"It's just been crazy," Palmer said during the club's open locker room Wednesday, Dec. 3. "Every time we play, you get more and more shocked. It's almost so unreal, we don't believe it's true sometimes."

The Bengals are deep in the AFC North cellar, trying to salvage a lost season by playing spoiler against the Colts, Redskins, Browns

.

The only good news: Nobody has egged Palmer's house or knifed the tires on his truck.

"I actually listen to talk radio," he said. "You see people around town and everyone's as positive as could be, where as everything on the radio is as negative as can be.

"I think there's a difference between what you hear on the radio and read compared to what everyday fans, neighbors, people at the grocery store, whatever it may be, are saying. I ran into someone who just wanted us to beat the Steelers to make the season - just beat the Steelers."

But the Bengals got swept by Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and have a return date (Dec. 21) in Cleveland, where they'll attempt to avoid an 0-6 finish in the AFC North.

Team president Mike Brown told the Cincinnati Enquirer and Bengals.com that the team would be improved by a "quantum leap" had Palmer not gotten injured.

Palmer suffered a right elbow injury against the New York Giants on Sept. 21 and will miss his eighth straight game Sunday.

"We were 0-4 when I was playing," Palmer said. "It's kind of tough to say that."

Palmer will begin throwing again on either Saturday or Monday. He'll find out if the ligament and tendon - that were detached from the bone - have reattached and healed naturally with rest and rehabilitation.

"Just to get a ball back in your hands and get the throwing motion back is going to be exciting for me," Palmer said, "because I've been pretty bored not being able to do that so far."

He said his goal is to be "pain-free" and that "the tendon's strong and healed and enables me to get zip on the ball and get some power on the ball."

"I'll just be starting to throw. You don't jump back on the bike and go off 10-foot jumps. You jump back on the bike and just kind of start 10-, 12-yard throws, 50 percent, 60 percent and so on and then make a determination on the surgery - who knows? - a week, two weeks after that."

So surgery could still happen?

"I don't know," Palmer said. "Like I keep saying, if I knew I had to have the surgery, I'd already have it done. I'll see what the doctors say, have it checked out and go with a professional decision."

? Lewis has message after

Burress incident Notes on B3 Next game

Who: Bengals (1-10-1) at Colts (8-4)

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

TV: WHIO-TV (CBS, Ch. 7)

Radio: WLWAM (700), WTUE-FM (104.7)