George Blanda is considered one of the best 40-somethings in NFL history.

While Blanda was used exclusively as a kicker for the last five years of his career with the Oakland Raiders, he spent 26 years in the old AFL and NFL as a player, more than anyone in history.

LAMEDA, Calif. - The Oakland Raiders have hired Steve Hoffman as special teams coordinator, the same position he held with the Kansas City Chiefs the past three years.

The Raiders announced the move Friday.

Hoffman joins the staff of new coach Dennis Allen after 22 seasons as an NFL assistant, including 16 as kicking coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 1989 to 2004. He also was a special teams coach for two seasons with the Miami Dolphins and one season with the Atlanta Falcons.

Hoffman will lead one of the NFL's best special teams units in Oakland, which features kicker Sebastian Janikowski and punter Shane Lechler.

By JUDY BATTISTA / New York Times

NFL executives on Sunday gave Al Davis something he seldom gave them: a moment of silence.

From the instant he became a central figure in the American Football League, Davis, the owner of the Oakland Raiders, who died Saturday morning, inspired more shouting than silence. But now that he and his penchant for litigation against the NFL are gone, the league is left with a disquieting question: what will become of the Oakland Raiders without him?

The Raiders are the most opaque organization in football, and Davis cultivated the air of mystery. But the short answer is simple: Davis’s wife, Carol, and his only child, Mark, will inherit the team, and the expectation in league circles is that it will remain with them.

Mark Davis was in the owners’ box when the Raiders beat the Houston Texans on Sunday, and while his father kept him at a remove for much of his life with little role within the organization, Mark is now expected to assume his father’s title of managing general partner. The brains of the business reside with the chief executive, Amy Trask, who has long been at Davis’s side at league meetings and who will be the critical figure in the Raiders’ hopes for a desperately needed new — or at least improved — stadium. (She might even entertain the thought of moving the team back to Los Angeles, which wants an NFL franchise and has tentative plans to finance a new stadium.)

But the bigger issue is what will happen on the football side, where Al Davis, to the end, was making all of the big decisions about personnel and coaches. Many of the reflections of the past few days gently softened a fundamental truth about Davis’s team: for much of the last 25 years, it wasn’t very good and sometimes seemed to be on the verge of complete chaos. Those who are familiar with the inner workings of the Raiders’ football operations said this weekend that the scouting department was among the worst in the league and that one thing that undermined the Raiders in recent years was that nobody could tell Davis what needed to be done.

Coach Hue Jackson, who has the Raiders at 3-2, will most likely handle roster decisions with the aid of some personnel people. But the end of the season bears watching. That is when the next wave of big decisions —  who gets cut, who gets re-signed, who gets drafted — will have to be made. The Raiders will almost certainly hire a general manager, or someone with a background in personnel, to make those decisions.

Gil Brandt, the longtime Dallas Cowboys personnel executive who was good friends with Davis, said, only a bit facetiously, that he thought Davis kept an envelope somewhere with instructions.

“To be opened upon my death,’” Brandt said Monday morning. “With a flow chart.”

The real intrigue will come if there is an internal struggle for control of the organization, as some expect there to be. Davis’s loyalty to Raiders players was legendary, and some of them are currently employed by the team. Might they leave now that Davis is gone? One person who has observed the Raiders for years, who did not want to be quoted because of the sensitivity of the topic in the wake of Davis’s death, said that because Davis was still in charge — the Raiders were essentially run like a dictatorship — there were now a lack of leaders on football decisions.

Jackson, as the coach, will likely gain influence in that vacuum, particularly because his stock will continue to rise with his early success. But whomever selects a general manager and has Mark Davis’s ear could shape the Raiders for years, even as the franchise tries to live up — and in some cases live down — to Al Davis’s decisions.

