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CINCINNATI (Ticker) --
Carson Palmer
played like a seasoned veteran in crunch time.
After Palmer put his team in position,
Shayne Graham
kicked a 39-yard field goal with two seconds remaining, lifting the
Cincinnati Bengals
to a 16-13 victory over the
Miami Dolphins
.
The first overall pick in 2003 and former Heisman Trophy winner, Palmer spent his rookie season watching veteran
Jon Kitna
. He did not attempt a pass as a rookie, but that didn't stop coach Marvin Lewis from naming him as the starter in the offseason.
Lewis, a defensive-minded coach, watched his team squander a 10-point fourth-quarter lead before Palmer came through in the clutch.
Taking over at his own 20 with 1:53 remaining, Palmer calmly directed a 10-play, 59-yard drive against one of the NFL's better defenses. The drive featured a 13-yard completion to T.J. Houshmandzadeh on a 3rd-and-6 play and a 20-yard connection to
Chad Johnson
to the Miami 30.
"In that situation they were doing a good job downfield," Palmer said. "They left the flats open. In the two-minute drill, you want to keep completing passes. Incompletions aren't too bad because they stop the clock but completing passes keeps them on their heels."
"Their defense was awesome and they played well," Houshmandzadeh said. "Carson was putting the ball on the money on that last drive."
Three plays after the completion to Johnson, Graham came on and drilled the winning field goal, giving the Bengals (1-1) their first win over Miami since 1977. Cincinnati had lost the last nine meetings between the teams.
"We executed as well as we could but it was over with," Graham said. "When the offense got the ball I had confidence in them and it's nice to know they had confidence in me."
Palmer went 21-of-38 for 147 yards with an interception.
After replacing
Jay Fiedler
at halftime of last week's loss to Tennessee, A.J. Feeley made his first start for the Dolphins.
Feeley struggled for much of the night behind a revamped offensive line, but he rallied the Dolphins from 13-3 deficit in the fourth quarter. He threw a four-yard touchdown pass to
Chris Chambers
with 3:39 left, pulling Miami within a field goal.
Feeley finished 21-of-39 for 218 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Following a three-and-out,
Lamont Brightful
returned a punt 36 yards to set up
Olindo Mare
's 47-yard field goal with 1:53 to go that tied the game.
One of Feeley's interceptions was returned 50 yards for a touchdown by linebacker
Brian Simmons
in the third quarter, allowing Cincinnati to take a 7-3 lead.
"During a game good things will happen and bad things will happen," said Simmons, who missed last week's opener with a knee injury. "You never know if it is a momentum swing until after the game."
Feeley also was not helped by his running game as
Lamar Gordon
gained just 22 yards on 19 attempts.
"It was good to have Brian (Simmons) and Deltha (O'Neal) back," Lewis said. "On defense 11 guys have to work together. We have a long way to go."
"I'm dissatisfied," Gordan said. "We didn't play well enough anywhere as an offense to win."
Miami is 0-2 for the first time since 1988.
"It's very, very unfortunate that we have lost two games and given up one touchdown," Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said. "That's hard to comprehend."
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