According to Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Carson Palmer's status hasn't changed. He's still going to rest his swollen right elbow and the Bengals will watch to see how he progresses.

The esteemed Drs. Ocho Cinco and Houshmandzadeh, apparently, seem to differ.

"I think the issues with Nine is a lot more serious than playing this year," said Dr. Chad Ocho Cinco, whose academic record would best be described as Blutarsky-like. "We’re talking about his career in general. If it means sitting out this year to play another 20 or who knows how long he’ll be able to go, I think it’d be in his best interest to sit out."

When asked if that meant he thought Palmer should sit out the rest of the season, his teammate said yes.

"If I was whoever makes the call on Nine, I’d tell them to do whatever you need to do," Dr. Ocho Cinco said. "I don’t think surgery would be the best thing. The thing on the surgery, whatever the injury is, it’s 50-50, sometimes it’s successful, sometimes it’s not. I think Nine should sit down and rest, we have next year. I mean, for Nine, we have next year. For us, we have to finish. You know?"

Dr. T.J. Houshmandzadeh agreed with his fellow wide receiver and medical expert.

"I would agree with that assessment. Whether that will happen, I don’t know. Carson wants to play, he’s the type of dude, he’s a competitor," Dr. Houshmandzadeh. "It would be the smart thing to do. It’s not my decision. You know? (Ryan Fitzpatrick) gets a chance to play. A lot of guys that are backups that have a chance to play, some don’t do as well, some make a name for themselves and have a good career, so we’ll see."

As for Palmer, he declined to speak to the media on Wednesday, saying there were no new developments with his elbow.

"Rght now the best course of action is stil to rest -- what he's been told," Lewis said. "That's why he really kind of leaves any questions and so forth from him to me to answer so he doesn't have to keep answering the same question over again. And if that status changes, we'll let you know as soon as it does. That's where the course of action is right now is to allow it to rest and let the healing take place so he has an opportunity not to further injure it."