Seeking “efficiency”
Broncos name quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave offensive coordinator
Vance Joseph wants to improve an anemic passing attack. So the Broncos’ f irst-year head coach on Monday turned to an assistant who f irst made a name for himself by flinging passes through the Colorado air more than 30 years ago.
Bill Musgrave was named the interim offensive coordinator Monday after the Broncos fired Mike McCoy 10 games into his second stint with the franchise. Musgrave, the Denver Post’s Gold Helmet winner as a quarterback at Grand Junction High School in 1985, will reclaim a position he held with the Raiders last season, when Oakland ranked sixth in total offense (373.3 yards per game).
“Moving to Billy, I think we’re going to have a chance to have a more efficient pass game,” Joseph said. “With simply simplifying the concepts and helping our quarterbacks have a cleaner progression on where to go with the ball. I’m looking forward to Bill having a chance to put his touch on the offense and having a
chance to watch our pass game grow a little bit and not be so scattered in our passing concepts.”
Musgrave won’t have a player the caliber of Oakland’s Derek Carr at his disposal as he prepares a game plan with the stated objective of completing more passes. Joseph said Monday the Broncos have not decided on a quarterback for Sunday’s game at Oakland — that decision could come Tuesday — but it could be 2016 first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch, who would be making just his third career start.
Helping the Broncos’ next starter prepare will be Klint Kubiak, the 30-year-old son of former Denver coach Gary Kubiak, who is being promoted from his role as an offensive assistant to quarterbacks coach. The name of the quarterback won’t change the marching orders for the Musgrave-Kubiak duo: improve the efficiency of a passing game that ranks 27th in the NFL with a 58.8 completion percentage and avoid some of the plays that have led to 14 interceptions — the secondhighest total in the league.
So how will Denver’s offense, with the same personnel that has plummeted to a sixgame losing streak, make appreciable gains through the air? Musgrave isn’t scheduled to address reporters until Wednesday, but Joseph said the new-look plan under the veteran offensive assistant will be a return to basics.
“When you are not playing efficiently, it has to be more simple for everyone involved so we can be on the same page,” Joseph said. “Sometimes you have to master a small portion to be decent at something. Right now I feel like we have a lot of good offense, but we haven’t mastered anything that we’re really good at.”
After throwing for a thenstate-record 30 touchdown passes as a senior at Grand Junction, Musgrave had a decorated career as a quarterback at the University of Oregon, played parts of eight seasons in the NFL, and immediately became an offensive assistant in the league upon his retirement in 1998. He has worked as an offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach or assistant for eight different NFL teams, taking a two-season detour as the University of Virginia offensive coordinator in 2000 and 2001.
Despite calling an often prolific offense in Oakland last season, one that helped the Raiders post a 12-4 record, Musgrave wasn’t retained by head coach Jack Del Rio, who instead promoted QBs coach Todd Downing into the coordinator role after the season.
Joseph said at his introductory news conference in January that Musgrave chose to join the Broncos as quarterbacks coach over “four or five teams (that were) after him” last offseason. Now, Joseph has chosen to put a grounded offensive attack into Musgrave’s hands and has told him to keep it simple.
“Sometimes,” Joseph said, “it’s doing the same thing more often so you can master it. I think Billy’s going to bring a sense of consistency to our offense.”