National Football League

Bengals try to shake inconsistency against Colts

Published Nov. 14, 2010 5:02 a.m. ET

foxsports

Carson Palmer always envisioned being the next Peyton Manning.

Both came into the league as No. 1 overall picks, took over dormant franchises and eventually found themselves running high-scoring offenses.

Now, nearly a decade later, they're worlds apart.

Every year, Manning's Colts make the playoffs. Most years, Palmer's Bengals struggle to reach .500, giving Palmer a front-row seat to the lopsided I-74 rivalry.

''I think I've probably watched every one of his seasons since I've been in the NFL,'' Palmer said. ''He plays every week, finds ways to win and it doesn't matter who's hurt or who they're playing against. It seems like 90 percent of the time they find a way to win.''

Things are never that easy in Cincinnati.

But there's a reason for that.

Manning, through hard work and good fortune, has started 200 consecutive games and provided the steadying influence NFL teams covet from their leaders.

Each week, Manning takes the same vigorous approach to breaking down film, going through practice and breaking in new players. Even colleagues, such as Palmer, call Manning the most consistent quarterback in NFL history and for good reason.

He owns a league-record four MVP Awards and has led his teammates to 10 straight playoff appearances, seven consecutive 12-win seasons and six division titles in eight years. This season, despite having more than two dozen teammates on injured reserve or the weekly injury report, Manning still has the Colts (5-3) atop the AFC South though he prefers to share the credit.

''I think we have had a core number of the same guys each year, a number of veterans that have used their leadership skills to rub off on some of our new players,'' he said, explaining the Colts' consistency.

Palmer could only hope to be that lucky.

Once, early in his career, Palmer and Chad Ochocinco, then known as Chad Johnson, drove 110 miles from Cincinnati to Indianapolis just to watch Manning and Marvin Harrison work together on a Monday night. The goal: Duplicating Indy's choreography.

It worked for a while - until Palmer ran into some bad luck.

One hit in the 2005 playoffs tore up Palmer's left knee. Three years later, Palmer missed 12 games with an injury to his throwing elbow.

When he finally led the Bengals last season's AFC North title, some thought he and the Bengals were back.

Not so fast.

Cincinnati (2-6) has lost five straight and finds itself in last place, four games behind the division leaders and a likely playoff outsider yet again.

''We're like laughingstocks of the league right now,'' said Terrell Owens, who has re-emerged as one of the NFL's top receivers this season.

For Palmer, it's almost old hat.

The Bengals haven't made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since 1981-82 and this is the 16th time in 20 years Cincinnati had a losing record at the halfway point.

This was supposed to change.

''It's difficult and frustrating, but we're going to continue to work and grind and we're going to try and get better going into that dome,'' Palmer said.

The successes and failures cannot be blamed on quarterbacks alone.

The Colts have mostly kept their core players together and built their team almost exclusively on the influx of college talent through the draft and undrafted free agents.

Cincinnati, however, has been more prone to taking chances on high-profile free agents such as Owens, Adam ''Pacman'' Jones, Antonio Bryant, Tank Johnson, Roy Williams and Cedric Benson.

Some have paid big dividends, others not so much.

The results have been as spotty as the hits and misses.

That's not the case in Indy, where consistency has become a way of life.

Jacob Tamme, Dallas Clark's replacement at tight end, has 17 receptions in the last two games after having only six catches in his first 34 NFL games. Mike Hart ran for a career-high 84 yards when Joseph Addai went down with a left shoulder injury. And when the Colts' receiving corps was thinned by injuries, Blair White proved a capable replacement.

It's the way the Colts do business - and the way almost every other quarterback, including Palmer, wishes they could, too.

''I think everybody understands that the most important thing is to win,'' said Manning, who is 6-0 against the Bengals. ''There's nothing wrong with wanting the ball, wanting to be involved. That's going to help our chances of winning. But we all know each game takes on it's own identity. You never know if it's going to be an all-pass game or an all-run game. I think we do have guys who want to do whatever it takes to win. That's the key.''