ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Denver Broncos made a lot of waves in the AFC West entering last weekend by hiring former San Diego Chargers coach Mike McCoy as their offensive coordinator and former Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave as their quarterbacks coach.
Call them shots across the respective bows of the SS Chargers and SS Raiders, no?
No doubt, they are intriguing coaching pickups for new Broncos coach Vance Joseph, who is more defensively inclined.
And yet ...
The Kansas City Chiefs, who lost their fifth straight home playoff game on Sunday night, still have Alex Smith (66.1 Total QBR) at quarterback.
The Chargers, who are moving to Los Angeles, still have Philip Rivers (64.4).
And the Raiders, who are coming off their first playoff appearance in 14 years, still have Derek Carr (62.0).
The Broncos? They have Trevor Siemian (55.7) and Paxton Lynch (27.9).
Cheap shot? Depends on your definition.
This much is true, though, with Musgrave tutoring them, and with Musgrave’s recent work in Oakland, there should be improvement under center in Denver, and that should be cause for concern in the rest of the division.
Because while the Raiders purportedly chose the potential of QB coach Todd Downing, who is very tight with Carr and was reportedly being pursued by other teams for their vacant OC positions, over Musgrave, Musgraves’s track record more than speaks for itself.
Consider: In Musgrave’s two years as the Raiders’ OC, Oakland’s yards per play improved from 4.5 (last in the NFL in 2014) before his arrival to 5.3 (23rd) in 2015 to 5.7 (10th) last season.
And in points per game, the Raiders improved from 15.8 (31st) in 2014 to 22.4 (17th) to 26.0 (7th) last season.