Jason Campbell is out indefinitely after breaking his collarbone and undergoing surgery on Monday. Best case scenario has him coming back in six weeks, but his season may be lost. After a promising and emotional start to the season, the Raiders now find themselves turning to back up Kyle Boller to lead them to a place they have not been since their Super Bowl season of 2002, back to the playoffs.
Campbell was having a solid season with a passer rating of 84.2 and throwing six touchdowns against four interceptions. Noting spectacular, but the Raiders are a run first offense and Campbell managed the team well and was able to make throws when needed for the most part. Most importantly he kept defenses honest; they couldn’t stack the line of scrimmage with eight men. Now, without Campbell, the Raiders turn to a career 70.4 rated quarterback who has thrown for 48 touchdowns and 51 interceptions spanning an eight year career.
Those are not exactly the type of numbers that instill a great deal of confidence in the Raider Nation. The Raiders themselves are not thrilled with the idea themselves judging by the way they have hit the phones talking to all manners of quarterbacks today. Carson Palmer? Not likely to happen with the Raiders lack of draft picks in the upcoming 2012 draft and other factors, as discussed here. David Garrard? A nice thought, but nope, Garrard is out of commission for 2011. Kyle Orton has been mentioned but can anyone realistically see the Raiders and Broncos hashing out a deal? Josh McCown? A Boller clone statistically. Todd Bouman, Todd Collins, and former Raider Trent Edwards have all been contacted.
There’s no question that someone will be signed shortly. What is becoming readily apparent is that Boller will be the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. Taking Palmer and Garrard out of the mix, the Raiders are looking at potential back ups. None of the aforementioned quarterbacks are much of an improvement over Boller. With only the very raw and fresh off suspension Terrelle Pryor behind him, the Raiders playoff fortunes rest squarely on the shoulders of the former first-rounder.