ALAMEDA, Calif. -- You could say these are interesting times for the Oakland Raiders.
Last season the Raiders went 12-4 and had the No. 6 total offense in the NFL and the No. 26 total defense, and they responded by letting offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave walk and keeping Ken Norton, Jr. on as defensive coordinator.
This season, through 10 underwhelming games and a 4-6 record, the Raiders' offense has fallen to No. 21 under first-year coordinator Todd Downing and the defense is again No. 26. And you know all about the Raiders firing Norton this week and replacing him as defensive play-caller with John Pagano, who was hired last offseason, in part, to help fix the "communication" in the Raiders secondary as the team's assistant head coach/defense.