The Raiders Are the NFL’s Biggest Anomaly

The Raiders Strangle hold on the punting position is one of the greatest anomalies in sports. I absolutely love it.

[@otakuoutpost777]

Lifelong, 45+ year Raider fan. The main reason our punters are so amazing is we give them so many chances to punt. 😞

[@IsaacPunts]

Congrats on being the first one to make this joke, as I was writing this script I knew someone would

[@TheDreadedRaider]

So did Cleveland and Detroit and I can't think of one person who kicked for them.

[@stephen_cs]

@@IsaacPuntsit’s not a joke, but if your offense can’t get to midfield, you have more opportunities to kick further without getting touchbacks. That’s the problem with judging punting on distance alone

[@DarranKern]

@@stephen_csabsolutely correct

[@mkgibertjr]

Practice makes perfect 😅

[@Gmlgml200]

The Shane Lechler and Seabass Janikowski combo was lethal

[@Lord3zzy]

Hell yeah seabass my favorite raider of all time fr 💯 #RAIDERNATION

[@markfinley3703]

@@Lord3zzy The two Jeffs weren't bad either.

[@ConspiracyQueryDotNet]

@@markfinley3703 Yes I believe Jaeger went like 30/35 or something like that one year, and was overall very consistent after his first couple seasons in the league.

[@wiseboomin]

Fake, KEVIN BOSS WIDE OPEN TOUCHHHHDOWNNNN RAIDERS

[@HolyHandGrenade.]

Oh yeah, my hawks has seabass for that 1 year

[@Theel25]

They also have had some iconic/great kickers over their years: George Blanda(Kicker and QB during his time with the Raiders), Sebastian Janikowski, and now Daniel Carlson. Raiders and special teams is something they've always had.

[@ThanondorfTV]

If only Daniel’s brother was any good

[@jaggedstarrPI]

Chris Bahr (sp?) was also great during their 80s great years.

[@TigerWoodsLibido]

Well Lechler definitely got plenty of punting reps with that 2006 Raiders offense.

[@maureencora1]

Ray Guy was One of Greatest Punter / Hall of Famer, May He R.I.P.

[@pathutchison7688]

Marquette king was also crazy fast. There were so many trick plays that were possible. I never understood why his career ended so quickly.

[@schmuckytheraiderbear5043]

His personality ended his career. He was kicked off the Raiders cause he pissed off the locker room. Remember when he took that picture with Aqib Talib making fun of Crabtree and the necklace incident? Bruce Irvin almost beat his ass during that whole drama. Soon after he was off the team. No punter is worth a locker room cancer.

[@pathutchison7688]

@@schmuckytheraiderbear5043 wow, I totally forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.

[@brownbronco6465]

It dosent help that apparently Broncos coaching staff was trying to get him go change the way he punts and it gave him some sort of hip issue

[@RedDragon052]

@@schmuckytheraiderbear5043 King serves as a good lesson for any punter that no matter how good you are, the position is seen as easily replaceable. Most coaches will take an average punter who doesn't hurt the locker room or take unnecessary penalties over a good punter who does.

[@cyberft]

@@RedDragon052that’s not what happened. There is a channel called flemloraps that does a “what happened to” series and King is featured on one of the episodes. King even reached out to flemlo telling him he nailed the story.

[@gsisemore]

These past 20+ years by the Raiders have been a prime example that fantastic punting does not equate to winning. In other words, the offense and defense have failed the Raiders’ special teams unit year after year since 2002.

[@conorlauren]

I am a huge Raiders fan for life. I sometimes find myself upset that the Raiders offense is bad enough to even allow a punter to have the chance to get a 50 yard average. I guess I’ll put it this way: Put AJ Cole on Brady’s Pats and AJ is an average yardage punter because he wouldn’t have the chance to launch bombs

[@kayleighlehrman9566]

Maybe the Chargers could've borrowed the Raiders' special teams units for the 2010 season. Number one overall offense, number one overall defense, team finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs.