By Alan Hinton / Hattiesburg American

There has been a lot of talk recently about why two former NFL stars are not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Former Rowan High School wide receiver Harold Jackson played 16 seasons for the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks (1967-83). He played in 208 games, starting 191 of them. He caught 579 passes for 10,372 yards, an average of 17.9 yards per catch, and scored 76 touchdowns.

His best season came in 1972 when, in 14 games, he caught 62 passes for 1,048 yards. In 1972, he caught 40 balls for an average of 21.9 yards per catch and scored 13 touchdowns.

Perhaps his best stat, in my book, at least, was that in the entire decade of the 1970s, Jackson caught more passes for more yards than anybody else in the NFL.
And he made five Pro Bowls.

Former Southern Miss punter Ray Guy played 14 seasons (1973-87) for the Oakland Raiders and the Los Angeles Raiders. He played in 207 straight games, never missing a game.

Guy punted 1,049 times for 44,541 yards and a career average of 42.4 yards per punt. He led the NFL in punting three times and played in seven Pro Bowls.

Perhaps his best feat, in my book, at least, was that he not only kicked for distance, but that the tremendous altitude on his punts gave the coverage teams ample opportunity to cover the punt return man, and that he often pinned opponents deep in their own territory with coffin-corner kicks.

It is not easy to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Only 267 are in it, from 91 years of NFL football.

Anybody can nominate a person simply by writing to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Names are forwarded to a selection committee, which consists primarily of media members in the NFL cities. For example, Peter Finney of the New Orleans Times-Picayune is on the selection committee. The committee whittles down the candidates to 15 modern era nominees and two senior nominees, whose career has been over for at least 25 years.

After several meetings where the candidates are discussed, a vote is taken. Candidates must receive 80 percent of the votes to be selected.

Jackson and Guy have both been out of the NFL a long time. That’s a strike against them. There isn’t even a L.A. Rams team even more. That hurts Jackson. Some members don’t think a punter is a real player. That hurts Guy.

There have been public relations campaigns to get nominees inducted. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

My opinion? Supporting a nominee certainly couldn’t hurt. That’s why about 40 people got together here last week to do whatever they could for Jackson. If I were them, I’d write letters to every member of the selection committee. Names of that committee can be found at www.profootballhof.com/hof/selectionprocess.aspx.

Another opinion of mine? Jackson and Guy both deserve to be inducted. I remember both of them. Both were great players.

By Mark Gaughan / Buffalo News

The two best punters in the NFL over the past decade will be fighting the field-position battle Sunday when the Oakland Raiders come to town for the Buffalo Bills' home opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Oakland's Shane Lechler was the No. 1 punter on the NFL's all-decade team for the 2000s. Brian Moorman was the second-team choice for the 10-year span from 2000 to 2009. Lechler has made the last four Pro Bowls as the AFC punter. Moorman made the two before that, in 2005 and 2006.

Moorman doesn't view the game as a personal battle, but he's a fan of good punting.

"Honestly, I don't care that he's here or anybody else, but I like watching him kick," Moorman said after the Bills' practice on Wednesday. "He's one of the best there's ever been. It's always good to go out and compete. It's not a me-versus-him thing, because it's all game-planning. ... I want to put my best foot forward every week, and this week is no different. I want to hit all good balls."

Lechler and Moorman have spent most of their careers hitting good balls. Lechler ranks No. 1 all time in gross average, at 47.4 yards a kick. He ranks third all-time in net average at 38.8 yards a kick. Moorman, who has punted in worse weather than Lechler his entire career, has a gross average of 43.5 yards and a net of 37.6, just a yard behind Lechler. Only six punters ever have averaged 40 net yards for a season. Lechler has done it four times, Moorman once.

When it comes to punting, however, no one statistic tells the whole story.

Take Moorman's 2010 season, which wasn't quite as good as usual. His net average was 36.6 yards. But the Bills' offense was better than in the past, so he had more punts near midfield, a position in which he's not going for maximum distance. He also probably did more directional punting than in the past, and there was a benefit to it. The Bills never got hurt by punt returns. They gave up only two returns of 20-plus yards, with 25 yards being the longest. The Bills never have given up a punt return for a touchdown in Moorman's 10-plus seasons.

