HSFC_2017_01_11

XXXXX• SFChronicle.com |Wednesday,January 11, 2017|B

The NFL’s owner-guided
stadium and finance commit-
tees are scheduled to meet in
New York City onWednesday
with the possible relocations
of the Raiders and Chargers
expected todominate the
conversation.
Talk of a possible move by

the Raiders comes on the

heels of the team’s mostsuc-

cessful season in 14years.

Head coach Jack Del Rio’s

teamwent 12-4 and reached

the playoffs, inwhichit lost to

Houston on Saturday in the

wild-card round.But the on-

field success hasdone little to

quell discussion of a possible

move to LasVegas orLos

Angeles.

Last month, Oakland of-

feredup to $350 million to-

ward the construction of a

stadium — a figure thatfalls

far short of the$750 million

Las Vegas is said to be willing

to spend. NFL Commissioner

Roge r Goodell said of negotia-

tions tokeep the Raiders in

place: “We have not made

great progress in Oakland.We

need to continue towork at

it.”

The latest planwould have

the city and Alameda County

turn over $150 millionworth

of landat the Coliseum site to

a group ledby Ronnie Lott,

and the public contributing

$200 million toupgrade infra-

structure for a$1.3 billion

stadium. The NFL and Raid-

ers would putup $500 mil-

lion, withLott’s group having

to comeup with the remain-

ing $600 million in private

financing.

If a newstadium deal can’t

be arranged in Oakland, the

Raiders have Las Vegas and

Los Angeles —where the

team played from 1982

through1994 — as likely relo-

cation options.

A year ago, the Rams’ re-

turn toLos Angeles(from St.

Louis) was OKdby the NFL

and at the same time the

Chargers were gi ven a one-

year dead line todecide wheth-

er they, too,wanted to move

to Los Angeles — andshare a

new stadium with the Rams

— or build astadium in San

Diego. Voters in San Diego

rejected a newstadium there

and Chargers owner Dean

Spanosfaces a Sundaydead-

line todecide whathe wants

to do:try again in San Diego

or move north.

If the Chargers opt to join

the Rams inLos Angeles, that

would eliminateL.A. as an

option for the Raiders and

perhaps increase the likeli-

hood thatowner Mark Davis

will move the Silver andBlack

to LasVegas.

OWNERS

Raiders’, Chargers’

fates to be discussed

STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

This first one didn’t go so
greatafter Carr broke his leg
and coaches essentially
threwrookie Connor Cook to
the wolves, hoping the Raid-
ers’ defense could force three
or more turnovers. There
was noupset inHouston on
Saturday, and Del Rio tipped
his cap to his players before
getting on to the business of
next season — likechanging
offensive coordinators.
“Each year, the turnover
throughout the league is
close to 25 percent or so,”
Del Rio said. “It’s never go-
ing to be the same group of
men.We had agood group.
We had agood year. We
went from seven wins to 12
wins.Hada lot of great mo-
ments throughout theyear, a
lot to be proud of.”
Proud,yes. Happy? No.
“Weshould expect more,
and I’mgoing todemand
more,” Del Rio said.
The Raiders did expect
more after their season-open-
ing win inNew Orleans.It
set thestag e foreverything
when Del Riowent for a
two-point conversion and the
win with 47 seconds left.
Carrchanged the callat the
line of scrimmage — which
he would do again andagain
as theyear progressed —
and threw a high arcing pass
to the corner of the end zone
for Crabtree.
He grabbedit, the Raiders
won and Del Riowas lauded
for his gutsby the national
media.The pla yers’ confi-
dence started to match their
coach’s, and Oaklandwould
win its first five road games.
“Guys al ways think they
believe, butit takes some-
thing like that for things to
reallyclick,” Crabtree said.
“And you feel likeyou’re
going to win,even ifyou’re
down in the fourthquarter.
You trust inyour coaches
and teammates todo what it
takes toget theW.”
The victory inNew Orle-
ans was the first of seven
fourth-quarter comeback
wins for the Raiders.
“Jack was lik e, ‘Hey,it’s
about the process. Don’t
forget howyou won in Week
1,’ ” long snapperJon Condo
said. “Wewouldn’t look
aheadat the games three or
fourweeks away. It was a
great season.It was fun.”
ThoughDel Riowas
praised for his courage and
faith in his offense to make
the play, the decisionshowed
whatlittlefaith he had in his
defense. And thoughthe
defensegot better after al-
lowing a combined 69 points
in the first two games to the
Saints andFalcons,it didn’t
really turn the corner.

