OAKLAND, Calif.—Carson Palmer spent extra time during the bye week at Oakland Raiders headquarters and even took new receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh home with him one night for a study session.
It wasn’t enough.
Palmer threw three interceptions for the second straight game and the Oakland Raiders lost 38-24 to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, leaving the new franchise quarterback searching for answers.
“It’s kind of a crash course the last couple weeks,” said Palmer, acquired in a trade from Cincinnati less than three weeks ago. “It’s like you’re jamming or cramming for a final or a test.”
Hard to give Palmer’s performances so far a passing grade.
In his first game with Oakland, he came off the bench for the second half in a loss to Kansas City and threw three interceptions. After throwing for three touchdowns early against Denver, he brought his season total to a staggering six interceptions in six quarters.
Not exactly what Raiders coach Hue Jackson had in mind when the former Bengals assistant reunited with Palmer out West.
“We’ve got to hold onto the ball. We’ve got to take care of the ball,” Jackson said. “We had momentum at one time, we were on the other side of the field about to, to me, have a chance to do something to put this thing in a different perspective.”
Instead, another former Heisman Trophy winner stole the show.
Tim Tebow threw two touchdown passes and did much of his damage with his legs, rushing for a career-high 117 yards on 12 carries on many of the same type of option keepers that made him so successful in college at Florida. But he did enough with his arm to keep the Raiders (4-4) honest, throwing touchdowns to Eric Decker and Eddie Royal.
Willis McGahee had a 60-yard touchdown run that tied the game on the first play after Palmer threw his second interception for the Raiders and then added a 24-yarder to ice it in the closing minutes.
The Broncos (3-5) didn’t allow the Raiders’ offense to generate anything in the fourth quarter and won for the second time in three games with Tebow as the starter.
Tebow finished 10 for 21 for 124 yards, but didn’t need to do much on a day Denver ran for 298 yards—its highest total since a 300-yard game against Seattle in 2000 and the Broncos’ most ever against the Raiders.
“The runs were the runs that we saw in practice. We knew exactly what they were going to do and we just didn’t stop it,” Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour said.
Palmer looked much better early in his first start with the Raiders than in his debut two weeks ago in a relief effort against Kansas City when he threw three second-half interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown in a 28-0 loss five days after he joined the team.
With a bye week and this past week to get acclimated to his new team, Palmer showed why Oakland dealt a 2012 first-round draft pick and a conditional 2013 second-rounder to Cincinnati to acquire Palmer after starter Jason Campbell broke his collarbone.
At least for one half.
With the Raiders in Denver territory, Palmer threw high to Denarius Moore and Chris Harris intercepted the deflected ball. McGahee then ran through a big hole up the middle and outraced the Oakland defense for a 60-yard score.
It tied the game on his longest run since a 77-yarder in Oakland in the 2009 season finale for Baltimore. Palmer said there are still things he’s not comfortable with and will take time to learn, and he’ll need to figure it out soon.
The Raiders play at San Diego on Thursday night in a key AFC West matchup. The teams are tied with Kansas City atop the division.
“I understand the pressures that come with the position,” said Palmer, who finished 18 for 34 for 312 yards passing. “I’m glad it’s a short week. I can’t wait to play again. This feeling that the locker room has, this feeling as a team, we have a chance to right it.”
The Broncos then took the lead in the fourth quarter after Oakland punted on fourth-and-inches from its 29. Royal caught Shane Lechler’s punt at the 15 and ran untouched to the end zone to give the Broncos a 31-24 lead with 5:53 remaining.
The Raiders capitalized on a botched punt to regain the lead. Britton Colquitt couldn’t handle the low snap from Lonie Paxton and threw the ball away to avoid a sack in the end zone. That gave the Raiders a first down at the Denver 14 and Palmer found Michael Bush on an 11-yard score for his first TD with the Raiders.
Palmer bounced back from an interception later in the second quarter with his best pass as a Raider, threading a 40-yard touchdown pass to fullback Marcel Reece, who was tightly covered by linebacker D.J. Williams.
There was an ugly finish to the first half. Oakland’s Taiwan Jones committed penalties on back-to-back field goal tries.
Matt Prater missed the first from 53 yards when Jones was offside, and then made a 48-yarder before Jones was called for roughing the kicker. Denver coach John Fox took the points off the board to have first down at the 20 with 17 seconds remaining.
But Prater missed wide left from 43 yards and Denver trailed 17-7 at the break, but the Raiders couldn’t make Denver pay.
“Until we learn to do those things better, we’ll be sitting here feeling like this,” Jackson said. “And I’m tired of it. I’ll be the first to say, I’m tired of it. I told the team that. These opportunities only come up every now and then.”
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