0
T. James	5-0	0.0	0	0
L. Johnson	5-3	0.0	0	0
J. Smith	4-1	0.0	0	0
K. Hardy	2-2	0.0	0	0
K. Kaesviharn	2-0	0.0	0	0
T. Roberts	2-0	0.0	0	0
J. Thornton	2-1	0.0	0	0
K. Walter	2-0	0.0	0	0
N. Webster	2-1	0.0	0	0
T. Williams	2-0	0.0	0	0
R. Bauman	1-0	0.0	0	0
R. Beckett	1-0	0.0	0	0
D. Clemons	1-0	0.0	0	0
T. Houshmandzadeh	1-0	0.0	0	0
C. Miller	1-1	0.0	0	0
R. Myles	1-0	0.0	0	0
C. Powell	1-1	0.0	0	0
K. Watson	1-0	0.0	0	0
M. Wilkins	1-0	0.0	0	0

Jets (1-0)

PASSING
	CP/AT	YDS	TD	INT
C. Pennington	20/27	224	2	0

RUSHING
	ATT	YDS	TD	LG
C. Martin	29	196	1	24
J. Sowell	1	19	0	19
S. Moss	1	8	0	8
Q. Carter	1	-2	0	-2
C. Pennington	2	-2	0	-1

RECEIVING
	REC	YDS	TD	LG
J. McCareins	5	66	0	24
S. Moss	4	55	0	31
J. Carter	1	46	1	46
W. Chrebet	2	21	0	14
J. Sowell	3	20	0	8
C. Martin	3	7	1	7
L. Jordan	1	5	0	5
C. Baker	1	4	0	4

FUMBLES
	FUM	LOST	REC	YDS
J. Carter	1	1	0	0
Q. Carter	1	0	0	0
C. Pennington	1	0	0	0
D. Abraham	0	0	1	41
C. Baker	0	0	1	0

KICKING
	FG	LG	XP	PTS
D. Brien	1/1	21	4/4	7

PUNTING
	NO	AVG	I20	LG
T. Gowin	2	38.5	1	42

KICKOFF RETURNS
	NO	AVG	TD	LG
J. Carter	5	20.0	0	29

PUNT RETURNS
	NO	AVG	TD	LG
S. Moss	2	6.5	0	7

DEFENSE
	T-A	SCK	INT	FF
S. Cowart	11-2	0.0	0	0
E. Coleman	5-1	0.0	1	0
D. Abraham	4-1	1.0	0	0
E. Barton	4-1	0.0	0	0
V. Hobson	4-3	0.0	0	0
D. Barrett	3-1	0.0	0	0
R. Tongue	2-2	0.0	0	0
J. Abraham	1-0	0.0	0	0
B. Askew	1-1	0.0	0	0
J. Cotchery	1-1	0.0	0	0
J. Ferguson	1-0	0.0	0	0
T. Johnson	1-0	0.0	0	0
P. Kendall	1-0	0.0	0	0
D. Pagel	1-0	0.0	0	0
J. Reed	1-2	0.0	0	0
D. Robertson	1-0	0.0	0	0
J. Vilma	1-0	0.0	0	0

Scoring

Cincinnati	7	3	7	7-24
N.Y. Jets	14	0	10	7-31

First Quarter

Cin-R.Johnson 9 run (Graham kick), 12:36. Drive: 4 plays, 25 yards, 2:16. Key plays: Myles recovered Carter fumbled punt return at Jets 25; Palmer 10 pass to Warrick on 3rd-and-4. Cincinnati 7, N.Y. Jets 0.

NYJ-Martin 3 pass from Pennington (Brien kick), 8:48. Drive: 8 plays, 68 yards, 3:48. Key plays: Pennington 12 pass to McCareins; Pennington 31 pass to Moss plus 9-yard roughing-the-passer penalty puts ball on Bengals 9.

Cincinnati 7, N.Y. Jets 7.

NYJ-J.Carter 46 pass from Pennington (Brien kick), 3:09. Drive: 6 plays, 86 yards, 3:15. Key plays: Martin 21 run; Martin 2 run on 3rd-and-1. N.Y. Jets 14, Cincinnati 7.

Second Quarter

Cin-FG Graham 22, 3:17. Drive: 12 plays, 57 yards, 5:40. Key plays: Palmer 9 pass to C.Johnson on 3rd-and-7; R.Johnson 3 run on 3rd-and-1; Watson 25 run. N.Y. Jets 14, Cincinnati 10.

Third Quarter

NYJ-D.Abraham 41 fumble return (Brien kick), 11:56. N.Y. Jets 21, Cincinnati 10.

Cin-Watson 6 pass from Palmer (Graham kick), 6:20. Drive: 11 plays, 71 yards, 5:36. Key plays: Palmer 16 pass to C.Johnson; R.Johnson 16 run; Palmer 11 run on 3rd-and-8. N.Y. Jets 21, Cincinnati 17.

NYJ-FG Brien 21, :26. Drive: 10 plays, 66 yards, 5:54. Key plays: N.Y. Jets 24, Cincinnati 17.

Fourth Quarter

NYJ-Martin 24 run (Brien kick), 9:35. Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards, 4:27. Key plays: Martin 2 run on 3rd-and-1; Pennington 14 pass to Chrebet on 3rd-and-3. N.Y. Jets 31, Cincinnati 17.

Cin-C.Johnson 53 pass from Palmer (Graham kick), 6:28. Drive: 5 plays, 77 yards, 3:07. Key play: R.Johnson 2 run on 3rd-and-1; Palmer 23 pass to Warrick. N.Y. Jets 31, Cincinnati 24.

A-77,230.

Team stats

	Cin	NYJ
FIRST DOWNS	19	24
Rushing	8	13
Passing	11	10
Penalty	0	1
THIRD DOWN EFF	8-12	8-12
FOURTH DOWN EFF	0-0	0-1
TOTAL NET YARDS	351	438
Total Plays	56	62
Avg Gain	6.3	7.1
NET YARDS RUSHING	113	219
Rushes	28	34
Avg per rush	4.0	6.4
NET YARDS PASSING	238	219
Sacked-Yds lost	1-10	1-5
Gross-Yds passing	248	224
Completed-Att.	18-27	20-27
Had Intercepted	1	0
Yards-Pass Play	8.5	7.8
KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB	5-0-0	6-1-1
PUNTS-Avg.	3-50.3	2-38.5
Punts blocked	0	0
FGs-PATs blocked	0-0	0-0
TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE	127	117
Punts Returns	0-0	2-13
Kickoffs Returns	5-127	5-100
Interceptions	0-0	1-4
PENALTIES-Yds	6-49	1-7
FUMBLES-Lost	1-1	3-1
TIME OF POSSESSION	29:13	30:47

OFFICIALS-Referee Jeff Triplette, Ump Scott Dawson, HL John Schleyer, LJ Jeff Seeman, FJ Duke Carroll, SJ Greg Meyer, BJ Jim Howey, Replay Mark Burns.

Time: 2:48.

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