Musgrave out as Raiders’ OC
Quarterbacks coach Downing to replace him; DC Norton is retained
It was a move inconsistent with Jack Del Rio’s past, when his entire staff of assistant coaches returned for his second season. That won’t be the case in year three.
Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, who called plays for the league’s sixth-ranked attack, did not have his contract renewed and will be replaced by quarterbacks coach Todd Downing, a source confirmed. The Musgrave news was first reported by the NFL Network, while former 95.7 The Game
host John Middlekauff had the initial report on Downing.
Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. will be back after his defense finished the year ranked 26th. There will be at least one change to his staff, though, with defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson not being renewed, according to multiple reports.
This isn’t the first time Musgrave and coach Jack Del Rio have parted ways. Musgrave was Del Rio’s first offensive coordinator in Jacksonville, but was fired after his second season. Musgrave worked for Washington, Atlanta, Minnesota and Philadelphia before reuniting with Del Rio.
The Raiders, led most of the season by quarterback Derek Carr, averaged 373.3 yards per game and were seventh in the NFL at 26 points per game. Their season fizzled out when Carr suffered a broken ankle in Week 16 and the Raiders lost their regular season finale in Denver and Saturday’s wild-card playoff game to the Houston Texans.
Despite their offensive success, Del Rio took a few opportunities to take some veiled shots at Musgrave’s offense. He openly questioned how running back Latavius Murray could’ve had just five carries in the Week 17 loss to the Broncos and also criticized the lack of “big boy ball” in a Dec. 8 loss at Kansas City. He acknowledged wanting to take a time out in that game to overrule a third-and-1 pass play call but wanted to preserve the opportunities to stop the clock late in that game.
Downing, 36, has been a quarterbacks coach in the league since 2011, when he was promoted to that role in Detroit. Downing spent a season as the Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach in 2014 before joining the Raiders. He was named by Pro Football Focus as the league’s quarterbacks coach of the year in 2015.
The Raiders apparently made the move to ensure they wouldn’t lose Downing. According to MMQB. com, the Raiders blocked him from interviewing for offensive coordinator jobs elsewhere, and so the move seems to be Del Rio making a choice to keep the up-and-comer.
As for Norton, he’ll be back despite the Raiders ranking 26th in the league in total defense. They allowed 375.1 yards per game this year and started the year surrendering 500plus yards in back-to-back games. The 1,035 yards allowed in the first two games broke a 65-year-old NFL record.
The group did get gradually better throughout the season, allowing only 339.8 yards per game over its final eight, and Norton seemed to have the support of the locker room. Linebacker Bruce Irvin, who also played for Norton for three seasons in Seattle, tweeted his support of Norton staying.
“The system has been proven,” Irvin wrote. “I know that first hand everyone must buy in!”
While Del Rio developed a reputation in Jacksonville for heavy coaching turnover, he’s never fired a defensive coordinator. In Jacksonville, Mike Smith spent five years with Del Rio before being hired as the head coach in Atlanta. Gregg Williams came in for a year before being hired away by New Orleans. Mel Tucker was on the job for his final three years.
Del Rio put much of the onus for the defensive struggles this year on the explosive plays the Raiders allowed, pinning those primarily on the secondary. That explains the move to replace Robertson, who had been a holdover from the 2014 staff under Dennis Allen.
“Explosive plays, whether you like it or not, they always come back to the secondary,” Del Rio said Sunday in his end-of-season news conference. “The front line, even if you have a front line that is full of holes, the back end has a chance to cap the play before it goes explosive. Runs that get out big time, typically have to do with a missed tackle, poor leverage, missed assignment, something along those lines. In the back end, obviously, balls go over the top of your head; missed tackles, missed assignments lead to long passes as well. That’s just the way it is.”