Football Bonus: Palmer

Showing posts with label Palmer. Show all posts

Monday, October 24, 2011

Chiefs 28, Raiders 0: An Up-and-Down First Game for Palmer

Instead, the focus was on the sideline, where Carson Palmer — after spending the first half wearing a black baseball cap and occasionally checking a clipboard — was finally putting on his helmet. As the buzz from the fans grew, Palmer threw a few warm-up passes, took a couple of practice snaps and then, after the Chiefs scored again, trotted onto the field to a standing ovation.

It had been nine months since Palmer last played in an N.F.L. game and, more important, only five days since the Raiders sent two draft picks to Cincinnati to end Palmer’s self-imposed exile from the Bengals. Still, the Raiders did not hesitate — the first play call for Palmer was a play-action pass, and he dropped back, found Darrius Heyward-Bey over the middle for 18 yards and took a late hit from Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali without issue.

The fans roared. The Raiders on the sideline leapt. And Palmer had a spring in his step as he jogged toward the huddle.

“It felt good to get hit, actually, believe it or not,” Palmer said afterward. “It’s been a while since I played football.”

Of course, three plays later Palmer threw his first incompletion, and for the rest of the game he settled in for exactly the sort of performance one might expect from a quarterback who was practicing on high school fields in Southern California as recently as last week. There were a few moments of brilliance (a pretty completion on a timing route to Heyward-Bey) mixed with several that were less so (an interception by Brandon Flowers that was returned 58 yards for a touchdown).

“That’s Football 101,” Palmer said of Flowers’s interception, which came on a screen pass intended for Denarius Moore. “I can’t do that, and I knew it as soon as the ball came out of my hand.”

Despite the look of his overall numbers — Palmer finished 8 of 21 for 116 yards, with three interceptions — the Raiders found solace in his simply spending game time with his teammates.

Yes, the Raiders were embarrassed at home, 28-0, but Palmer threw passes wearing pads again (something he said took some getting used to) and made a concerted effort to communicate with other Raiders on the bench in between drives.

On a day like this, that had to be enough. Even Raiders Coach Hue Jackson conceded that he did not truly expect Palmer to lead a Raiders comeback from a three-touchdown deficit.

“I thought he could give us a spark,” Jackson said.

Ideally, Jackson added, Palmer would have played sparingly, if at all. Although Jackson was coy all week about who would be his starter, he said Sunday that Kyle Boller — the replacement for Jason Campbell, who broke his collarbone last week — took 80 percent of the first-team snaps during practice. “I wasn’t going to throw him to the wolves,” Jackson said of Palmer.

But Boller struggled against the Chiefs, completing just 7 of 14 passes for 61 yards and throwing three interceptions, including one that was returned 59 yards for a touchdown by Kendrick Lewis on Oakland’s first drive of the game.

“It just didn’t go as planned,” Boller said. “I feel like I let my teammates down.”

After the Raiders went three-and-out on the first drive of the third quarter, Jackson had seen enough, and Palmer, who acknowledged that he knew only “three or four” of the team’s pass protections, restarted his career.

He spent seven seasons with the Bengals, then spent the first six weeks of this season waiting at home in an attempt to force a trade. Now that he has succeeded, he plans to take the next two weeks to immerse himself in the system of his new team. (The Raiders have a bye next Sunday.)

With the A.F.C. West remaining wide open, expectations will rise quickly. Jackson said “there’s no doubt” that Palmer will be the starter when the Raiders face the Denver Broncos here on Nov. 6, and Palmer said he was ready to work.

“It’s not a bye week for me, that’s for sure,” Palmer said. “Two weeks is enough time for me to be where I need to be.”

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Palmer might be coming in for Raiders

OAKLAND -- Carson Palmer just put his helmet on after talking to an Oakland assistant on the sideline.

He could be soon coming in with the Raiders trailing Kansas City 14-0 early in the third quarter.

