Cincinnati Bengals: Carson Palmer Breaks Silence to Criticise Team over Brother

For those who cringed through Andy Dalton's debut in Detroit last week, and are therefore still hoping for a reconciliation with Carson Palmer, you might be better off pinning your hopes on the unfounded Brett Favre rumours that floated around earlier this week, as NFL.com is reporting that Palmer has broken his silence to criticise the team.

The stoically silent Palmer of recent months, has been reportedly said to have accused the team of spiting his younger brother (Bengals third-string quarterback) Jordan Palmer.

According to ProFootballTalk.com:

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Dennis Janson of WCPO (via CincyJungle.com), Carson Palmer has told a “friend” that he believes the team is “toying” with Jordan by giving him reduced reps and by eventually cutting him too late to land with a new team.

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With a contract that holds no guarantees, the younger Palmer could well be cut at any time, but are Carson's accusations about the Bengals intentions to do so, valid? It would certainly prove to be another kick in the teeth to the Palmer family, and yet it seems a strange claim to make, considering that it is widely regarded that the Bengals have moved on and are done trying to gain leverage over Carson. 

If the Bengals are intending to cut Palmer for legitimate reasons, it will certainly take some careful handling if Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis want to avoid an onslaught of negative media attention over the matter, and this exposure may well result in Jordan staying with the team (which was likely Carson's intention).

With the Bengals second-round pick Andy Dalton at the helm, and Bruce Gradkowski as his backup, Jordan's playing time in 2011-12 was always going to be contingent on some significant injuries leaving the Bengals brass with no other choice, and his cutting will have likely have little significance to the teams—but you have to feel for the kid.

It seems that the Palmer ripple effect is still being felt in Bengals camp, and if the aforementioned claims rein true, both sides seem intent on making this a very messy divorce. The older Palmer, having fast become the most hated man in the Queen City, is using the only tool left to him in exile in California, the media and using it wisely in order to cast a dark cloud over Lewis and Brown.

Keep your eyes peeled for Lewis not giving this issue the time of day in his next press conference...