by H.W. Holdings

Created on: November 07, 2011   Last Updated: November 09, 2011

Seemingly no sooner had Oakland Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell broken his collarbone after a 4-2 start for the club, then Al Davis the Raiders owner died and the club made a trade deadline deal for former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer. If Campbell, 27 wins and 37 losses as an NFL starter for the Redskins and the Raiders remains in Oakland at all, it might be as Palmer's back-up at a substantially reduced rate of pay.

The death of Al Davis had an impact on the Raiders beyond mourning their iconic mastermind. He likely never would have permitted the team to trade for Palmer and would have pressured his handpicked coach Hue Jackson to finish the season with back-up Kyle Boller at pivot awaiting Davis' handpicked quarterback Jason Campbell's return from injury. Davis never liked being second-guessed and fired countless Raiders employees who tried. Jason Campbell was protected by that, and Davis who lived to see Campbell have a handful of effective games would have kept him in the silver and black long after he had performed above expectations which was the way Davis always operated with guys he himself chose.

Carson Palmer had but four days of practices and a half game on the bench before he was thrown in to play in the second half of the Raiders game in week 7 versus the Chiefs. Palmer went 8 of 21 with three interceptions in a 28-0 loss that would have had Al Davis in fits. After a bye week Carson Palmer returned and played a full game against the Denver Broncos. He went 19 of 35 with three touchdown passes but was again picked off three times. With two losses in two games against divisional opponents and six interceptions in just six quarters of football, Palmer has been less than spectacular but has shown enough promise to continue as starter, not merely for the remainder of Campbell's time on the Physically Unable To Perform list but well into next season's training camp if Campbell is even still there.

More than likely Jason Campbell is headed out of town provided he is even able to recover from his broken collarbone which is very iffy at this point. I say he is finished as a Raider and will be lucky if he can catch on elsewhere even though it is abundantly clear that teams like the Redskins (Campbell's former employer) haven't got their quarterbacking situations sorted out. The Seahawks, Vikings, Cardinals and Dolphins are similarly unstable at quarterback. Expect Campbell to get cut by the Raiders as he has no trade value.

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