Oakland quarterback Kyle Boller has been awful. He threw three interceptions in the first half, including a pass that was brought back for a score by Kansas City safety Kendrick Lewis. Fans have been chanting Palmer’s name all game. He didn’t start because the team and Palmer didn’t feel three days of practice was enough preparation time. Oakland traded for Palmer Tuesday. He hasn’t played since Week1 7 of last season.

Oakland running back Darren McFadden missed most of the first half. There hasn’t been any announcement from the Raiders, but he appeared to be favoring his lower leg, most likely his ankle.

McFadden -- who entered the game as the NFL’s leading rusher, has four yards on two carries. He has been on the sideline, so perhaps he will come in later. Backup Michael Bush had 82 yards on 12 carries in the first half.

Kansas City had five catches for 58 yards in the first half.

Oakland safety Matt Giordano has a neck injury and is out for the rest of the game.

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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Carson Palmer Faces Obstacles to Playing for Raiders

“I went to bed last night at 10:30 a retired football player,” Palmer said Tuesday at his introductory news conference. “And I got the text message at 4 a.m. and was told to get on a plane to Oakland.”

In the days since, increasing speculation about Palmer and the Raiders has been fueled by the team’s coyness about whether he will play on Sunday. But the stark reality of Palmer’s situation cannot be ignored. He has not played in an N.F.L. game since January. Before this week, he had not been with an N.F.L. team since his trade-me-or-else standoff with the Cincinnati Bengals began shortly thereafter. And the sum of his football action in the past nine months has been limited to three practices and multiple passing workouts at Southern California high schools and parks.

So, with the Raiders set to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, what can reasonably be expected from Palmer?

Ken O’Brien, a former Jets quarterback, coached Palmer when he was at U.S.C. and has become a family friend and personal coach for him. In a telephone interview this week, O’Brien said that Palmer’s throwing arm looked as strong as ever during their workouts but that he would still face considerable challenges if he were to play against the Chiefs.

“It’s been four days,” O’Brien said. “It sounds crazy, but you have to learn everyone’s name. You have to learn the routes and the hot reads. You have to learn the cadence. You have to learn the timing.”

He added: “And then when it’s over? You have to learn the game plan for the team you’re playing.”

Pete Carroll, Palmer’s coach at U.S.C. who is now with the Seattle Seahawks, had a similar opinion.

“I just hope that expectations will balance out,” Carroll said in a telephone interview. “People are talking like the Raiders are going to the Super Bowl. They’ve got to give him some slack. He hasn’t thrown a ball in a game in months.”

Raiders Coach Hue Jackson was evasive all week about whether Palmer would start Sunday, and he continued to be on Friday. Referring to Palmer, Kyle Boller and Terrelle Pryor, Jackson said, “I think all three of the guys are ready to play.”

The three shared first-team snaps Friday, added Jackson, who would not rule out the possibility that multiple quarterbacks could see action against the Chiefs.

Still, the public focus remains on Palmer. A poll on the Web site CSNBayArea.com showed that 67 percent of respondents, as of Friday afternoon, had voted for Palmer to start on Sunday.

Palmer was noncommittal.

“I’m getting as prepared as I can,” he said. “I’m excited about the opportunity just to run on the field, let alone get a chance to play.”

When Palmer does play, whether it is this weekend or not, he will be attempting to live up to some considerable expectations. A former Heisman Trophy winner, he was a two-time Pro Bowler with the Bengals but struggled with injuries and eventually soured on the sometimes dysfunctional franchise.

Palmer had knee surgery in 2006, then played only four games in 2008 after tearing ligaments in his elbow. Since then, there have been questions about whether his arm strength has diminished, though Jackson said he had been pleased with what Palmer had shown in his few practices.

Despite his dispute with the Bengals, Palmer kept busy, which is probably why the Raiders are even considering playing him this weekend. During the off-season, he worked out with O’Brien and other friends in Southern California, including Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, who was Palmer’s college roommate. Once the N.F.L. season began, O’Brien said he worked out with Palmer several days a week “wherever we could find grass” around Los Angeles.

They did drills, worked on footwork and threw to whatever receivers they could find — sometimes former professionals like T. J. Houshmandzadeh or Danny Farmer, sometimes high school kids.

