Temporarily Out of Service

A dozen quarterbacks came before him, but none of them took Carson Palmer’s path.

With three games to play, Cincinnati’s Palmer is poised to become the first quarterback selected No. 1 overall to go his entire rookie season without taking a snap.

The other passers picked first since the 1970 merger were, in descending order, David Carr, Michael Vick, Tim Couch, Peyton Manning, Drew Bledsoe, Jeff George, Troy Aikman, Vinny Testaverde, John Elway, Steve Bartkowski, Jim Plunkett and Terry Bradshaw. Each played at least a part of his first season.

Who could have guessed the Bengals, 2-14 weaklings last season, would still be relevant in December, and that Jon Kitna would be the NFL’s only starting quarterback who has taken every snap this fall? Even Palmer, poised and politically correct as he is, confesses he’s surprised about the way things have unfolded.

“I didn’t think it would be this way, not this late in the season,” said Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winner from USC. “Nobody expected us to be in the playoff hunt. So it’s great.”

Earlier this season, Palmer was moved ahead of 10-year veteran Shane Matthews into the backup spot on the depth chart. But Matthews was promoted to No. 2 for last Sunday’s game at Baltimore and is expected to stay there for today’s game against San Francisco.

Dropping Palmer to No. 3 isn’t a slap at the rookie, Coach Marvin Lewis insists, but an indication of the importance of these must-win games.

“It has nothing to do with Carson,” said Lewis, whose 7-6 team dropped a game behind Baltimore in the AFC North with a 31-13 loss to the Ravens. “He’s been tremendous. We’ve given him a lot of practice snaps to prepare him to play had he had the opportunity to play, so he could go in there and show all the ability he has.... He knows and realizes that he is our future. He is my future.”

While he wasn’t thrilled by the demotion, Palmer understood.

“When you get an opportunity to be in the playoffs, you want to go with experience over a rookie,” he said. “If something happened, I’m out there trying to get my feet wet in a game that has playoff implications. You’d rather go with a guy like Shane who’s been in this league for a long time, which makes sense to me.”

Lewis is in no rush to replace Kitna, who is tied atop the league with Brett Favre and Manning with 23 touchdown passes. In Cincinnati’s seven victories, Kitna has 18 touchdown passes and one interception. He was the AFC offensive player of the month in November and put the Bengals in playoff contention for the first time since 1990.

On top of that, Kitna is an exceptionally nice guy and has become a friend and mentor to Palmer. That eases some of the rookie’s discomfort about riding the bench, although he’ll never get accustomed to it.

“It’s difficult whether you’re injured or just not playing,” Palmer said. “You want to play. By nature, everybody wants to be on the field. The fact is, it’s just not my time. It’s Jon’s time right now. But that’s the role I’m dealt. Next year I’m going to get a couple preseason games to play in, and once you’re playing, you’re playing.”

Lewis has not publicly given any indication of when he might play Palmer, whom he promoted to backup after the Bengals’ 1-4 start. If the Bengals fall out of contention, there’s a good chance Palmer could play in at least one of the last two games.

Even though he hasn’t set foot on the field, Palmer has gotten rave reviews from many of his teammates.

“Carson’s the real deal, man,” receiver Chad Johnson said. “All he has to do is get the offense down, and he’ll be all right. That’s it. Just learning.”

Palmer can accept that. He’s also learning to handle praise from people in Cincinnati, even if he feels it’s a bit premature.

“People are awesome here,” he said. “We’re barely above .500 and they’re so supportive. Everybody wants a piece of the Bengals. Coming from L.A. where we finished No. 3 or 4 in the country last year and we barely sold out. I think we only sold out one game.

“Here, it’s ‘Hey, great game last week!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I was holding the clipboard. But thanks.’ ”