Palmer Balks at Being Shelved

Carson Palmer’s elbow continues to dominate Bengals headlines, with espn.com reporting he has a partially “frayed” ulnar collateral ligament.

"Despite the Bengals’ 0-7 record going into a game at Houston, the team has no plans to place Palmer on injured reserve, which would officially end his season. Palmer has asked the Bengals to wait “around two months” before taking any action because, a source said, the quarterback “does not want to abandon the team until he’s certain he can’t play …the win-loss record has nothing to do with it, believe it or not.”"

Both espn.com and the team site agree that the uncertainty over Carson’s return this season is being generated by Carson himself, who continues to waffle over having season-ending “Tommy John” surgery to repair the injury. Writes Geoff Hobson:

"But Mortensen said that Palmer’s injury isn’t as extensive, which is probably why Palmer has asked the Bengals to hold off on him making a surgical decision until December.That appears to be the dilemma and has both Palmer and the club uneasy.If they wait and the rest does its job, he’ll have a full recovery and should be ready to go in the spring. If he waits, rests, and still needs the surgery, no one really knows how he’ll respond and the timetable could go into next season. The worst-case scenario of any postseason surgery is not being ready for training camp, ending up on the physically unable to perform list (PUP), and missing the first six games of the next season."

For once, I agree with James Walker: it’s time for Palmer to shut it down and do what needs to be done. At 0-7 there is absolutely no point to a return that risks further injury this season and a delayed return in 2009.