"If I were to just dissect my own game last year, I'd have liked to have been more consistent," Moorman said. "That's one thing I want to work on this year, is consistency. It's something I feel I've been pretty good at in the past."

Moorman had a good start in Kansas City. He averaged 51.4 gross yards, and that included a 24-yard "Aussie kick" that pinned the Chiefs at their own 14. (On an "Aussie kick" the ball is dropped at a more downward angle, and the kick ideally produces backspin.)

Lechler, 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, brings great size and strength to the position. Moorman, 6-foot and 175, brings a sprinter's leg speed. Moorman was an All-America hurdler at Pittsburg State and is in the Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Moorman worked hard this offseason on weight and speed training, using workouts similar to a track sprinter. He does not run hurdles anymore.

"A few years ago I'd get a few hurdles out for fun," he said. "In the offseason maybe I'd mess around with it. But if you wrench your back, that's not good. I finally told my wife I'm retiring from hurdles."

The Bills held all their top punt-return foes in check last year. Moorman is expecting to do a fair amount of directional kicking this year and hoping to force opposing offenses to drive long fields.

"I want to be as effective as I can for this team field-position wise," he said. "I think we'll be better on special teams this year, and hopefully I'll be a big part of that."

Moorman also knows that the Buffalo weather won't help his statistics. Pinning opponents deep in their own territory is among the challenges in windy Orchard Park.

"When you're going one way in our stadium, usually you have a howling wind, left to right at your back, and you don't want it to go in the end zone," he said. "You go the other way, and you have to kick it hard to get it to go far enough. You have to hit it a little lower, but then if it hits the ground it goes forward [and potentially into the end zone]."

Both Moorman and Lechler are 35. Moorman has two years left on his contract and hopes to play to age 40.

"My mind is still 23, and to be quite honest, my body doesn't feel much different from that, either," he said. "The guy I came into the league with and learned from, Jeff Feagles [in Seattle], played 'til he was 44. If I can work on those type of directional things, I don't see myself losing a lot of leg speed or leg power. ... Ideally I'd like for it to be here. If I can keep doing the things to help in this climate, I don't see why I can't stay here."

OAKLAND, Calif. - Six-time Pro Bowl punter Shane Lechler will be the emergency quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, at least until rookie Terrelle Pryor is able to practice with his teammates after serving a five-game suspension.

The Raiders opted to keep only two quarterbacks after cutting Trent Edwards on Sunday. Starter Jason Campbell and backup Kyle Boller are the only ones on the roster. Coach Hue Jackson made the decision to go with Lechler as No. 3. Lechler was a quarterback in high school but has never thrown a pass in the NFL.

By Rick Sang – DirectorRay Guy Prokicker.com kicking camps

Legendary NFL punter Ray Guy learned early-on in his career the importance of keeping the ball up in the air. He knew it was not only harder to catch a towering punt, but more importantly it allowed his teammates the extra time needed to cover it, and therefore minimize any chance of a return. He began mastering his technique as a young athlete by punting the ball over the high power lines behind his boyhood home. While most kids try to see how far they can kick it, Ray wanted to see how high. His practice paid off. And after a legendary career at the University of Southern Mississippi (that led him to becoming the first punter ever to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame), Ray Guy became the first punter ever taken in the first round of an NFL Draft.

 “I was never much on hang time until we got Ray. But then we started clocking how long his punt hung up in the air. Sometimes he kept it up there as long as six seconds!”

- John Madden, ABC Monday Night Football/ Former Coach

Hang time is extremely important to the coverage team, yet there is still a lot more to it than that. If you really break it down, you need to have a very accurate and timely snap, you need great protection, and you need quick, rhythmic get-off times. The punter has to be a good athlete. He must make up for any challenges faced during the snap-to-kick sequence insuring that every ball is handled and punted without being blocked…no matter what happens.