[@brettrossi034]

​@@kayleighlehrman9566damn dude. Brought back memories of watching football that time period. That chargers team was insane! But they failed at winning those big games

[@RyTrapp0]

@@kayleighlehrman9566 One of the most unreal seasons of all time😂

[@Selsigs]

I think the best punters are the ones who rarely leave the bench

[@214jef]

I might have been waiting my whole life as a Raider fan and Ray Guy fan for this video.

[@PrinceTalonSabre]

Now *this* is what I subscribed for

[@taytay8283]

Ruy Guy is a legend 💪🏾👊🏾💪🏾👊🏾 John Madden loved him

[@deiondre0]

10:40 I was literally about to make this comment before I heard you say it. Lechler’s gotta be the second punter in the HOF

[@daltonsideas]

I may be a big chargers fan and thus a big Raiders hater, but man do I love their specialists.

[@IsaacPunts]

As an unbiased Bengals fan, I agree

[@TheDreadedRaider]

When is LA going to realize Herbert sucks?

[@conorlauren]

Hey: I’m a Raiders fan. And I’ll say: Darin Bennett was fun to watch. Scifres actually massacred us one game about a decade ago.

[@percn0witzki]

Lifelong Raiders fan, literally born and placed into a raiders carrier when I was brought home ,& the only jerseys ive ever bought are Lechler Carlson King & Michael Bush (if you know you know)

[@RyTrapp0]

@@TheDreadedRaider TBF to Herbert, while I do think he was put on a pedestal way too early, he hasn't exactly had the greatest coaching situation to start a career with. Even if you like the coaches he's had(I mean, OCs & QB coaches aside, Staley didn't help...), he's going to be on his 4th OC/QB coaching change in 5 years this season. That's what killed Alex Smith's career, dude had 6 different OC/QB coaches in his first 7 seasons; unreal. No player can develop like that, especially a QB. This is the problem with the "first round bust" conversation, many of these players have their potential wasted by awful coaching and may have developed into something special with the right coaching. But that's the league.

[@jonathanfeldheim6554]

this video makes me wonder how punting on 4th down became normalized and whether team roster sizes were embiggened specifically for punters/kickers, great vid! Way to make punting interesting

[@schmuckytheraiderbear5043]

Marquette King's personality ended his career. He was kicked off the Raiders cause he pissed off the locker room. Remember when he took that picture with Aqib Talib making fun of Crabtree and the necklace incident? Bruce Irvin almost beat his ass during that whole drama. Soon after he was off the team. No punter is worth a locker room cancer.

[@markfinley3703]

Marquette also drew stupid penalties with his antics after great punts. Great physical talent, snakes in his head.

[@ObiWanIsCool]

3 phases of football. i grew up watching lechler and king. now having cole is awesome.

[@amendes6410]

Same here. Love it man raider nation!!

[@dansaucedo9373]

You know I’ve been a Raiders fan my whole life! Never did I realize that we have been that dominant in a position for that long! The only guy I remember really is Ray Guy. That is when I was a kid and probably did look at positions in a different way. Since then, I think I’ve been the type of person that doesn’t care about a punter. Because that means we’re giving the ball up. “But” thank you for the history lesson and the importance of every player since I do admit, I lost sight of it. Great video and editing by the way!

[@CERBERUS1O8]

Man I miss king... Dude was the most fun I've ever had watching a Punter

[@poindextertunes]

Not a Raiders fan but even I could see the guy was way over qualified for his position

[@whalesequence]

I remember being so disappointed that the Raiders didn't get JK Scott. They had actually traded up fro him, and the Packers took him one pick before the Raiders, so they settled with Townsend. Mind you, I was well aware of the history of punters on the Raiders. I grew up watching Lechler dominate for over a decade. I even tried being a punter myself when I was 12 (that didn't work lol), so I was hyper aware of the next punter for the Raiders. I remember seeing AJ Cole's first preseason game, and I just said, yep, that's the guy. Some teams are known for their linebacker history or QB's, but the Raiders will always be known for their punter history.