Teams withMack,a De-

fensive Player of theYear

candidate,should not finish

last in the league in sacks,

but Oakland did with 25.

The Raiders gave up 375

yards per game (26th in the

league) and 24.1 points

(20th), and things could have

been a lotworse if they

didn’t lead the league with a

plus-16 turnover margin.

Though effort is nodoubt a

part of the latterstat — and

the Raiders played hard for

Del Rio anddefensive coordi-

natorKen Norton.Jr — there

is also someluckinvolved

there.

The Raidermust address

theirdefensive line. Especial-

ly the big guys in the mid-

dle, whom linebacker Bruce

Irvin called out on more

than one occasion for not

getting enough push and

pressure. Del Rio called the

interior passrush a “critical”

needMonday, and went

through four of the linemen.

He didn’t mentionstarter

Dan Williams or former

starterJustin Ellis, and for

good reason:That’s a com-

bined700 pounds of invisible

right there.

“That’sgoing to be an area

for sure thatwe’re going to

have to be better anddo

better,” Del Rio said.

The Raiders also need help

at linebacker anddefensive

back, and hope that the

members of the 2016 draft

class —safetyKarl Joseph,

defensive linemanJihad

Ward, and linebackers Shi-

lique Calhoun and Cory

James — are reliable contrib-

utors next season. Because

theyweren’t this season.

The offensewas reliable

until Carrwent down. He

and the receivers developed a

special rapport and sense of

where andwhen theywant-

ed the footballdelivered. The

Raiderswere good enough to

overcome a lot of drops

when Carrwas in there, but

not when backups Matt

McGloin and Cook took their

turns the last two games.

The Raiders led the NFL

with46 dropped passes, per

SportsRadarUS. No. 3 receiv-

er SethRoberts led the

league with 13, Crabtree had

12 and Cooper and tight end

Clive Walford had six each.

“More than I’m comfort-

able with, more thanwe

should have,” Del Rio said of

the dropped passes. “You can

add that to the list of things

we’re talkingabout here,

areas that areobvious areas

that mustimprove.”

The Raiders areyoung,

though, andshould improve.

They have a franchisequar-

terback and a franchisede-

fensive player, and those

aren’t easy toget, not to

mention a high-priced offen-

sive line thatdominated be-

fore wearingdown the last

month.This offseason will

be about adding to thatnu-

cleus.

“I’msuper excited,” Carr

said. “Weshould have a

good majority of our guys

back. I’m going towork my

tail off to be better nextyear.

That’s the mind-set our

whole team has.

“Whenyou’ve got a group

of guys that have won 12

games anddon’t careabout

that, they justwant to be

better, thenwe’re going to be

all right.”

Vic Tafur is a SanFrancisco

Chronicle staff writer. Email:

[email protected] Twitter:

@VicTafur

‘Super excited’ for the future

Raidersfrom page B

Eric ChristianSmith /Associated Press

Oaklandrunning back LataviusMurray finds a holeagainstthe Texans inthe wild-cardgame inHouston on Saturday.

Raiders’ unrestricted freeagents

RBLatavius Murray —Ran for 13 TDs,

including playoffs, butlost carriesto rookies

Jalen Richard and DeAndreWashington.

Unlikelytobe back,considering he’llget

somegood offers and didn’t quite click with

coachingstaff.

