NFL Week 10: Oakland Raiders @ San Diego Chargers

Oakland Raiders @ San Diego Chargers Thurs. Nov. 10, 2011 8:20 p.m. EST

About a month ago, the Oakland Raiders made a bold move by acquiring former Heisman trophy winner and one-time Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals may have been adamant about not trading Palmer like he requested, but the offer from the Raiders was too good to turn down as Cincinnati were basically set to get two first-round draft picks in exchange for a veteran quarterback that refused to play.

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Fortunately, the deal seemed to work for both teams as the Oakland Raiders were in desperate need of a franchise caliber quarterback after seeing Jason Campbell going down with a broken collarbone and the Cincinnati Bengals wanted to put the Carson Palmer situation behind them. With rookie quarterback Andy Dalton coming into his own as the starter in Cincinnati, the Bengals were playing much better than anticipated and trading Carson Palmer was a given.

San Diego quarterback Phillip Rivers

Despite Carson Palmer being an obvious upgrade over Jason Campbell and backups Kyle Boller and Terrelle Pryor, the veteran quarterback hadn’t played a game all season long and was noticeably rusty in his debut with the Oakland Raiders. With three interceptions in the second half of the loss to the division rival Kansas City Chiefs, Palmer just couldn’t get anything going and had a lot of people second guessing this move made by the silver and black.

Two weeks later, the Oakland Raiders were hoping for a much better performance out of Carson Palmer coming off a bye week and playing with new addition and former teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Unfortunately, the Denver Broncos were able to get the best of Carson Palmer and company with the veteran quarterback three more interceptions in somewhat of a disappointing outing.

Carson Palmer did throw for 300+ yards and three touchdowns, but all anyone will remember from the loss to the Broncos is the three interceptions. Palmer definitely improved from his debut as he seemed to strike up some chemistry with his new receivers, but he will need a few more weeks to get back on track.

In Week 10, the new-look Oakland Raiders will on the road to take on the division rival San Diego Chargers. This game will be the perfect opportunity for Palmer to get back to form as a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback in this league, but he will have his work cut out for him against a solid Chargers defense.

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Much like the Oakland Raiders, the San Diego Chargers have struggled as of late with three straight losses. Philip Rivers and company will try and bounce back against their division rivals in Week 10 in order to stay atop of the AFC West division.

As of right now, the San Diego Chargers are favored to get the win over the Oakland Raiders in Week 10 with a -7 point spread. Even though the Chargers are capable of bouncing back this week, I believe the Raiders will get the win in San Diego.

Take the Raiders at +7.