The winless Bengals lurched through another tough day Thursday as players tried to figure out the front office and the head coach declined to give his opinion of what's going on.

"There's a lot of negative stuff going on around here right now," Carter said. "It's not good."

The latest tempest formed Wednesday, when the Bengals decided to put Carter on injured reserve with a dislocated kneecap and waived fullback Brian Milne, who started 31 of the last 35 games.

They added a couple of running backs -- Michael Basnight off the practice squad and Sedrick Shaw off waivers from Cleveland. But with rookie Nick Williams sidelined by a sprained ankle, the Bengals were left with one healthy fullback, Clif Groce.

Coslet, at odds with the front office over releasing veterans, walked off the practice field Thursday with nothing to say about it.

"I didn't have anything to say yesterday, I don't have anything to say today and I won't have anything to say tomorrow," Coslet said, without slowing his pace.

Carter, the star-crossed running back who has missed all or most of three seasons since he was the No. 1 overall pick in 1995, showed up for treatment on his knee Thursday unhappy that he didn't get a chance to plead his case.

Carter tore tissue when his right kneecap came out of place during a 27-3 loss Sunday in Carolina. The Bengals decided to put him on injured reserve -- ending his season -- because doctors anticipated an eight-week recovery time.

"I was very disappointed that they did it without giving me a chance (to talk them out of it)," Carter said. "If it was a season-ending injury, I could understand it. They say I'll be out eight weeks; I say six. Then we have seven or eight games left. I mean, that's half a season."

Carter was unhappy about how he learned of the move.

"I came home and was watching TV and saw my name at the bottom of the screen saying I'm out for the year," Carter said. "That's the big thing that really disappointed me, that I had to find out from TV. Everyone in this whole world knew I was out besides me.

"You'd think they would have the common courtesy just to call me and let me know. They've got all my phone numbers."

General manager Mike Brown said Carter should have been told.

"It would have been a mistake on our part here and we apologize for it," Brown said.

Some players were still disturbed by the decision to waive Milne, who was the lead blocker during Corey Dillon's consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Dillon wouldn't talk about the subject.

"Right now, it's still a shock to us," Groce said.

Groce was waived on Aug. 30 and brought back three days later, when the Bengals waived fullback Nicky Sualua.

"It's like a country-western song," Groce said. "It's just ups and downs -- some tears, shake your head and hopefully when this is over, some laughter."