 In order to have tremendously effective coverage, the punter must direct the flight of the ball to a position on the field that minimizes any chance of a return. This strategy is developed through coaching philosophy, the study of opponent’s personnel; return tendencies, as well as knowing necessary game-day adjustments. Therefore the punter should have a “specific target” in mind every time he called on to perform…and through Special Teams preparedness, the destination of the punt will be no secret to the coverage team.

“He (Ray Guy) was an expert in the arcane area of ‘hang time,’ the precious time the ball was in the air, allowing the coverage to assemble around the returner. If you accept the idea of physics that there is only so much energy to propel a kick, Guy was willing to sacrifice distance for height.-

-Greg Garber, Author of “Inside Football” – Award Winning Investigative Sports Journalist and ESPN Football Commentator

The Keys (6 to 10) to Optimum Punt Coverage – Continued from The Punt of No Return - Part 1

6) COMMUNICATE OBJECTIVES

There must be a purpose to every punt and it needs to be communicated. The punter can instill tremendous confidence in his team by being so consistent that he is predictable. And by knowing the specific objectives of every punt the coverage team will be prepared and markedly more effective. This preparedness can be developed though coaching philosophy, focused repetitions, the study of the opponent’s personnel; return tendencies, as well as game-day adjustments.

7) ACCURATE, TIMELY SNAPS

Practically every play in the kicking game (except the kickoff) starts with the snapper. No matter what level of play – the snap time needs to be near the .8 range or slightly faster. This is the optimum time for both speed and accuracy. Even though the distance the punter aligns behind the snapper varies at different athletic levels (high school-12 yards / college and pro-14 to 15 yards) the needed snap time remains the same. Since the snapper becomes more proficient as he advances to the next level, he basically maintains the same snap time by offsetting the added distance with increased snap-speed.

8) QUICK, RHYTHMIC GET-OFF TIMES

Coaches need to time their punters constantly. The goal is not to get the ball away as fast as possible, but to hit a mark—2.0 to 2.1 (college and pro) 2.1 to 2.2 (high school).

Punters should be continually timed not only to get the ball off quickly, but also to enable the development of a proper rhythm and thus improve consistency. There is such a thing of getting a ball off too quickly when it is not necessary. If the punter is timed regularly, he will know his ideal time and therefore maximize effectiveness every time he punts.

It’s also important to time a punter’s hand to foot (touch to toe) time. By starting the watch the instant the ball makes contact with his hands and stopping it the moment the foot makes contact with the ball a true measure of his get-off ability can be recorded. (The optimum mark should be 1.2 to 1.3 for college and pro and 1.3 to 1.4 for high school).

It is crucial that punters be timed during games to insure times are consistent. This will also enable the coach to keep the entire punt team accountable if the punt is ever close to being blocked. (If the get-off time is good then it is likely the protection needs to do a better job). The bottom line is this: The punter has to be a good athlete. He must make up for any challenges faced during the snap-to-kick sequence insuring that every ball is handled and punted without being blocked…no matter what happens.

SNAP TIME                                    .75-.8

HAND-TO FOOT TIME              1.25-1.3

OPTIMAL GET-OFF TIME      2.0 – 2.1 seconds

9) DECISIVE PROTECTION

Every player involved in protecting the punter must know the overall objective of the punt and be decisive about whom they are going to block. Once the ball is snapped the transition from protection to coverage must be quick, rhythmic, and flawless. Through repetition, and timing, the punt team can develop “an inner clock” by working together in unison knowing at the moment the snap begins there is no more than 2.1 seconds before the ball begins its flight toward it’s predetermined destination. During this time each protector needs to know they must be diligent in their responsibility not to allow any penetration beyond the block point area (approximately 10 yards). And for only two seconds every player is accountable in determining whether the punt is successfully advanced down field. This simple fact of each player knowing exactly what they are assigned to do in just a brief moment is powerful and effective in itself. This is just another reason why it is so important to time everything whether it is during a game or at practice. It puts everyone on the clock and therefore everyone is accountable!

