Uh-Oh Oakland: With Campbell Out, Who Should Be the Raiders' Quarterback?

Raider fans, we’re in trouble.

This should be a time of celebration, as the Silver and Black easily dispatched the hapless Browns and improved to 4-2. But this was a costly victory because of the broken collarbone of Jason Campbell.

Let me be frank: Campbell is a mediocre quarterback. He’s too inaccurate and often too cautious when it comes to throwing the ball. And on Sunday, he made a crucial mistake in the second quarter, when his careless fumble led to Cleveland’s first touchdown.

It was exactly the kind of turnover I said would be dangerous in my game preview on Saturday. Thankfully, I underestimated how bad the Browns really are, and the Raiders still won easily.

But even with his faults, under Hue Jackson’s tutelage, Campbell has been generally effective. He knows the offense well and understands his role: Hand the ball off a lot and throw the ball deep sometimes.

This team was never going to win the way the Packers or the Patriots do: Spreading out the defense and throwing the ball 50 times a game. The Raiders have the league’s best two-headed monster at running back in Darren McFadden and Michael Bush, and they will let those two carry them into January and maybe beyond.

But when you’re going to pound the rock all day, you must be able keep the defense honest. Campbell was able to do that, and if the Raiders don’t find a suitable replacement, teams are going to load up the box and dare the offense to throw it.

The Raiders did that to Colt McCoy on Sunday, and you can see how well that worked out for him: A quarterback rating of 75.7, a 46 percent completion rate and a lot of ice after the game.

So where do we go from here? Let’s examine the options.

Kyle Boller: I went to Cal, and I love the Golden Bears. I gladly support any Cal player who goes to the NFL and root for them. But Kyle Boller sucks.

There’s no two ways about it. He’s got a cannon arm, a smoking hot wife, and went to a great university, but when it comes to quarterbacking in the NFL, he’s just bad at it.

His career touchdown-to-interception ratio is 48:51, and he made some bad passes Sunday that were so inaccurate, there was a smattering of boos among the fans in his first series.

Having said all that, there’s still hope he might perform a little better: Campbell has taken the most first-team snaps in practice by far, so Boller hasn’t had much time to work with the starters. He’s also been with Oakland for all of Hue Jackson’s time there, so he should be very familiar and comfortable with the playbook.

As I detailed above, the job of Oakland’s quarterback at this point is to hand the ball off and not do anything stupid; the running backs do all the heavy lifting. In fact, in Oakland’s four wins, the quarterback has averaged only 15 completions–15! Aaron Rodgers usually completes 15 passes by the end of the first quarter; slight exaggeration, but seriously, Rodgers has almost as many completed passes this season (146) as Campbell has attempts (156).

Can Boller successfully complete 15 passes a game without screwing things up? You’d better hope so, Raider Nation, because he’s likely the starting quarterback for the rest of the year.

Terrelle Pryor: I really don’t even want to include Pryor on this list, because it’s a ridiculous proposition. Let’s take a 22-year-old kid who missed most of the preseason, has barely practiced with the team, and has never thrown a single pass in the NFL and make him the starter! What’s the worst that can happen?

JaMarcus Russell, that’s the worst that can happen. Sorry to bring up that name, but do you remember how awful his last year was? I would look up the numbers, but I’m afraid they’d make me vomit all over my keyboard.

There’s a small, but vocal, contingent of fans who believe Pryor is the second coming of Michael Vick: Not crappy, pre-jail Vick, more like the oh my God, he’s unstoppable Vick we saw for most of last season.

These fans are a lot like the Tim Tebow lovers in Denver who think he will simultaneously be league MVP, rescue orphans, heal the sick and become the next John McClane. To these people I say: you are out of your damn minds.

Just like Tebow, Pryor is not going to become a great quarterback in this league. Before you leave me hateful comments about my doubts on Pryor, remember that I’m a Raider fan, too. If Pryor becomes an All-Pro that leads Oakland to 10 Super Bowls in a row, no one will be happier than me.

But even if I’m wrong about Pryor and he’s destined for greatness, if you think he’s a realistic option for this season, you’re deluding yourself. Pryor has had no opportunity to prepare or study the offense, and every young quarterback needs time to learn and develop. He’s just not ready.

Carson Palmer: This option was a bit of a surprise to me, but according to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, the Raiders are in hot pursuit of the embattled quarterback.

On the surface, I really like this option. Jackson has some experience working with Palmer from his days as a coach in Cincinnati, and No. 9 has been a solid quarterback in the league; not great, but he’s an improvement over Campbell. Jackson has pushed all the right buttons in Oakland, so if he believes in Palmer, I’m sold.

However, a trade for Palmer is extremely unlikely. Whatever you think of Bengal owner Mike Brown (and a lot of Bengal fans hate him), if there’s one thing he is, it’s vindictive.

As you might recall, Palmer demanded to be traded in the offseason or he’d retire, and Brown called his bluff. So Palmer has sat around and gone tailgating for USC home games, while the Bengals have started rookie Andy Dalton.

If Brown is willing to put his team’s season in jeopardy out of spite, and he’s held out this long, why would he agree to trade Palmer now? The NFL’s trade deadline is Tuesday, so a deal would have to be worked out quickly; I’d be absolutely shocked if Palmer is wearing Silver and Black this time next week.

David Garrard: Garrard’s name was getting thrown around an awful lot on Twitter following Campbell’s injury (even I got in on it), but there’s been no reports of the Raiders being interested …yet.

Garrard would seem like a perfect fit for the Raiders, since he’s excelled in the game manager role before. Over the last four seasons, Garrard’s had an average quarterback rating of 89.5 with a great touchdown-to-interception ratio (71:41). Why the hell did Jacksonville get rid of him?

Even though he’s been unemployed all season, Garrard has been staying in shape and says he’s ready to play for a team that wants him. After being dumped by the Jaguars, Garrard has to be motivated to show the world he’s still a good quarterback, and Oakland seems like a very logical place for him to do it.

Plus, we know how much Al Davis loved resurrecting the careers of cast-off quarterbacks (Jim Plunkett, Rich Gannon); doing the same for Garrard would be a fitting tribute to Mr. Davis.

Once the trade deadline passes and Palmer is still a Bengal, Jackson should immediately call Garrard’s agent.

Kyle Orton: Another intriguing possibility, which is based on nothing by pure speculation at this point. Since the Tebow era has started in Denver, Orton’s tenure is probably over. The fans have been ruthless with Orton, who is not nearly as horrible as they would like you to think.

Last season, Orton passed for 3,600 yards while throwing twice as many touchdowns (20) as interceptions (9). He’s a decent quarterback, and the Broncos might be willing to part with him for cheap.

Would they trade him to a division rival? Doubtful, especially since he’d have a chance for revenge right away when the Broncos visit Oakland on Nov. 6. If he’s moved at all, I’d expect him to be shipped to an NFC team.

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