Marvin Lewis declared on Friday afternoon that Carson Palmer's season is not over; which many speculate will come after the bye week. Provided the doctors give Palmer a green light, the Bengals will throw him in. This comes as somewhat of a surprise after it became known that Palmer has been seeking the opinion of several doctors, even asking Jake Delhomme how he dealt with Tommy John surgery.
Of the players with an opinion (read Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh), they believe Palmer should shut it down to work on being 100% ready for 2009.
On the other hand, there's really no pressure on the team -- other than winning the first one -- allowing the Bengals to play freely and aggressively. Plus, the schedule lets up a ton (more on that later). It's entirely possible that Palmer comes back, the Bengals go on a mini-run and build some momentum at the end of this season for 2009.