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| 8th January, 2006 - 11:18 pm |  AP - A low hit on Carson Palmer changed everything.
Steelers nose tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen dived at Cincinnati's Pro Bowl quarterback on his first pass Sunday, hitting Palmer at the knee and knocking him out of the game with a torn ligament before Pittsburgh rolled to a 31-17 victory that set up a rematch with the AFC's top team.
The crowd of 65,870 erupted, then went sickeningly silent on the Bengals' first pass play -- one that went down as the longest in Cincinnati playoff history, and the costliest.
Palmer held onto the ball a second longer than usual, allowing rookie Chris Henry to get open down the right sideline for a 66-yard reception. As the ball left Palmer's hand, a falling von Oelhoffen drove his shoulder into the quarterback's left knee.
Even though Palmer wears a protective brace on the knee, it bowed inward, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament. Palmer seemed to know it was serious when he was taken off on a cart, a grim expression on his face.
"You watch it happen, my thoughts and prayers go out to Carson," Roethlisberger said. "You could see Kimo was stumbling going down. He's not that kind of player. Carson's a great player. Any time you lose a great player like him, it's devastating."
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