It's a world of promise and expectations only the marquee players in the league are expected to carry. It's a foreign land for someone who has lived his life as the underdog, as an overachiever once too small to play for his junior high school football team and who didn't start at quarterback until his senior year in high school.

Kitna’s total of 324 completions was a career-high and ranks second in Bengals history behind Jeff Blake’s 326 in 1995 ... His career-high yardage total of 3591 ranks fifth in team history and was the team’s highest since Jeff Blake had 3624 in 1996. Kitna’s previous high was 3346 yards while starting 15 games for Seattle’s AFC West championship club in 1999 ... Jon kitna posted career highs in 2003 in completions (324), passing yards (3591), TD passes (26), completion percentage (62.3) and passer rating (87.4) ... His plus-11 differential in TD passes (26) against INTs (15) was the best for a Bengals QB with 20 or more TD throws since Boomer Esiason hit plus-17 in 1989 ...Was the only NFL QB in 2003 to play every offensive snap for his team. Seventh-year pro had his finest NFL season ... Though his statistics in 2002 were solid, his ’03 performance earned him Comeback Player of the Year honors from Associated Press and Pro Football Weekly, due to his leadership role in Bengals’ NFL-best six-game improvement (from 2-14 in ’02 to 8-8 in ’03) ...