The Bengals don’t play this weekend, which means that they won’t be playing poorly this weekend. Which also means they won’t be getting booed.
Recently, quarterback Carson Palmer spoke about the reaction that he and the team have been getting from the home crowd. Specifically, he said he hears to boos.
“Yeah, I do,” Palmer said, per Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I’ve been in this situation before. That’s really par for the course when you play quarterback. You’re expected to win games and when you don’t you take the brunt of it. When you do you take a little more credit than you deserve. That just comes with the territory. I’ve been a quarterback for a long time and definitely been in this situation before like all quarterback that have been playing the position a long time. You just have to keep believing in yourself and not worry about what anyone is thinking or saying and go about your business and put your best team in the position to win week in and week out.”
Palmer said that the issue has a greater impact on his family than on him. “My folks were at the game and they feel it,” Palmer said. “It definitely affects them more than it affects me. But like I said, I’ve been through this before.”
He later said of the boos, “I don’t really care. I care what my teammates expect of me and I care about what they think of me because they’re my teammates and that’s what matters to me.”
Though that could be interpreted as an indication that Palmer doesn’t care about the fans, it should be taken that way. He has thick skin, which becomes an important feature during a lackluster start that more and more people are pinning on Palmer.
At 2-3, things won’t be getting any easier after the bye. Seven of the next eight games represent tough tests for the defending AFC North champs, with games against the Falcons, Dolphins, Steelers (twice), Colts, Jets, and Saints. If they don’t win at least five of those, the Bengals won’t be making it back to the playoffs for the second straight year -- and that’s something they’ve never done in consecutive non-strike seasons.