Don’t Write Off Carson Palmer

October 29th, 2012

Palmer has been strong this season. The Falcons needed a late 55-yard field goal to beat the 3-4 Raiders in Atlanta.

When Joe thinks about the Bucs’ secondary, Joe doesn’t get all warm and fuzzy pondering what an effective veteran quarterback might do against it.

This is the main reason Joe is concerned about Sunday’s Raiders-Bucs game. Raiders QB Carson Palmer is playing very well this season, calling lots of the shots in the no-huddle offense, and his jersey has stayed far too clean for Joe’s comfort. Palmer’s has only absorbed 12 sacks in seven games. That’s the sixth-fewest in the league, hardly shabby for an immobile QB who has thrown more passes this season than Peyton Manning and Matt Ryan.

Raiders beat writer Steve Corkan notes that Palmer was better than his numbers appeared against the Chiefs yesterday.

The Raiders offensive line did a much better job looking after Palmer today, as promised. Palmer got smacked around pretty good against the Jaguars a week earlier, prompting the offensive linemen to redouble their efforts and make a point of playing better against the Chiefs. It worked. Palmer wasn’t sacked on 28 dropbacks, and he wasn’t hit much, either. Palmer did have at least three passes tipped at or near the line of scrimmage.
Overall, Palmer finished 14 of 28 for 209 yards. However, he had a handful of passes dropped that were right on the money.

The Bucs have to find a way to get to Palmer on Sunday without blitzing. Joe expects that to be a huge challenge, especially if Michael Bennett’s twisted up ankle isn’t 100 percent. On the upside, Joe has loads of confidence in the Bucs’ ability to outscore the Raiders in a shootout.

14 Responses to “Don’t Write Off Carson Palmer”

  1. Sneedy16 Says:

    Palmer will have a field day with our secondary. He is accurate with his deep passes and the no-huddle will kill the DL. If Wright is suspended I expect them to go deep and often especially since they have all fast receivers.

  2. flmike Says:

    Key phrase in that whole story “Kansa City Chiefs”

  3. St Augustine Says:

    Get ready Barth Vader….have a feeling the game will come down to you. May the force be w/you

  4. FlBoy84 Says:

    DB’s are going to have their hands full with Moore & Co. running go routes. Hopefully the Bucs offense has a similar night to the one they had Thursday.

  5. Stanglassman Says:

    Joe- Proof out that 1st picture caption sentence.

  6. HecticBuc Says:

    I got a feeling this one is going to be a shoot out and freeman is going to have his best game of the season.

  7. Patrick Says:

    TRADE DEADLINE tomorrow: Any way we can trade for a cornerback?

  8. adamant Says:

    Carson Palmer is a pretty good QB, but he is no Drew Brees or Eli Manning. I think if we control the clock and get Doug Martin going, we will succeed. It has traditionally been tough on the Bucs to go to the West Coast and win (although that has changed some lately I believe), so I think it is imperative that we score first (at least TD wise). Go Bucs!

  9. Warren Brown Says:

    Joe, we need pressure with or without the blitz. If we aren’t getting there with four, bring the heat. I would rather have DBs getting burnt one-on-one while blitzing, than watch Carson Palmer sit in the pocket for hours versus and three man rush and still burn our DBs.

  10. Pete Dutcher Says:

    I gotta say, Joe…I disagree that the Bucs should not blitz. I don’t think they should do it constantly, but occasionally would be fine…the problem I’ve seen is when the defense commits to a specific method for the whole game, the offenses find a way to handle it in the second half…resulting in close games.

    Sometimes I think the defense should have a separate plan for the second half. It should be more intense…catch the other team off guard.

  11. Andrew Says:

    want to see more of Leonard Johnson and want to see more of Doug Martin. cant wait for the game.

  12. skp Says:

    small sample size, but we seem to do our best off of an irregular schedule. consider that our 3 wins so far have come in the season opener (extended prep time), after the bye week, and in a short week. maybe the 10 day break will give the coaches some time to work a little magic. they’ll need to with our top 2 corners suspended

  13. admin Says:

    @PeteDutcher – Joe NEVER wrote that the Bucs should not blitz. All Joe wrote was that they need to find pressure without blitzing. Big difference there.

  14. 911bucs Says:

    Could Ronde move back to the CB for a few games?