Cracked ribs, bruised lung end Palmer's season

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A CT scan of Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer revealed cracked ribs and a bruised lung, coach Dennis Allen said in his Monday media conference, and Palmer's season is over.

"I've definitely been better," Palmer wrote in an email to CSNCalifornia.com.

Palmer was injured in the first quarter of the Raiders' eventual 17-6 loss to Carolina Sunday when Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy lowered his helmet into Palmer's upper-left back on a blind-side hit. Initial X-rays were negative and Palmer came back out of the locker room and began to warm up before shutting it down.

Palmer traveled back to Oakland on the team charter Sunday night but spent the night in the hospital. He was scheduled to be released from the hospital Monday afternoon.

With the Raiders playing their season finale Sunday in San Diego, Allen said he would stick with two quarterbacks in Matt Leinart and Terrelle Pryor and said he would announce the starter later this week.

Depth chart-wise, Leinart is the back-up quarterback and Pryor is third. And while Pryor is the more intriguing of the two, he was actually downgraded the previous week in practice. Still, with one game to go, why not start Pryor just to see how he does in a game situation, even if he only has a handful of plays?

Palmer, meanwhile, threw for 4,018 yards, the second-most in franchise history, on 61.1 percent passing with 22 touchdowns and 14 interceptions for a passer rating of 85.3.

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