Coach Hue Jackson saw the same three-pick Carson Palmer we saw on Sunday, and acknowledges there's a rust issue -- but he doesn't regret the eyebrow-raising trade that brought the veteran quarterback to Oakland.
"This man was on a couch and we're playing against the highest level of competition on Sunday," Jackson told KNBR-AM, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "I think what he did in my opinion was kind of remarkable. ... Like I said, if anyone can do it, he can, and the only guy that can overcome (getting adjusted) -- whether it's gonna be really good or gonna be really bad -- is this guy, Carson Palmer."
Let's face it, Jason Campbell's pesky broken collarbone threw this promising Raiders team off its orbit.
Jackson, for one, won't apologize for making an aggressive move to get a veteran quarterback to fuel Oakland's push for the playoffs. He dismissed the idea that he created a fiasco last week around Palmer's playing status against the Chiefs.
"I think any time you put a player on your team like Carson Palmer, who was the first player drafted by Cincinnati and you put him on your team, I'm not the one that calls all the media to talk about him," Jackson said. "My focus was to get my team ready. I never once said Carson Palmer was going to start. I said we we're going to see if we could get him off and running. That means he’s off his couch, now he’s practicing with his teammates, getting to know his teammates, and that was it. I never once said he was going to start, play, or anything."
Oakland's now parted with draft picks for Palmer, Campbell and Terrelle Pryor. There's a cluster of passers on stage, but a specific, intense light burns on Palmer, who's suddenly a long way away from that couch everyone pictured him luxuriating on.