Dropping knowledge: Palmer and a case of the dropsies

ALAMEDA -- They were as surprising as they were blatant and uncharacteristic.Four times the Raiders' usual sure-handed receiving corps dropped passes in the course of Sunday's 26-16 victory at Kansas City. And four times observers scratched their heads."The first thing is, thats football," said Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer on Wednesday. "Theres going to be stretches where you catch the ball phenomenally, and guys are making one-handed grabs and going up and high-pointing the ball. And the balls not touching the ground. Theres going to be skids where a guy has a rough game or a group has a rough game. In my experience, in my career, thats football, that happens."But I think, unless you just dont have good hands, and we dont have any guys that dont have good hands, all of our guys have good hands, nothing needs to be said. Every good football player knows when he dropped a football. The last thing that he needs is a quarterback in his face, screaming and pointing at him."Besides, that's not Palmer's style. Not even when his competition percentage and efficiency rating went down after he was 14 of 28 passing, for 209 yards, against the Chiefs.Perhaps the most shocking drops came from Denarius Moore, who let a sure 17-yard touchdown pass go through his hands on the first play of the second quarter. The Raiders had to settle for a 35-yard field goal and a 6-0 lead.Then, early in the third quarter and on 2nd and three from the Kansas City 11-yard line, Moore dropped a pass on the right side. Oakland again had to settle for a field goal, going up 16-6.The two other drops came courtesy of rookie Rod Streater, who caught just one pass in the five times he was targeted, and Darren McFadden."If something needs to be said, it needs to be said," Palmer added. "But for the most part, our guys all can catch the ball really well and they all know as soon as the ball hits the ground when its one they should have caught and when its one they shouldnt have."But Im not the type to jump down someones throat and be all over them. Our guys respond well. I know D-Moe had a couple of drops, but hell make a couple of phenomenal ones this week that will make up for last week."