[@jcheng47]

Similarly Green Bay has had an insane run with their QBs.

[@IsaacPunts]

I would agree, maybe not as dominant as the Raiders punter stretch but consistently a top ~5 QB for like 50 years is no joke

[@TheDreadedRaider]

I think we are just seeing the beginning of Green Bay with QBs. Before farve got there they didn't have anyone since Superbowl was invented. But still almost 30 years is nothing to sneeze at

[@markfinley3703]

@@TheDreadedRaider Bart Starr?

[@MuthaFknZeus]

Green bay needs to be a case study on how you can't win more than 1 SB with Brett and Rodgers for almost 30 years

[@ItsInThereFam]

Punting and field goals. Raiders have had some legendary kickers that’s for sure.

[@Mo-MuttMusic]

Thanks for sharing. I remember watching Ray Guy on television growing up. He was phenomenal. I can't think of another team with the string of punting greats the Raiders have had. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular (and football fan)

[@Iceisnice32]

I loved this, please do more videos like it.

[@IsaacPunts]

I actually have a whole series like this!

[@gretzky6614]

This truly is something I think about way too much

[@bee_lovin]

I love the high drop, flowy Ray Guy punt. It’s how I punt, except Ray could beat my punt stats with his non-dominant leg 😂

[@L4JP]

Isaac (or anyone else reading this), can you help me find info about a memorable punt I have never forgotten since seeing it on TV in my childhood? I'm 99% sure it was Ray Guy - at least that's what I remembered through the decades. It had the weirdest bounce ever - it landed right on the goal line, bounced straight up and landed on the goal line again, over and over until it laid to rest on the goal line. I thought I remembered it as having been nicknamed (by the announcer or some reporter afterwards) "A Bean Too Much", because if it had been just inches shorter, it would have been a weird miracle punt instead of a touchback. Whether I remember the nickname correctly or not, I would think it would have made its way onto the internet as something fascinating, but I have searched for it several times in multiple ways and never found a peep about it. Perhaps you can find it, since you are great at digging into the history of punting.

[@xenos6695]

Giants probably had the best decade for a LB room ever from 1981-1990. Between Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, and Carl Banks they combined for 18 pro bowls, 5 second team all pros, 9 first team all pros, 2 hall of famers, and Lawrence Taylor was defensive rookie of the year, three time defensive player of the year, and won an MVP.

[@Iamhungey]

You can even go back a bit further as well, remember Carson was drafted in the 1970s during the Wilderness Era and there was Van Pelt. Probably among the few things they did right in the draft during that period.

[@samsonitejet7]

it's wild that king never made a pro bowl, but was all pro

[@TheSteveSteele]

If you watched Ray Guy back in the day, you know that he was one of the primary ingredients to the Raider dynasty (1976-1983). Raiders love their punters.

[@RyTrapp0]

Long term series: punter history for each team?

[@ThugShakers4Christ]

Closest I can think of is the Chicago Bears at the MLB position. Multiple HoFers at the position, but it's been more spread out.

[@drewbilodeau3375]

I have a Janikowski jersey, but I need to get a Lechler one as well. Those are the two greatest Raiders from my childhood

[@genociderjill]

I would like a Ray Guy Sandknit..

[@markfinley3703]

I have Ray Guy's autograph on a t-shirt I made. It said Ray Guy, Hall of Fame, if Ray's not in, the Hall is lame. This was 2 years before the Hall FINALLY did the obvious thing and inducted him. Ray struck me as the consummate Southern Gentleman. He was not hostile about it, he was extremely polite to everyone. Just a pleasure to listen to.

