Bengals Beat Rams Amid the Drizzle

Tomorrow will mark the 9th anniversary of the day I moved in the Cincinnati area. At this time of year, I always miss living in the South since the weather sucks. It has rained, snowed or been a combination of the two for about 10 days now.

The ugly, drizzling day gave us an ugly, drizzling game from the Bengals and Rams. The hometown folks (many of which decided to stay home in their warm, dry living rooms) did get to see Cincy get its 5th win, 19-10. A win is a win, but this one was against a 3-10 team who was starting a QB who had never thrown a pass in the NFL before. In that rain.

Cincinnati's offense wasn't sharp ... but they were effective. They had excellent offensive balance and kept the Rams defense off guard. It was also another great defensive effort: for the second time in three weeks the defense didn't allow a TD. The dominance would've been more apparent if Palmer hadn't had an interception returned for a TD at the start of the second half.

Give Rams QB Brock Berlin some credit ... he didn't embarass himself. He completed 17 of 28 passes for 153 yds and an interception. Not the greatest of stats, but his QB rating for the game was almost exactly the same as Carson Palmer (60.6 to 60.8). Still, the rain did affect the players:

"We felt like we could be a more physical team up front. We went out and did it, and we proved it when it was really sloppy and wet, and pouring down rain.," Palmer said of the first-quarter rain that eventually slowed down.

"They knew it was coming, and we were still finding ways to get yardage. I think we almost ended up with 200 yards (rushing). And they knew the run was coming, and we just kept plugging away."

The Bengals face another NFC West team (they are now 1-2 against the division) as they head to San Francisco for a night game on Saturday. St. Louis gets to host the 11-2 Green Bay Packers next Sunday.