Carson Palmer struggles in Oakland Raiders debut

Over the last two weeks, the Oakland Raiders have made all sorts of headlines for being a team on the brink of a breakout season, the death of longtime owner Al Davis and the trade that brought Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer to the Bay Area.

The death of Al Davis was definitely the biggest story in the Bay Area over the past month or so due to all the contributions to the NFL that the controversial brought during his time with the Oakland Raiders, but the trade for Carson Palmer turned a lot of heads and got a lot of people thinking that the Raiders might actually be able to contend with the best of the best in the AFC Conference from here on out.

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Heading into Week 7, head coach Hue Jackson made it known that he was uncertain on whether or not Carson Palmer would get the start or even play in Sunday’s game against the division rival Kansas City Chiefs. With Palmer not playing a single game this season, the consensus was that he would be rusty and would need some time to get back to playing shape. Not only did the veteran quarterback need time to get back to game shape, but he would also need time to get used to his new surroundings and new receivers.

Carson Palmer

With all that being said, the Oakland Raiders were prepared to start backup quarterback Kyle Boller against the Kansas City Chiefs. This wasn’t considered to be a bad move as Boller did well enough in the win over the Cleveland Browns just a week earlier after starting quarterback Jason Campbell went down with a broken collarbone, but the reason the Raiders pulled the trigger on this trade to bring Carson Palmer to Oakland was due to the lack of confidence in Boller and his ability to lead this team into the playoffs this season.

So despite all the reports during the week that Carson Palmer would most likely be the starter against the Kansas City Chiefs, Kyle Boller was given the nod and started under center. The result of Boller’s start was a bad move right out of the gate as his first pass was a pick-six and the first of three interceptions.

For some reason, Hue Jackson kept Kyle Boller in the game must longer than anticipated, but eventually made the change by putting in Carson Palmer. Even though most people believed the game would instantly turn around with Palmer under center, it turned out to be more of the same as the veteran quarterback also threw three interceptions and failed to lead the team to even one scoring drive.

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So even though the Oakland Raiders were favored to get their fifth win of the season in Week 7 over the lowly Kansas City Chiefs, Carson Palmer and company just couldn’t get the job done. Not only were the Raiders handed their third loss of the season and to a division rival no less, but they also saw star running back Darren McFadden go down with an apparent ankle sprain.

Needless to say, the Oakland Raiders will have a lot of work to do to get Carson Palmer back to form and Darren McFadden back on the field. Hopefully, this game was enough to shake off the rust for Palmer and the McFadden injury doesn’t turn out to be serious.