Palmer’s Promise Becomes a Curse

One of the arguments among the legions of Paul Hackett-bashers is that this year he has had Carson Palmer available for the entire season, which wasn’t the case in USC’s disappointing 6-6 campaign last year.

The only problem is, Palmer hasn’t been Palmer. At least, he hasn’t been the Palmer we all expected, the Palmer who has shown promise ever since he led the Trojans to a touchdown the first time he stepped on the field as a freshman in 1998.

He has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns this season (nine to seven). He hasn’t been able to provide that little bit of magic that has eluded the entire team during this losing streak that reached three games after Saturday’s 28-17 setback to Oregon.

It’s probably asking too much for one person to make the difference. But Palmer plays the position where the successes and failures are most visible.

Three interceptions against Arizona a week ago. Three interceptions against Oregon State the week before that. Three overthrown passes when Kareem Kelly was wide open on deep patterns against Oregon. All things that tell you Palmer’s trying just a little too hard.

“The young man’s putting a lot of pressure on himself to make things happen,” offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said.

And Palmer isn’t using excuses to relieve that pressure, either. First of all, he said the game hasn’t seemed too fast for him after he missed the last nine games of the 1999 season because of a broken collarbone.

“I don’t think this year’s been overwhelming or anything,” Palmer said. “I don’t know.”

He didn’t use his lack of throwing practice for the previous week because of a sore shoulder as an excuse for his 15-for-35 outing on Saturday.

“I missed a couple of balls,” Palmer said, referring to the long passes to Kelly. “Those are balls I should hit. You can’t blame it on not practicing. Those are balls I’ve been throwing all year long.”

Kelly thinks they’re at the point that one week off shouldn’t have too great an effect on his timing with Palmer.

“He should know me by now,” Kelly said.

“I was getting open, but I was being overthrown,” Kelly said. “I guess Carson thought I’d be in that certain spot where he was throwing the ball. I guess I was overthrown, but you can’t blame him for that.”

Some of this is beyond Palmer’s control.

Such as the ailing receiving corps. Kelly sat out practice himself last week, and Marcell Allmond is sidelined because of a broken bone in his left leg.

There are offensive line issues as well. In addition to taking sacks (18 so far), Palmer has to rush a countless number of passes either on the run or with defenders in his face.

And when the Trojans fall behind early, they’re forced to go to the air to get back in the game and defenses can focus on the pass.

The Trojans say that Palmer’s interception Saturday--which went directly to Oregon linebacker Matt Smith--was because the USC receiver was held on the play.

But the defenses are also preying on Palmer’s inexperience. Duck cornerback Steve Smith said the key to their game plan was, “Disguise.”

“That’s all it is,” Smith said. “We move around, alignments. Disguise. That’s all we worked on for the last two weeks.”

Defenses also have picked up on Palmer’s tendency to lock in on one receiver.

The USC offensive scheme hasn’t played to Palmer’s strengths, such as his ability to throw the across-the-field out pattern, which might be the hardest pass in football.

And they don’t throw enough screen passes, which would relieve the pressure on Palmer, allow him to pad his completion percentage and let the running backs do most of the work for the yardage gains.

For now, Palmer seems short on answers himself. He looked bewildered in the locker room after Saturday’s loss, far from the confident kid who immediately won over his teammates two years ago.

“We haven’t been able to fix it,” Palmer said. “It’s three weeks in a row. I wish we had a cure for it. I wish we could fix it.”

It might get easier now that the high expectations have been drained. The Trojans aren’t playing for a Rose Bowl berth or anything else that significant anymore, so maybe they can just get back to playing.

The Trojans can only hope that Palmer can keep it simple too, not put too much pressure on himself, not try to seek glory in a season that can now offer only modest rewards.

“It’s just a matter of him keeping his confidence,” Kelly said. “He’s got to keep his confidence, believe in himself, believe in his receivers.”

Because the promise of Carson Palmer is one of the few things left to believe in on this Trojan team.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: ja.adande@latimes.com