The future Hall-of-Famer Ed Reed is having one of his best years in football. Even with a shoulder injury, Reed has still managed 35 total tackles and three interceptions, one of which he took back for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer is coming off a three interception game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Palmer has been struggling with interceptions ever since joining the Raiders last season, throwing 24 picks compared to 26 touchdowns during his tenure there.
Reed is most definitely aware of this and will be lurking in the secondary in search of his 61st career interception.
Reed and Palmer no strangers to each other. The two have played against each other 13 times when Palmer played for the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals. Palmer is 9-4 against the Ravens in those matchups, but Ed Reed has gotten his fair share of picks from Palmer.
The notorious ball-hawking safety will have plenty of opportunities for interceptions as the Raiders are averaging the league’s third most pass attempts per game with 41.
While the Raiders have been moderately successful throwing the ball this season, their biggest weakness lies with Palmer’s tendency to throw questionable balls every now and then. This inconsistency has hurt the Raiders, especially when they are behind late in the game and have to air it out. We saw this happen last week against the Buccaneers as Carson Palmer threw a poor pass on a potential game winning drive that ended up being picked off by Buccaneers’ safety Ahmad Black.
For the Raiders to be successful on offense, Carson Palmer will have to be extra careful this week as Ed Reed is sure to get a hand or two on a few of his passes.