[@jonasanderson3527]

I’m surprised the raiders let the bears take that Iowa punter this year in the draft

[@the1hatman75]

You don't draft a punter when you already have the best one in the league.

[@WattsRaider]

We have AJ Cole we don't need a punter.

[@isaacrubio5861]

Watching the raiders my whole life I’ve always said we got the best punter kicker combo for the last 20 years 🤣

[@danmeyers2506]

As a Raiders fan it’s not a secret to why the punters are always good. Even when the offense is good they get a lot of practice.

[@nathanchildress5596]

I would say the 49ers legacy at linebacker is extremely impressive. Mitch Wishnowski is a good punter too, but the 49ers don’t punt enough for him to shine

[@mikenobles1038]

Loved ray guy ! What a weapon he was, especially pinning the opponent deep . And Shane lechler was almost as good as he was !

[@deezupzeohdown957]

Its insane at the quality of kickers we have had

[@WattsRaider]

For what's its worth as a raider fan we never worry about our kickers and punters they turn out good but the problem is you cant win football games on kicks and punts alone.

[@SnowyRains]

bruh 63 yard banana kick can you imagine how much further it would go if they kicked it properly with a drop punt

[@sludge8506]

Lay off the meth, snowy. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

[@manny1659]

that boy aj cole is so different!!! glad hes on my team!

[@oneofone53]

Also Fullbacks are an underrated spot on our rosters. I mean today there like 24 fullbacks. Former Raiders make up a good spot of them. Alec Ingold, Jakob Johnson, Jason Cabinda (was an LB for us), Jamize Olawale, Keith Smith…

[@Josevatz293]

We’re always 3 n out so our punters get mad reps and start to master it 😂😂😂

[@reintaler6355]

This is like how Brazil has an amazing history of football/soccer because of crime corruption and low living standards for the masses

[@Von_Frankenstein]

Happy Birthday AL 🎂

[@TheSteveSteele]

If it weren’t for the past 15 years I might say the Raiders’ CB/DB group was all world. From Willy Brown and Jack Tatum, to Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes, to Charles Woodson and Eric Allen, to Nnamdi Asomugha, the CB position was a Raider tradition. But the last 20 years have been, well, not good.

[@poindextertunes]

theres a video on YT of Chiefs GM Brett Veach catching a TD pass from Chiefs OC Matt Nagy in the mid 2000s 😎

[@robertshepherd6025]

Well done

[@mjn3544]

Ray Guy stands alone as the only punter in the Hall of Fame and the only one so far to deserve it. He was an athletic freak of nature. I watched his punts not just fly 60 yards but go as high as eye level where we sat in the upper tier of the Coliseum in Oakland. No other punters did that. No other punter even came close. His yearly average didn't reflect the power of his leg because often he had to do short punts that ruined that average because the Raiders offense got bogged down at the 50, for example, and he had a short field. But when he was deep in Raider territory and he had a clear reason to boot it as far as possible, he regularly kicked 60, 65 and sometimes 70 yards with them soaring to the sky so high that the hang time was as much as 5 seconds. He was astonishing and we fans would ooo and ahh at his punts. He's also the only one to hit the top of the Saint's enclosed stadium. He could change the field position battle with one punt. Yes, Ray Guy, the first round pick, changed football forever because of how he showed how a great punter could change the fortunes of a game. If the Raiders got trapped at around their 10 and forced to punt, the other team would salivate that they should have great field position around their own 40 after a 50 yard punt, assuming they didn't get a return of some kind. But then Guy would boot a massive 70 yard bomb that had the receiver retreating back and back and back to get it and by the time it finally came down he was surrounded by Raiders and they'd have to start at their 20, not their 40. There is just no one like him. One thing virtually no one knows about him is that he could throw a football like no one else. He could stand at one goal line, crank up his arm and drop a football at the other goal line. I've never seen a cannon of an arm like his. Ray Guy, Hall of Fame. You deserve it.

