Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry was arrested on gun charges in a weekend street altercation, authorities said. Henry pulled a 9 mm pistol on a group of revelers early Saturday, according to a police report. An officer directing traffic aimed his gun at the 22-year-old Henry and ordered him to drop the pistol, the report states. Henry froze, then moved toward a limousine in the street and threw the gun inside the car, the report says. The officer pulled Henry away from the limo and pushed him to the ground, according to the report. Police said Henry, who still faces drug charges from an arrest last month in Kentucky, appeared to be preparing to fight with a group on the sidewalk.

The severity of Carson Palmer's injury is compounded by the potential loss of Jon Kitna as a free agent. Kitna has been the perfect backup and mentor to Palmer and led the Bengals to a 17-14 lead at halftime against the Steelers following von Oelhoffen's hit. He threw a pair of interceptions in the second half, part of the team's overall self-destruction, but as Kitna prepares to enter his 10th season in the league he wants one more opportunity to be a full-time starter. Kitna earned $1 million as a base salary last season and he could command more than that on the open market. He'll be one of the top quarterbacks available. San Diego's Drew Brees is due to become an unrestricted free agent, but the Chargers are expected to make him their franchise player if the two sides don't first agree on a long-term deal. After that the list of free agents include Josh McCown, Jeff Garcia and Kurt Warner. Lewis said Palmer's injury status would not affect how the team goes about trying to re-sign Kitna. Craig Krenzel is the third quarterback and the only other quarterback familiar with the Bengals system. He would move up to No. 2 on the depth chart and receive the majority of snaps during offseason drills and into training camp if Kitna is not re-signed.

While Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer's knee injury was deemed severe, the initial reports of possible long-term effects were overstated, Palmer's surgeon, Dr. Lonnie Paulos, said in a statement released by the team Thursday. "I believe and regret that media reports based on interviews with me have misinterpreted my view of Carson Palmer's knee injury. Though the injury was serious, the essential fact remains that his ACL and MCL have been repaired. "I would consider this a typical ACL-MCL football injury. Comments attributed to me that the knee injury was 'devastating and potentially career ending' were meant to describe such injuries in general. I was accurately quoted by The Associated Press that my bottom line is optimism regarding Carson's prognosis. With a successful rehabilitation program, he has an excellent chance of being medically cleared for play at the start of the 2006 regular season." Paulos, in the AP interview Thursday, said the damage was more severe and extensive. "It's not just like it was a torn ACL," Paulos told the AP. "It's a magnitude more difficult to recover from and repair. It can and has ended careers, without a doubt." Paulos, however, assures Bengals fans that Palmer will be ready for next season. "He did great," Paulos told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "He's already rehabbing. He's a great athlete. He's a stud. He'll be back in a few months."

CINCINNATI -- Carson Palmer's knee injury was "devastating and potentially career-ending," involving numerous ligament tears, a shredded ligament, damaged cartilage and a dislocated kneecap, his surgeon said Thursday. The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback tore ligaments in his left knee when he was hit by Pittsburgh's Kimo von Oelhoffen on his first pass during the Steelers' 31-17 playoff victory Sunday. The team announced that he had torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments. The damage was much more extensive and severe, but Dr. Lonnie Paulos said surgery went well and Palmer could be back for the start of the season. Palmer had surgery Tuesday in Houston. Doctors used grafts from other parts of his body and donated tissue to fix the damage during an operation that lasted more than two hours. Palmer headed back to California on Thursday to do his rehabilitation. "It's not just like it was a torn ACL," Paulos said Thursday, in a phone interview from Houston. "It's a magnitude more difficult to recover from and repair. It can and has ended careers, without a doubt.

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson denied an Internet report claiming he got into an altercation with receivers coach Hue Jackson and head coach Marvin Lewis on Sunday during halftime of a playoff loss to Pittsburgh. Johnson held a news conference last night in Paul Brown Stadium to respond to a report on profootballtalk.com that alleged that he put Jackson in a headlock and took a swing at Lewis when the head coach tried to intervene. "There?s never been a confrontation, ever, and especially with a coach," Johnson said. Neither Lewis nor Jackson attended the news conference. Johnson said he didn?t ask them to come. "I can handle this on my own," Johnson said. Bengals public relations director Jack Brennan said neither coach would address the alleged incident. "We don?t comment on rumors," Brennan said. Johnson said that if he had taken a swing at Lewis, the coach "would have sat me down" for the second half of the 31-17 loss.

Just two days after being carted off the field in the first quarter of the Cincinnati Bengals' wild-card defeat that ended their season, quarterback Carson Palmer underwent surgery to repair two torn ligaments in his left knee. The surgery was performed Tuesday night by Dr. Lonnie Paulos of Houston, who repaired the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments, and sources close to Palmer confirmed there was no damage to the other two knee ligaments and no cartilage tears. Palmer now faces a lengthy rehabilitation. By policy, the Bengals typically do not comment on injuries requiring surgery until after the procedure is completed. The club is expected to issue a statement Wednesday on the surgery and Palmer's status. The three-year veteran was injured on the second offensive snap for Cincinnati when Pittsburgh defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen was blocked into him. Palmer exited on a cart and an initial MRI exam at Paul Brown Stadium indicated the two ligament tears. The tears were confirmed in a subsequent examination. The fact Palmer was wearing a brace on the knee, which he donned after a 2004 injury, might have saved him from more severe damage.

A low hit on Carson Palmer changed everything. Steelers nose tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen dived at Cincinnati's Pro Bowl quarterback on his first pass Sunday, hitting Palmer at the knee and knocking him out of the game with a torn ligament before Pittsburgh rolled to a 31-17 victory that set up a rematch with the AFC's top team. The crowd of 65,870 erupted, then went sickeningly silent on the Bengals' first pass play -- one that went down as the longest in Cincinnati playoff history, and the costliest. Palmer held onto the ball a second longer than usual, allowing rookie Chris Henry to get open down the right sideline for a 66-yard reception. As the ball left Palmer's hand, a falling von Oelhoffen drove his shoulder into the quarterback's left knee. Even though Palmer wears a protective brace on the knee, it bowed inward, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament. Palmer seemed to know it was serious when he was taken off on a cart, a grim expression on his face. "You watch it happen, my thoughts and prayers go out to Carson," Roethlisberger said. "You could see Kimo was stumbling going down. He's not that kind of player. Carson's a great player. Any time you lose a great player like him, it's devastating."