Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave
Through the first five weeks of the 2016 NFL season the Oakland Raiders offense has been rolling, and is currently ranked 4th in the league for total offensive yards. Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave spoke with the media on Thursday, prior to the team's practice, and shared his thoughts on quarterback Derek Carr's poise. The Silver and Black have been fairly successful on fourth downs this season, and Carr is a large part of that.
Let's take a look at the quick hits from his presser:
**Musgrave praised Carr for his awareness and ability to make adjustments while running the offense.
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"Well, we have an idea of the adjustments he can make from the line of scrimmage. He did a good job. Our coaching staff has put together a terrific system that enables and is conducive for the quarterback to make quarter-turn adjustments there at the line of scrimmage or change the play entirely. He's done a terrific job with it."
He shared his thoughts on Carr's confidence to make executive decisions on fourth down.
"Well, a lot of those criteria that he uses are based on coverage and what he sees. I think [Head Coach] Jack [Del Rio] alluded to that this week. We have certain routes that we like versus certain coverages and certain routes that we like versus others. He knows his criteria and he applied it perfectly there."
Musgrave discussed what the running back corps has to offer on special teams and how they've performed.
"He's learning about how to carry it. Now does he have speed? Yes. He's fast. You see him on special teams, he's one of the first guys down for us on kickoff. All those backs are really core special teams players. One thing that gets swept under the rug at times is both Jalen [Richard] and DeAndré [Washington] are core special teams guys for [special teams coordinator] coach [Brad] Seely, so they have a lot on their plate and they've handled it terrifically thus far."
**He expressed his satisfaction with rookie running backs Jalen Richard and DeAndré Washington.
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"Good. Just they have so much on their plate. They're young guys. Fifth game of their career and they have to contribute on special teams and be ready to go run the punt team, cover kicks, catch punts, catch kicks and then know everything that we're doing on offense. Very impressed."
Musgrave talked about Amari Cooper trying to work on dragging his toe when hauling in a pass near the sideline.
"We're a drag team, but sometime habits are hard to break. So he's going to continue to work on it. I think 'Crab' [Michael Crabtree] alluded to it as well. You've done something your whole life. While that has merit too, our philosophy is drag. He's doing a terrific job of working on it, week in and week out. He did it last year too. That's above the level skill. You just have to continue to work on to stay on top of."
