Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave held his weekly press conference Thursday afternoon at the team's Alameda, Calif., facility before the Oakland Raiders returned to the practice field to continue their preparation for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here is what we learned from his media session.
Musgrave shared his thoughts on the vaunted Steelers defense.
"They want to disorient, what's the word, cause the quarterback to be disoriented and get after him, different looks. Everybody gets a little confused and then they are on edge rather than taking them down middle. It's taken us a while to really digest all the film this week just because there's so much variance and we're just trying to get to the point where we understand them on any level."
He also spoke about the team's offensive approach when facing the blitz.
"Most offenses welcome the blitz because you're right, it gives you this opportunity for a big play. The defenses that make you go the long road and have a 12-, 14- and 15-play drive and convert four out of four third downs, that's a tough way to make a living. If we can be good against the blitz and make them pay for it, then we'll get down to the end zone a little quicker."
The Raiders running back tandem poses challenges to opposing defenses.
"Well it's worked out really well. Taiwan [Jones] is more than just an outside runner, so we can put him in variation of concepts. Same thing with Latavius [Murray]. He's just not a downhill, shoulder square runner either, so he's done a nice job with our outside stuff. Both those guys we're very comfortable with and they've been very complimentary."
Musgrave also praised the athleticism of the offensive line.
"You see Austin [Howard] move around, Donald Penn, both tackles are good athletes. And then to have a center like we do in Rodney [Hudson] to be able to get out and move, that really helps us."
He's been happy with quarterback Derek Carr's decision making.
"Really all in all, Derek [Carr] has been making good decisions. Part of being a good decision maker is having the turns or the repetitions at our concepts. So the more turns he gets, I believe he'll be an even better decision maker going forward, but he's getting better each and every week."
