August 13, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive back Gerald Sensabaugh (43) runs with the ball after intercepting a pass against the Oakland Raiders in the first quarter at O.Co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

Carson Palmer seems to be a natural leader. He spent his off season organizing workouts with widereceivers, meeting with new coaches, and studying his new playbook doing everything a rookie head coach would want. However leaders in the NFL don’t stay leaders for long when they throw more interceptions then touchdowns. Which leads to the question the Oakland Raiders have to be asking themselves, Can Carson Palmer lead in Oakland.

Its a little early to judge Palmer after only one preseason performance, but it isn’t very reassuring to start off the season with a overthrown pass into double coverage. One must wonder why the pass was even thrown. The intended receiver on the play was not Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson, or even Denarius Moore. The intended receiver was all of 5″9 Jacoby Ford who couldn’t beat out Mini-me in a jump ball battle. So is Palmer still the interception plagued quarterback that he was in his final years at Cincinnati? As scary as that thought is sports commentators seem to enjoy talking about it, sending a shiver up the spine of Raider Nation.

The Raider in me has faith that Palmer can get the job done in Oakland. He might not be able to compete with the likes of Tom Brady, but so long as he can play on Alex Smith’s level the Raiders should have a chance. Darren McFadden and the new and improved Dennis Allen Defense will take care of winning games so long as Palmer doesn’t lose them. Considering the Raiders have the rest of the preseason for Palmer to work out his interception ticks I’d say hes fine. Despite all of the positive things that have come out of the silver and black’s off season turnovers are the one thing that could wreck playoff chances in Oakland with a healthy McFadden which is why Palmer absolutely needs to be on time with his passes.

Worst case scenario Matt Leinart will have a second shot at clearing his name as NFL bust. The former USC Trojan spent Monday night looking more like a playboy model then a quarterback, the man looked damn good working on his back. Leinart completed 11 of 16 passes for 98 yards and no turnovers. This can serve as small piece of reassurance to Greg Knapp who always has valuable veteran as a backup if needed. Tomorrow night will prove whether Oakland can fix their mistakes and capitalize on their achievements. The preseason might not hold any post-season value, but it certainly will be beneficial to carry some momentum into week one.

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

If you want a snapshot of the short-lived Louis Murphy era in Oakland look no further than his first game as a Raider. He scored twice yet only one of those TD grabs counted. It might have felt like shades of the Tuck Rule when his first NFL score was erased from the history books no thanks to a completely idiotic rule but in reality it was Louis Murphy’s Law. What can go wrong does and odds are Murphy could have somehow prevented it.

Louis Murphy has the talent. He showed that in his first NFL game.

Murphy has the drive. He proved that with a stunning and gritty performance in Pittsburgh.

Murphy’s even got the right mentality and desire. He more than displayed by bulldozing a clear path to end zone for Zach Miller once.

Problem was Murphy could never put it all together. He’d follow up a spectacular catch with an inexplicable drop. He’d take a reverse to the house then the next time on the field he’d take a trip to the showers after getting hit with a personal foul penalty. One minute he’s running around the defense like they’re playing in concrete cleats. The next he’s running into his own teammate effectively committing pass interference against the offense.

Such is the nature of Louis Murphy’s Law. That he went from being the team’s leading receiver to a pre-camp castoff can’t come as much of a surprise. Not if you’ve been paying attention to your recent Raiders history concerning wide receivers.

In recent years it hasn’t ended well for the leading pass catcher at wide receiver in Oakland. Randy Moss, Ronald Curry and Johnnie Lee Higgins all were either gone or saw their roles significantly reduced one year after being the team’s top receiver. Same now for Murphy. Darrius Heyward-Bey, you’ve been warned.

Of course Murphy’s Oakland exit wasn’t all about his decline in production. Injuries played as large a role as his inconsistencies. The emergence of Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore didn’t help either. Neither did the arrivals of Juron Criner and Rod Streater.

All of that added up to Murphy going from being a fourth round steal to having seventh round trade value.

Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

In truly clichéd fashion LaDainian Tomlinson signed a one-day contract with the San Diego Chargers so he could carry on the time honored tradition of all Charger greats by leaving the game without a championship ring. I guess this should be the point in time when I set aside my grievances with all things San Diego to show proper respect for one of the best running backs to enter the game in the last 20 years. But I just can’t.

I can’t strip from my mind the many images of Tomlinson running through, around and over silver and black jerseys like Warren Sapp does a group of children when oven-fresh pizza is served at Chuck E. Cheese’s.

I’ll never forget 2006 when my girlfriend at the time made a noble effort to snap me out of a funk I was in by buying Raiders-Chargers tickets. We made the trek from L.A. to the Bay just to see Randy Moss suffer a rib injury in the first quarter and to watch in horror as LT ran, caught and threw for a TD.

Many moments like that are frozen in my mind. I would have reoccurring nightmares of that visor running by me in a blur so fast you weren’t sure if it was a Hall of Fame running back or Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe that just sped past.

Now let me make something clear. I’m not a complete hater. I had nothing but respect for Junior Seau. I always admired the way Derrick Thomas went about his business. To this day I’ll even argue that John Elway was the best quarterback I’ve ever seen. I even grew to like Steve Largent at one point in time. Every one of them an AFC West rival and every one of them I’d have gladly welcomed to the silver and black.

With LT it’s just something different. I know how nice the dude was. He killed my favorite team plenty of times and did the same to a few of my fantasy teams for good measure. However I’m not even going to debate his place in history. He’s not even in the convo for best running back ever in my mind. But I will say this much. He had a stretch of years that were as dominant as any we’ve ever seen from a running back.

That’s about as close as I’ll come to complimenting Tomlinson. Otherwise to me he’s just another Charger that teased his bandwagon fans with false Super Bowl aspirations. Say whatever you will of his absolute ownership of Oakland – it never amounted to anything more than bragging rights. You Dolt fans can have those. Bragging rights don’t come with a Lombardi trophy, at least not in San Diego.