LB MalcolmSmith —Complementary

player has beenasked todotoo much his

first two years.Comes back only if price and

roleare right.

RTMenelikWatson —Injureda lot, but

team likeshisaggressiveness,tools. Flip a

coin.

LBPerry RileyJr. —Stabilizing player; not a

priority,butvery possible hereturns.

DTStacy McGee —Thrivedfor firsttime in

years. How will thataffectprice?

CBDJHayden —Not agood first-round pick

but now a trusted roleplayer. Don’t rule it out.

WR Andre Holmes —Tall WR and special-

teamsstandout.Loves it here and theylove

him,

S NateAllen —Acceptedbackuprole. Will

heaccept much smallersalary?

LS JonCondo —We’ll see how sentimental

headcoach Jack Del Rio is.

TE Mychal Rivera —Could use change of

sceneryasthere is alowceilingfor his use

here.

S BryndenTrawick —Special-teams player

showed past two games that he should have

been on D more.

LB Daren Bates —Specialteams didn’t

improve asmuchaswas hoped withaddi-

tion of Bates,Trawick.

QB MattMcGloin —Missed wide-open

AmariCooper deep in Denver, andwas dead

toDel Rio.

— Vic Tafur

HoustononSaturday.
Accordingtosources,Raid-
ersheadcoach Jack DelRio
simplymade achoice,asDown-
inghadbecomea“hot”coach-
ingcandidateandwascontact-
edby “4-5teams”aboutjobs
recently. Musgrave’s two- year
contractexpiresintwoweeks.
Carrmade theProBowl each

ofthepasttwoyearsunder

Musgrave andDowning.

Downing,36,wasthe quar-

terba cks coach fortheLions

andBillsbeforejoiningthe

Raiders.He willbethefourth-

youngestoffensive coordinator

intheNFL.

Downingplayedfootballat

EdenPrairieHighinMinneso-

taforMike Grant,thesonof

BudGrant,theVikings’Hallof

Fameheadcoach.Downing

becameapublic-relationsin-

ternfortheVikingsat 19 and

laterearnedacoachingin-

ternshipunderMike Tice,the

Raiders’currentoffensive line

coach.

Thisisthesecondtimethat

Musgrave,49,hasbeenletgo by

DelRio.Thetwoweretogether

in2003-04whentheJaguars’

headcoach firedhisoffensive

coordinator.DelRioquestioned

Musgrave’s play-callingat sev-

eralpointsthisseason,espe-

ciallythelack ofrunningplays,

andhasbeenheavyinhis

praiseofDowningthepastfew

weeks.

OnSunday, DelRiobrought

up theschemewhenas ked

aboutthesecondstraight slow

finishofreceiverAmariCoo-

per’s two year-career.Cooper

had31catchesfor366yardsin

thelasteight gamesafterhehad

52for787yardsinthefirsteight

games.

“Lastyear,Ithinkit was

clearly involvedwithhisfoot,”

saidDelRio,whoadde dthe

teamwill“goba ck andlookat it,

whetherit waswhattheywere

doingtousorwhatwe weren’t

doingtoprovidethoseopportu-

nitiesforhim.

“Wastheguyhewasgoing

againstgoodenoughtogethim

sloweddown? Wasit scheme?

Wasit designonourpart?

Thoseareallthingswe have to

lookat indetail.”

Defensive coordinatorKen

NortonJr.,meanwhile, survived

despitetheRaiders’defense

finishing26thintheleague.

Defensive backs coach Marcus

Robinson’s contractwasnot

renewed,though,acoupleof

days afterDelRioputthebrunt

oftheburdenonthebigplays

allowed—passingandrunning

—onthedefensive backs.

VicTafurisaSanFrancisco

Chroniclestaffwriter.

Todd

Downing

Bill

Musgra ve

Downing

takesover

offense

Coordinator from pageB

NFL