From the Bengals locker room.

Some interesting stuff from Rudi Johnson, who is rumored to be on the trading block:

"They’ve been trying to get me out of here for a long time now. So, it’s not surprising at all, it doesn’t surprise me one bit."

Also, "I’m not disappointed, I’m not bothered, I’m not worried. Just move on. No big deal. That’s all there is to it. That’s part of the game, part of the business. That’s all to it. Whatever happens is whatever happens. I’ll be fine."

Rudi expects to play Thursday, as does T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Marvin Lewis said both would play.

From T.J.: "My body is saying that I’m fine. I knew that but I just had to make sure of it -- but I felt good. I knew I would but there is always doubt with something like that…"

Mike Zimmer: "We suck."

"In the first half, we battled pretty good. Not a lot went right for us in the first half, but we battled pretty good, especially after the touchdown and they went up 10-0. We played better on third downs. But obviously we weren't good enough in the passing game at all to do anything. We gave up way too many big plays. Everybody is talking about the pass rush, but honestly, the quarterback gets the ball out real quick, so we'll worry about some of the other stuff. Also, first play of the game had a free hit on the quarterback, a couple other times we had a free hit on the quarterback, so we probably should have had five or six sacks in the game. But we obviously didn't do a good enough job in the passing game."

"The really disappointing thing was the overall effort in the game. They just weren't flying around to the football like they had been all through camp. I don't know what the reason for that was, but that was disappointing. So, really, that's what I'm looking for this weekend. And like I told them the other day, I want to find out when we get punched a few times, who wants to punch back? We got punched a few times the other night. Who wants to take it, and who wants to get up and give us something?"

Marvin Lewis on Rudi: "He’s still working to fight for a job, just like everybody else is, right?"

Lewis said Antwan Odom and Dexter Jackson (sprained ankle suffered yesterday) should be ready to start practice on Monday and go full speed into the season opener.

Palmer won't play on Thursday, nor will Chad Johnson -- "I'll have to hide his uniform," Lewis said of Johnson.

Palmer on how he feels: "Better than I look."

Palmer on what happened: "Just got kind of hit in a weird position. Helmet came down. Either that or I got a fist in the facemask, not really sure how it happened. But part of the game."

And on his protection: "Nothing's wrong with the protection. I said it a couple weeks ago. We've been as good as anybody at avoiding sacks and not having a lot of sacks. We just had a couple of mental errors. Like Brat says, it's been the quarterback, offensive line, the running backs, the tight (ends). It's been here, there, some different pressures that we weren't used to seeing, weren't prepared for, that we made adjustments on, looked at on film, saw where we need to make adjustments on, and we'll be fine. We've never had an issue of protecting the quarterback here. The offensive line is as good as they get in this league, and our running backs are all really good at picking up protections. We just got caught off-guard a couple of times and that happens. That's why you practice and that's why you have preseason games: to get the kinks out and patch things up and figure out where you need to get better and move on."

Marvin on the line: "Yeah there were some other entities as I alluded to after the game in here. But there is no advantage for us to be very specific, but we shared the blame in it pretty good which is a little bit of where we were at the beginning of last season until we got everybody ironed out and straightened out. But they all shared the blame, including the quarterback. I think as we go and have new guys and some guys that haven’t played -- and actually iit was a couple of guys who hadn’t played any football here. We just have to do better and we will. It was a good test and I knew it would be. I kind of told you guys that in the press conference that it would be a good test for us to check some things out and make sure we were on point about some things. It worked out that way. No pun intended but when you get your nose bloodied you get ready to go…"

As far as the reaction because of the visual of Carson Palmer's bloodied face: "Well, the fact that he stayed in for two more plays and played I think is what he is all about. If we would have had the ball for six more plays he would have been in there for six more plays and finished the drive. Unfortunately we didn’t but that just kind of shows the guy he is and so forth and how he goes about his job and his business…"

Lewis also had nice things to say about Jerome Simpson: "Jerome Simpson has been performing very well, we’ve had three practices since the game and he continues to impress us. I’ve been very pleased with him and continues to grow everyday. All the athleticism is there, it’s just learning what to do in certain situations is key.  you keep seeing the process and the bright light of him playing faster. Glenn Holt is turned it on as well and that has been good. I think those two guys have risen up and done some good things when I was disappointed with in the earlier weeks. ... Every time we turn on the lights he players better. He has responded very well in the games and it hasn’t got too big for him."