10) QUICK, ADJUSTING COVERAGE

When every member of the coverage team knows their specific assignment, the timing involved, and the overall objective of every punt, they naturally become more efficient with every move. This is the exact moment where confidence developed through preparation pays off. They will protect effectively, they will release quicker, and they will cover with more speed knowing exactly where the ball is headed and the purpose of the punt. This will only enhance the coverage team’s field of vision allowing them to be alert for blocking patterns and return schemes. They will even be able to read the reaction of the return man knowing all the options he has and being prepared for his every move. Each man on the coverage team needs to adjust to the anticipated flight of the ball, maintain spacing, keep the returner contained, and prepare for breakdown all in preparation for sure tackling (and to be in position for any turnovers).

At the very moment the football is snapped it only takes seven seconds for eleven men – to work together as a cohesive unit with a common goal; knowing each are accountable and have the responsibility to dedicate all of their prepared ability for “the punt of no return.” Again – it only takes seven seconds – two seconds for the ball to be snapped and punted and five seconds of hang time. Every player on the punt coverage team can dig out seven more seconds!

Finding: BUSTED

Explanation:In the 1970s, Oakland Raiders kicker Ray Guy once punted a ball that hung mid-air long enough for officials to question whether the pigskin was filled with helium. It wasn't, but since then, many have tossed around the myth that a helium-filled football would outdistance a normal one. MythBusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage strapped on their thinking helmets to test it out.

Helium gas has half the density of air, and a regulation football pumped full of it weighs around 7 grams less than an air-filled one. Since a lighter ball would create less drag (friction) mid-air, you might deduce that it would go farther. But as the MythBusters realized after booting a boatload of air- and helium-filled footballs, simple deduction is no match for Newton's laws of motion.

Newton's Second Law states that an object's force is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration. The greater the mass, the greater the force (or inertia). Therefore, the slightly heavier air-filled football actually pushes through the air with greater force, flying slightly farther than a lighter helium-filled football.

Although the MythBusters predicted that helium balls would sail past normal footballs, Newton's brilliance busted this myth centuries ago.

As seen in "MythBusters: Helium Football."

First published by: Victor Cotto

The Oakland Raiders place a premium on their special teams. And it shows with past contracts to many of their specialists and kickers.

Here’s a look back at some of Oakland’s deals with past special team contributors:

Sebastian Janikowski

Selected in the 1^st round in 2000 and then given a four-year, $16 million contract with $9 million in guarantees in 2010. He was also the league’s highest paid kicker in 2005 when Oakland extended his contract five years, worth $10.5 million.

Shane Lechler

“This contract is the greatest ever given to a punter in the history of the National Football League,” said senior executive John Herrera after the Raiders inked Lechler for four years, $16 million, with $9 million guaranteed.

Isaiah Ekejiuba

In 2009, Oakland made Ekejiuba the highest paid coverage specialist with a 3-year deal worth $5.4 million and a $1.25 million signing bonus.

Jon Condo

Reportedly given a 2^nd round tender. In March of 2010, Condo signed a restricted free agent tender worth $1.684 million.

Desmond Howard

Oakland snagged their second straight Super Bowl MVP in 1997, with a four-year, $6 million contract, that included a $2 million signing bonus. Howard salvaged a fading career by becoming a terrifying kickoff returner with the Green Bay Packers prior to landing with the Raiders.

Darrien Gordon

In 1999, after releasing Howard, the Silver & Black signed Gordon, who at the time had an NFL best 13.2-yard punt return average. The contract was worth $9.2 million over three-seasons.

Adam Treu

The Raiders released the long snapper in 2007 after he earned more than $1.2 million in salary during the 2006 season.