
ALAMEDA -– Offensive continuity was king during the Raiders' offseason, with the front office largely standing pat on that side of the ball. Bill Musgrave’s scheme also remained, and has been refined in recent months to better accentuate his personnel strengths.
Quarterback Derek Carr’s mastery of that scheme has been key to offensive growth, and now operates a relatively complex system with efficiency that only comes from experience.
“The familiarity is important. He doesn’t have to learn a new language, and he’s been around the block once before (in this scheme),” Musgrave said before Wednesday’s practice. “He’s able to take it to the next level, to take it to the graduate level from undergrad, where he was last year.”
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Working on an advanced degree focused on adjustments based on what a defense shows is another area Carr and cerebral center Rodney Hudson have improved over time. They have freedom to adjust at the line of scrimmage to avoid putting his unit in a bad spot.
“He can put his spin on things and solve his own problems almost before the problems emerge at the line of scrimmage,” Musgrave said. “He and (center) Rodney Hudson can do that. We’ve seen examples of that day in and day out here in this second year.”
It isn’t just Carr and Hudson making the proper calls.
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“Even the position plays have gotten more turns at our concepts,” Musgrave said. “They can anticipate the defense and how things are supposed to work out each and every time.”