Raiders’ John Pagano, Broncos’ Bill Musgrave meet again

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Well, this is familiar.

John Pagano on one sideline. Bill Musgrave on another. During the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the coordinators called plays opposite each other on four occasions as AFC West foes. Until recently, neither was aware a fifth such opportunity approached this weekend.

Pagano will have a chance Sunday to demonstrate something he proved two years ago against Musgrave and the Raiders.

He can adapt to a change in plans.

Pagano, the Raiders’ assistant head coach/defense, will call plays against the Denver Broncos. The expanded role follows Tuesday’s firing of defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr.

On Monday, the Broncos parted with Mike McCoy as offensive coordinator. Musgrave, the Raiders’ offensive coordinator the past two years, was promoted from quarterbacks coach.

An obvious familiarity exists between the new play-callers.

“You’re human to the fact that we’ve gone against each other before,” Pagano said. “There are certain things. You always have to understand what he’s about and what little things pop into my head from seeing him, but you still have to go based off of what you’re seeing right now, the film that you’re seeing, the plays you’re going off of. You have to be prepared for everything. … (Musgrave) always has those guys ready to play, and there is always going to be something new.”

In 2015, Pagano dealt with something new.

He was in his fourth of five seasons as the San Diego Chargers’ defensive coordinator. They played a Christmas Eve game against the Raiders at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. From the visitor sideline, Pagano watched as three of his four starting defensive backs — safety Eric Weddle and cornerbacks Jason Verrett and Patrick Robinson — left with injuries.

For good measure, reserve safety Darrell Stuckey left, too.

So Pagano and his fellow coaches were forced to adapt. When Robinson became unavailable in overtime, only four defensive backs were left. Either the defense would remain in its base 3-4 unit and accept a dire shortage of speed on the field, or it would play an offensive player on defense. The Chargers chose the latter, inserting wide receiver Dontrelle Inman at safety.

The Raiders won 23-20. But for all the tumult in the secondary, quarterback Derek Carr was held to 204 yards.

“Surviving,” Pagano said. “It actually came up this week. … I was giving the receivers — not saying any names — but I was saying how I had a receiver in San Diego locking him down. They were laughing about it, and they said they remembered it.

“That was something that you always prepare for. You’ve talked to guys. You don’t get a lot of reps on it, but you’re always in that emergency mode of guys that you have where you can place other guys in that spot. The guys executed and played that night. We still lost that game, but it was something that you look back on, and you see they did a good job of handling that adversity they were set up with.”

Now, he’s being called into action.

Sunday will mark the sixth time Pagano has called plays for a game played in Oakland. It will be his first on the home sideline. Musgrave called plays in 16 regular-season home games with the Raiders.

He hasn’t done so in Oakland as a visiting coach since Jan. 2, 2005, for the Jacksonville Jaguars when Jack Del Rio was their head coach. This week, Musgrave downplayed the dynamic of his Oakland return. It overlaps with the season debut for Paxton Lynch, a 2016 first-round draft pick.

“It’s definitely the opponent this week,” Musgrave told Denver reporters. “We have a lot of work to do. That’s the understatement of the year. We’re ready to get back on track and get on the right side of the scoreboard … Sunday as a team and as an organization.”

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.