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Oakland Raiders ditching offensive coordinator, despite owning AFC's No. 2 offense

By Alex Butler
Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave. (Oakland Raiders)
Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave. (Oakland Raiders)

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 10 (UPI) -- It's a risky maneuver for a team that just had its first winning season since 2002, but the Oakland Raiders are switching up its coaching staff.

The Raiders are promoting quarterbacks coach Todd Downing to offensive coordinator, replacing Bill Musgrave, according to multiple reports. Defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson will also not return to the team, while defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. is coming back, despite coaching the league's No. 26 ranked defense.

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Raiders coach Jack Del Rio also worked with Musgrave with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but fired the offensive coordinator after his second season.

The Raiders had the No. 2 offense in the AFC this season behind quarterback Derek Carr. Carr and Musgrave's unit scored 26 points per game, good for No. 7 in the NFL, and averaged 373.3 yards per contest. MMQB's Albert Breer reported that the Raiders blocked Downing from "interviewing for offensive coordinator jobs elsewhere..." because "they didn't want to lose him."

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Musgrave, 49, began his NFL coaching career in 1997 as the quarterbacks coach for the Raiders. He had stints with the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, University of Virginia, Jaguars, Washington Redskins, Atlanta Falcons, and Minnesota Vikings, before returning to the Raiders in 2015.

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