Eden Prairie might be nearly 2,000 miles away from the Bay Area but ripples from the west metro suburb are being felt all the way to The Town.
The Raiders on Tuesday fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and replaced him with Todd Downing. Those names certainly ring familiar among Vikings fans.
Musgrave, of course, was the Vikings' offensive coordinator from 2011-13. He was the man in charge with perhaps the easiest job in football while game-planning at Winter Park: hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson and watch him go. Go he did in 2012, all the way to the NFL MVP Award.
Downing's roots are deeply embedded in Eden Prairie. The 36-year-old played for Mike Grant and the Eagles in high school before he latched on as an intern with the Vikings and eventually a coaching gig in offensive quality control.
Downing made stops in St. Louis, Detroit and Buffalo before being hired as the Raiders quarterbacks coach last season. Now, he inherits an offense led by Derek Carr on a Raiders staff that includes the man who gave him his first shot with the Vikings in 2002: Oakland's offensive line coach Mike Tice.
Life, you've come full circle.
