Palmer and Heyward-Bey having trouble connecting

Carson Palmer had another off day on Friday. After being short or off target on several passes on Wednesday's first padded practice, he continued to have issues. Most notably he and Darrius Heyward-Bey had some chemistry issues.

First missed connection was on a long pass down the right sideline. DHB turned around late and Palmer put a bit too much under it and the speedy receiver tracked it late and couldn't catch up to it. Later on, the two tried to hook up again, this time along the left sideline. The result was the same. Palmer overthrew DHB. He's fast but not THAT fast.

Then Palmer began to look much better. He connected with several receivers on nice throws. The kind of throws we have come to expect from the former Pro Bowl quarterback. But the moment he went back to DHB, it was off target again.

This time it was a crossing pattern from left to right. Palmer threw it so high, the 6-2 receiver could even get a finger on it. It sailed right into the hands of Demarcus Van Dyke for an gift interception.

In fact, Van Dyke was around several passes from Palmer intended for DHB. The battle between DVD and DHB has been going on all camp and DVD has been running with the first team while Ron Bartell rehabs a hamstring injury. There appears to be quite a little rivalry forming between the two three initial players.

Palmer is finding it to be extremely difficult to fit a ball into the team's leading receiver whenever the second year corner is defending him.

"DVD, he's playing great right now." Said Heyward-Bey. "You can tell he's been working. He's got my number a few times. I got him a few times. But that's what camp's for, battles."

Between the missed long passes and the DVD blanket coverage, Palmer and DHB didn't really have a good connection until near the end of team sessions. He finally was able to hook up with him for a long pass.

Palmer did look better overall today than he had on Wednesday but the one constant has been he and DHB. It is hard to say exactly what the issue is at this point but it early yet. Still a lot of camp left.