Before I leave

I wanted to mention that M. Lewis was happy with the way the Bengals fought for a physical win. It should pay off later in the season, he hopes.

Maybe the most telling quote came from TJH (doesn't it always):
"We like to think we can move the ball and score against anybody," Houshmanzadeh said. "But they're No. 1 defense. They tried to double team me and Chad the whole game. If you were the coach would you double team us? You should be fired if you don't."

Tab Perry suggested after the game that the reason he and Palmer looked so out of sync was a matter of timing that is close to being corrected. Maybe he needs to get open a little sooner or a little deeper, Perry said. At this point, his potential kind of has to be in the believe-it-when-we-see-it stage, but neither he nor Palmer were terribly discouraged after the game (winning can smoother over rough edges).

As for Billick, he didn't say flat out he disagreed with the offensive pass interference call in the end zone, but he pretty said it indirectly (and how could he not. It clearly was not pass interference).
"It looked to me as if (Boller) made a couple touchdown passes," Billick said.

He made at least one. It didn't count. Bengals win. Good thing the Browns are next.