One of the theories behind the Raiders decision to essentially fire offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave a year ago was the idea that Jack Del Rio might have wanted more input into the offense.
Del Rio felt the Raiders didn’t play enough “big boy ball” under Musgrave and seemed to supply an empty promise that Derek Carr would have more freedom with Todd Downing in charge.
What ended up happening at some point during the season was that Del Rio simply became more involved with the offense, and according to The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, things got even worse when that happened.
As the season progressed, the message to Derek Carr and the offense didn’t become any more clear.
Remember it was Del Rio who suggested in December that his quarterback was only going “halfway” and needed to “let it rip” to get the offense back on track.
For Del Rio, this maneuver isn’t particularly unprecedented.
Rewinding to his years in Jacksonville, a similar dynamic evolved where Del Rio was known to carry a heavy hand in the Jaguars offense – and it wasn’t always welcomed.
Some of his players back then felt Del Rio became inflexible as a head coach and was married to an “outdated” offense – something the Raiders happened to achieve this year under Downing as well.
Coincidence?
Most likely not.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Absolutely ridiculous how the team rotted from the inside out in just one friggin’ off-season. All JDR had to do was fire KNJ, give full conINN, to Pagano and retain Bill Musgrave. The offense would have been just as good, or better, and the defense would have likely improved. Instead he does the complete opposite and the team is, no surprise, a total trainwreck! It seemed obvious to everyone in the world the one who could actually make it happen….JDR
So true…
the raiders were the only team interested in hiring jdr as a coach because the rest of the league already knew that he’s a position coach at best.
Del Rio couldn’t improve the defense even when he took play calling duties away from Norton . What in the world made him think he could help the offense , which didn’t need much help to begin with ?
I’ve been saying this for awhile. I think Downing got too much blame for the Raiders poor offense. Downing said all off season he wouldn’t change Musgrave’s offense, only give Carr more leeway to audible and take more chances in the passing game. I believe Downing was ordered to change the offense to suit Lynch, and when it wasn’t working well, Del Rio and Tice began getting more and more involved.
Time will tell, but I believe Downing will get another chance to be a OC, and I think he will be successful.
It’s easy to sit back and say it was Del Rio, it was Downing, Carr, Norton whomever. That part of Oakland Raiders it now history. I think we all see a light coming more clear at the end of day…that light will be shinning on Raider Organization. And who knows, maybe in the long run, MAYBE,,,a move to Vegas might become a moot point.