Palmer pressing under center

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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- In good times, quarterbacks get too much credit.In bad, too much of the blame.Sunday, after the Raiders were blown out 46-16 by the unbeaten, untied and defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, Carson Palmer was wearing the mask of the latter. And wearing it, ahem, well."I put us in a position," he said, "not to win. Turn the ball over like I did, giving them a short field and not taking advantage of opportunities is what cost us the game."I did not give us a chance to win. I did not play well enough. I made way too many mistakes."The four interceptions he threw tied a career worst he set against Arizona on Nov. 18, 2007. And passer rating-wise, the 42.4 represented the worst start of his young Raiders career, since he was acquired from Cincinnati on Oct. 18.
"I'm disappointed in the four picks, and I told him so," said Raiders coach Hue Jackson. "And again, I think you have somebody who's pressing, trying to make plays for a football team, and that's not what he needs to do. He's got to take care of the ball, and obviously we've got to go back and take a look at them all."But what I felt is that there's times that we made some ill-advised throws and we've got to do a better job of taking care of the ball, and he knows that. And we'll fix those things and keep moving forward."Three of Palmer's interceptions came in the first half, with the first two resulting in Packers touchdowns and the third coming in the end zone with less than a minute to go until halftime.His first pick came in Green Bay territory, as Palmer was flushed from the pocket and as he rolled right, he tried to thread the needle to Darrius Heyward-Bey. Instead, he threw it right into the chest of linebacker D.J. Smith."I shouldn't have thrown (the ball)," Palmer said. "I should have have taken off and run."One official snap later, Ryan Grant went 47 yards for the touchdown and the 7-0 lead.Then, with less than eight minutes to play in the half, and the Packers leading 24-0, Palmer tried to hit Heyward-Bey on a slant on the right. But Charles Woodson jumped the route and got his seventh interception of the season."A little miscommunication between myself and the receiver," Palmer said.Four plays later, Grant ran up the middle for a 6-yard score and the 31-0 lead."That's what happens, you turn the ball over and you give those guys more opportunities than they should have, they're going to take advantage of them," Palmer said, "score like they did."Palmer tried to hit Kevin Boss in the back of the end zone but was victimized by a one-handed grab from linebacker Robert Francois with 40 seconds left in the half.His fourth pick came with less than two minutes to play, when he was hit as he released and the ball fluttered into the waiting arms of cornerback Sam Shields.Overall, Palmer completed 24 of 42 attempts for 245 yards with a touchdown. But even he agreed with Jackson's assessment that he was pressing."Yeah, I'm going to look at the film, but I just need to be more patient, take what they give me and not try to score 14 points on one drive," said Palmer, who now has thrown nine TDs with 13 INTs. "Take it one play at a time. Take the shot if it's there and if not, live for the next down. And I didn't do that."

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