The Broncos fired former offensive coordinator Mike McCoy on Monday, promoting quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave. Musgrave will want revenge on the Raiders.
Unless you like the Los Angeles Chargers, this was a no good, very bad week in the AFC West. While Los Angeles won in a rout of the Buffalo Bills, that was because Sean McDermott had the brilliant idea of starting rookie Nathan Peterman over the veteran Tyrod Taylor. Five first-half picks later, Peterman was benched in favor of Taylor.
The Kansas City Chiefs lost an embarrassing game in overtime to the New York Giants. Yes, this was the game where Andy Reid decided to test out tight end Travis Kelce‘s arm talent. No, it did not work. Kansas City has lost four of five games.
While we all know about how bad things were for the Oakland Raiders down in Mexico City versus the New England Patriots, things might be worse in the Mile High City for the Denver Broncos. Denver has lost six games in a row. The Broncos offense is putrid, so they fired former offensive coordinator Mike McCoy in his first year back with the organization after coaching the Chargers for four years.
McCoy’s replacement, a familiar face to Raider Nation: Bill Musgrave, the former Oakland offensive coordinator. After how things end with him with the Raiders, there is no doubt that he will do everything in his power to beat his former employer on Sunday in their own building.
Musgrave had been the Raiders offensive coordinator from 2015 to 2016. That two-year stint aligned with the growth of Raiders franchise quarterback Derek Carr. Even though the Raiders had a top-tier passing attack and went 12-4 in 2016, the organization decided to part ways with Musgrave in favor of promoting Oakland’s quarterback coach Todd Downing.
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To this point, that move has been disastrous for the Silver and Black. Of course, Downing has done some good things in his first year calling plays. Oakland has gotten good production at times out of the tight end position with newcomer Jared Cook. The ground game for the Raiders gets them close to 100 yards a game.
That being said, the Raiders offense has truly been a shell of itself. Carr isn’t looking to throw the ball down field as much. A reason for this might be that his receivers are constantly dropping the football. Then again, he just may not throw the most catchable ball.
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Though the Raiders won’t admit it, they might have a tinge of regret in letting Musgrave go and work for a division rival. Look for him to concoct one of his best game plans to date for the awful 3-7 Broncos.
So how will Musgrave do this? Who knows? He has Brock Osweiler at quarterback with Trevor Siemian backing him up. This Broncos defense doesn’t stop anybody any more, but that won’t stop Musgrave from trying to stick it to the Raiders.
Though the Broncos don’t have a precision passer, the Oakland defense will make a fringe starter look like Tom Brady. When it actually faced Brady, it was over from the first offensive snap for New England.
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Sunday will be really interesting at the Coliseum. It will be a revenge game for the Raiders, who lost to the Broncos in Week 4. It will also be a revenge game for Musgrave, who the Raiders passed on in favor of Downing. For a game that doesn’t have major playoff implications, it’s one of great intrigue to see these two struggling offense combat. Downing vs. Musgrave. Let’s Go!