Factoid
Carson Palmer didn’t have a lot of success with the Raiders last year. He threw too many interceptions, and he went only 4-5 as a starter.
He did, however, play with a higher degree of difficulty than most quarterbacks. He joined the Raiders during the season, of course, and they also asked him to throw downfield more often than other quarterbacks. Those kind of passes are harder to complete and more often intercepted.
When Palmer completed passes last year, they went an average of almost 14 yards. That’s No. 2 among quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts.
QBs: YARDS PER COMPLETION
Avg
13.9 Matt Schaub (Hou.)
13.8 Carson Palmer (Oak.)
13.7 Eli Manning (NYG)
13.7 Tim Tebow (Den.)
13.5 Aaron Rodgers (G.B.)
13.4 Kevin Kolb (Ariz.)
13.1 Cam Newton (Car.)
13.1 Michael Vick (Phil.)
13.1 Tom Brady (N.E.)
12.7 Jay Cutler (Chi.)
12.7 John Skelton (Ariz.)
12.6 Philip Rivers (S.D.)
12.6 Ben Roethlisberger (Pitt.)
12.1 Tony Romo (Dall.)
12.0 Matt Ryan (Atl.)
12.0 Matthew Stafford (Det.)
11.9 Rex Grossman (Wash.)
11.9 Matt Moore (Mia.)
11.7 Christian Ponder (Minn.)
11.7 Kyle Orton (Den.-K.C.)
11.7 Drew Brees (N.O.)
11.7 Curtis Painter (Ind.)
11.6 Joe Flacco (Balt.)
11.5 Alex Smith (S.F.)
11.4 Tarvaris Jackson (Sea.)
11.3 Sam Bradford (St.L.)
11.3 Andy Dalton (Cin.)
11.3 Mark Sanchez (NYJ)
11.2 Matt Hasselbeck (Tenn.)
10.9 Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buff.)
10.7 Matt Cassel (K.C.)
10.5 Blaine Gabbert (Jac.)
10.4 Josh Freeman (T.B.)
10.3 Colt McCoy (Clev.)
—Ian Allan
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Posted by Moishe Steigmann | Apr. 16 at 05:28 PM
Perhaps that is the sign of the difference between an elite QB and a non-elite QB. Schaub, Eli and Rodgers (take Tebow out for obvious reasons) were all top-7 in QB rating. Newton, Vick, Brady and Cutler were top-15. Even Kolb (!) had a higher QB rating than Palmer. And, in limited action, he had more INTs than all but two players (Rivers and Newton), who had significantly more pass attempts than Palmer. So, to simply explain Palmer's INTs as a function of YPC is a limiting. Clearly, your initial assessments of Palmer's struggles are legitimate. A full off-season with the Raiders might bump up his rating up and help keep his INTs down. And, perhaps it was his surrounding personal that was partially at fault. But, his struggles last year went far beyond being asked to throw the ball deep.