On the second play of practice for the Oakland Raiders' starting offense, Carson Palmer stepped in and ran a play.
The question now is if Palmer can do enough this week to earn the Raiders' starting quarterback job in place of the injured Jason Campbell.
Time for Palmer to cram
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Palmer shared first-team snaps Wednesday with Kyle Boller, who has been with Oakland the past two seasons and has a big advantage in terms of knowledge of the offense and chemistry with the receivers.
But Palmer has the stronger pedigree and was acquired at a high price, meaning the Raiders will give him every possible chance to play Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Team sources told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora that the Raiders plan to start Palmer.
"It's one day," Raiders coach Hue Jackson said. "I'm not in a rush. I don't have to rush that decision. I'm going to take my time and see where they are and see how fast he picks up the system, see how fast he gets in line with his teammates and we'll kind of go from there."
It has been a whirlwind few days for Palmer, who was a retired player in Southern California on Monday. That changed Tuesday when Oakland shipped a 2012 first-round pick and a 2013 second-rounder, which could become another first-rounder if the Raiders reach the AFC title game, to the Cincinnati Bengals to acquire Palmer.
Palmer had to pass a physical, meet his new teammates, start learning the playbook and then start shaking off the rust in his first practice since the end of last season.
"There's definitely a learning curve involved for sure, and I noticed that right off the bat," Palmer said. "But it was exciting. It was fun to be playing football, it was fun to be in a huddle again, it was fun to be throwing routes in 7-on-7 and teams and all these things. But I definitely have my work cut out for me as far as getting the verbiage down, especially when it comes to playing the quarterback position."
Jackson said he had some concerns about starting a player at quarterback after just three practices with the team, but that won't necessarily stop him from doing it.
"I kind of like it like that," Jackson said. "I think he kind of likes it like that. I think we all do. But we'll make the right decision for this football team. We've got a game to win, and that's the most important thing. Whatever I think is going to help us win this football game, that's what I'm going to do."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