“I caught some, but I didn’t do too much route running,” the 51-year-old O’Brien said. “That would really throw off his timing.”

Palmer was stoic about his situation with the Bengals during the workouts — “He stuck to his guns, but we didn’t talk much about it,” O’Brien said — and the two traded text messages after the news broke that the Raiders were pushing to trade for Palmer as a replacement for Jason Campbell, who broke his collarbone last week.

O’Brien said the one thing observers would most notice about Palmer was that “he is totally healthy now,” a development O’Brien said he believed would allow Palmer to return to the upper tier of quarterbacks in the league.

How quickly that can happen, however, is a subject of more significant debate. Many Raiders fans, and maybe even some members of the Raiders organization, want to see Palmer right away. But if he plays Sunday, O’Brien cautioned, it has to be seen in perspective. There is a large gap between the speed of a workout and the speed of an N.F.L. game, and that is something players struggle with even after they have gone through a full training camp. Palmer had no camp at all.

“There’s no doubt he’s going to get back to form,” O’Brien said. “It’s just a matter of getting his timing down. To be really comfortable? It’s going to take some time to get used to it.”

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Three and out: Palmer to start for Raiders

NFL.com Staff | Tags: Three and out, Carson Palmer, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Joseph Addai, Oakland Raiders, Peyton Hillis

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Palmer taking first team reps: Barely 24 hours since joining the Silver and Black, Carson Palmer has already assumed the duties of Oakland’s starting quarterback and all indications are that he will be the man under center on Sunday against Kansas City. The Chiefs have been rather generous to fantasy quarterbacks this year, allowing more than 18 points per contest. But keep in mind that Palmer hasn’t thrown a pass in anger in more than nine months, so you can expect a reasonable amount of rust.

But it’s not all bad for the Raiders’ offense. After all, there’s still Darren McFadden, who is not only one of the league’s top runners, but has proven himself to be a capable receiver out of the backfield. And you shouldn’t be afraid to throw Darrius Heyward-Bey in your lineup. Palmer undoubtedly recognizes who his playmakers are and combined with K.C.’s horrid secondary, DHB should see a number of tosses in his direction.

Hillis still uncertain vs. Seattle: The weekly status of Peyton Hillis is quickly climbing the charts as 2011's Greatest Fantasy Headaches. Pardon us if you’ve heard this song before, but coach Pat Shurmur says Hillis isn’t a sure thing for this week’s game against Seattle. The hamstring that might (or might not) have been the reason for his extended stay on the bench last week kept him off the practice field on Wednesday. If he doesn’t go, it will be another week of Montario Hardesty. Even if Hillis is available, recent weeks have shown that he’s no lock to get most of the carries. Either way, the Seahawks have been pretty stout against the run, so you might want to skip a Browns running back altogether.

Addai misses practice: The status of Joseph Addai remains up in the air after sitting out practice with a tender hamstring. With Addai out last week, Delone Carter and Donald Brown split carries. And although neither did particularly well, keep in mind that it was against the very stout Bengals defense. Then again, Indy lines up against the Saints this week and New Orleans has been even tougher on fantasy running backs. If you’re desperately in need of a bye-week replacement at running back, Carter’s worth a flex look. But overall, you are better served by looking elsewhere.

– Marcas Grant

Posted in: Fantasy

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Fantasy Live Podcast: Palmer Reading

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Thursday, October 20 2011 BLOGS /FantasyOfficial Blog of the National Football League

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Fantasy Live Podcast: Palmer Reading NFL.com Staff | Tags: NFL Fantasy Live podcast, Carson Palmer, DeMarco Murray, Joe McKnight, Tim Tebow

Hour 1 -

Hour 2 –

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In the first hour, Jason Smith, Elliott Harrison and Michael Fabiano discuss why you need Tim Tebow on your roster and when Carson Palmerwill become fantasy ready. In hour two, the guys talk to Steve Wyche about DeMarco Murray’s fantasy value and why you need to pick up Joe McKnight if your running backs are letting you down.