GLENDALE, Ariz. - Watching Monday's preseason opener, one would never guess that receiver Jacoby Ford has had a good training camp. He dropped two passes and muffed a punt against the Cowboys.
Some writers, as well as fans on Twitter, got in a tizzy, especially those who thought Ford also didn't fight hard enough for a Carson Palmer deep pass that was intercepted in the first quarter.
Former Raiders great Cliff Branch even jumped on a radio show the next morning and said Ford "has to clean up his act."
Two words everybody:
Breathe.
Preseason.
"It's nothing that needs to be talked about," Palmer said. "I have complete faith in him, and he'll catch the next one. I told him right after it happened, 'I'm coming right back at you to give you another chance.'
"I know the next ball I throw to him, if it's a bad ball, he'll go up and make a play on it and make a play for me."
The pass-catching opportunity should come Friday night when the Raiders take on the Arizona Cardinals in the second preseason game.
Ford is ready, and has put Monday night behind him.
"I definitely did not want to come out and put anything on film like that," Ford said. "But, you know, games like that happen, and that's why you've got to have a short-term memory and put that behind you."
Ford thinks he might have been too anxious, since it was his first action since missing six of last season's final seven games with a sprained left foot.
"I was excited to get back out there, and I just want to go out and just perform better for the team," he said.
After a rookie season in which he scored seven touchdowns, Ford caught only 19 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown last year.
He has a big role this season, from lining up inside or outside on offense to returning kickoffs and punts. And Ford said he and Palmer have "been on cue every day" since offseason workouts began.
"We've been clicking well, and that's why the ball was coming to me (Monday), and I'm pretty sure he's going to keep throwing to me," Ford said. "He's not going to go away from me at all."
Palmer said Ford's drops Monday "are the only two balls I remember being dropped with him from last year to this offseason to (organized workouts) to minicamp to this training camp."
Said head coach Dennis Allen: "It's one football game. It's not the end of the world. He knows, we all know, we all got to get better, every single one of us out there. ... He's done a good job of putting it behind him.
"He's ready to go back to work, and we've got all the confidence in the world in Jacoby Ford."
Friday's game
Who: Raiders at Cardinals
When: 7 p.m.
TV/Radio: Channel: 2 / 105.3
Exhibition schedule
| Date | Opponent | Time/Res |
| Aug. 13 | Dallas | L, 3-0 |
| Aug. 17 | at Arizona | 7 p.m. |
| Aug. 25 | Detroit | 4 p.m. |
| Aug. 30 | at Seattle | 7 p.m. |
Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=0c3b5f2de513543c17277f88b817bde3
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