Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave
The Oakland Raiders are squaring off against the San Diego Chargers this Sunday, and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave spoke with the media Thursday about the Raiders' offense. He touched on a wide variety of topics, as the team continues to recover from a few injuries. Musgrave opened up about how the team will carry on and prepare for the Bolts.
Let's take a look at the quick hits from his media session:
**Musgrave explained the importance of having rookie running backs DeAndré Washington and Jalen Richard healthy, especially with Murray's injury.
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"Yeah, we hope it helps. We definitely hope it helps because they've gotten some valuable experience, talking about the young guys. We'll hope that 'Tay' [Latavius Murray] can get back by Sunday. I know he's working extremely hard at it. They're working with his shoes and things like that to help him in that regard. We'll just have to wait and see."
He shared his thoughts on what has made the offense so successful in the red zone this year.
"Well our guys on the field are doing a terrific job. [Quarterbacks coach] Todd Downing heads up our red area presentations during the week. Comes up with a plan, presents it to the players and so they've been doing a fantastic job with that. It's amazing."
With all the injuries to the offensive line, he praised the play of rookie right tackle Vadal Alexander.
"Well, we're happy he's doing as well as he has. He's just very smart, bright. [He] has a lot of football background from both high school and college. He picks it up quick. There's always going to be a transition period dealing with different defenders at this level."
Recently, the Raiders added tight end Ryan O'Malley to the active roster from the practice squad, and Musgrave spoke about what he showed during training camp.
"Very tough kid. Got in there and battled. Put his face in the fan each and every day. We know we can count on him. He'll go through the process of learning as well because it is going to be brand spanking new to him because he is a rookie."
He talked about quarterback Derek Carr's ability to come up clutch in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
"This is a guy that has played sports his whole life. He's not just a football player; played a lot of basketball, probably taken a lot of free throws at the end of games when he needed to make them. He's just a clutch guy. Those situations, he's very familiar in. He's got a lot of experience from which to draw upon because of his background growing up and being in athletics his whole life."
