Offensive Coordinator Bil Musgrave
The local media had a chance to talk with Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave following the completion of the team's fourth OTA Tuesday.
Here are the highlights from his press conference.
Heading into Year 2, this offseason has been different for Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and the offensive staff.
"It's definitely different than 12 months ago. We have a better grasp of our system and having Derek [Carr] out there for these four practices was more than we had last year with his injured arm. We're looking to take advantage of that even better once the real ones start there in September."
He also addressed why the Silver and Black's offense sputtered in the second half of 2015.
"Well there's a combination of factors. We didn't play as well, we didn't coach as well. I think we learned more about ourselves when we didn't have those exciting days than we did back there in September and October. We're looking to really take those lessons, learn and be even better going forward."
Musgrave also shared his thoughts on how the run game needs to grow in 2016.
"I think overall we're looking to do more things that are up our players' respective alleys. What can they do well? I think we have a better grasp of that today than we did 12 months ago. We want to do running concepts that our guys can execute, whether it's the running back or the O-line. We're always looking to get better, of course, fundamentally- and technique-wise. We're going to keep working in that direction."
Rookie running back DeAndre Washington is a multi-talented player who Musgrave is excited to work with.
"DeAndré is a young guy out of Texas Tech. He's really worked well for us thus far, so we're putting him in different situations, again, to get a feel for he's strengths and how we can tailor plays, tailor situations so he can really flash for us. He's going to be good in first, second or third down. I know [special teams coordinator] Brad [Seely] is excited to have him on special teams also."
Joe Hansley, Johnny Holton and K.J. Brent – a trio of undrafted wide receivers – have made positive impressions on Musgrave through the first four OTAs.
"Three good receivers right there that you just named, doing a lot of good stuff. Two of them had big plays today for us. We got a lot of offense in. Even though we're just in our fourth day of OTAs, we really throw a lot of volume at our guys and make them work hard mentally and physically. There's going to be some mistakes out there, you probably saw them today, but those guys are working hard. We just have to keep working with them."