[@FullRaidersAlchemist]

Guy was 4th string QB on 83 champs

[@Whats_a_ZJ]

Could you make a video talking about the different types of punts that you listed in the video? Thought everyone just tried to bomb it as hard as they could until today. Id just wanna see something with some examples maybe and a brief description. I know it's a lot to ask but figured I would anyways 😁 if you read this thanks for your time!

[@jorgesoto7640]

I always liked king as a punter , should of signed him

[@Matterian]

With so many Raiders in the Hall already...and so many more like Jim Plunket who deserves it the most will never be enshrined let alone Lechler who does deserve it also because the "Shriners" who run the show have stated that the Raiders have too many in the hall as it is.

[@sludge8506]

Ray Guy once downed his own punt.

[@trunksthegoon9665]

Raider fan here I seen at lot of terrible offensive play so many 4th downs we punt so much that our punters had no other choice but to be great even today Aj Cole is one of the best punters in the league and our kicker be great to cause we rarely score TDs

[@AlexanderJordan-sv7nm]

I’ve got a lot of love for the Raiders

[@WafflesTwoThreeZero]

17:06 titans with running backs

[@WafflesTwoThreeZero]

You should talk about Ryan Stonehouse’s crazy rookie season

[@eggsngritstn]

The Titans with Hentrick, Kern and Stonehouse are second-tier dynasty .

[@ernestrimbeck7630]

Raiders the only team to draft a punter and a kicker in the first round Raiders also drafted Janikowski (first round,#17), Lechler (fifth round, #142), all before Tom Brady (sixth round, #199)

[@george8375]

Can we get a video on my boy tress way?? Love him as a life long Washington fan

[@sludge8506]

The Bears drafted sauerbrun in the 2nd round, then told him not to kick it so far.

[@teo_heel]

I'm still waiting on the video about CFL Punters.

[@servers5717]

I think Mitch Wishnowsky is just as good as cole but that may be just me? Mitch puts those footballs in consistently great spots for the 49ers defense

[@learningtoride1840]

Raiders, baby...

[@arrsequoia4087]

Vikings and wide receivers.

[@leethecomedian]

Have you seen the bears punter from ia? Pretty talented guy, without him the don't go to the big ten championship game. Anyhoo🤘

[@joustwave6541]

7:20 "they actually almost brought him in a couple times" huh? 😂

[@paysonfox88]

I guess the Raiders have a Dynas "kicking"tee????

[@DarkNanja]

packers with quarterbacks did the same thing

[@marcwhitlock5002]

King could also run fakes or salvage bad snaps into 1st downs running. To your question Green Bay with QB's and Steelers with coaches is the only groups I can think about off the top of my head.

[@mikevandyke69]

Raiders Punters are equal to Green Bay Quarterbacks. Always gotta good one.

[@Elnahmain]

AJ might honestly be the best yet

[@sludge8506]

Marquette King played just six nfl seasons. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

[@lindalealphamale]

John “mad a sack”? Haha

[@osaji922]

He got Sisemore wrong too.

[@maureencora1]

Do Raider Field Goal Kickers.

[@KraphtOne]

Pittsburgh Steelers Coaches is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. I'm 40. There have been 3. Likely for you there have only been 2 in your lifetime lol

[@Pizan1111]

How did they play before punting just give the other team the ball after turning it over on downs?

[@devin_3319]

Song at 14:20?

[@user-june-bayarea-510]

We do got the kicking team on lock That's a fact

[@Mercenarymn]

It's called having a stagnant offense

[@kendallevans4079]

I'll always feel like they cut King on personal issues

[@josepena3580]

Kinda sad that’s our flex

[@drag0..]

RN4L ☠️

[@TheDreadedRaider]

I literally just bought 4 tickets for the raiders MNF game this year. Get on KZbin and this is the first thing that pops up. Destiny? Nah

[@fredricclack7137]

🦁 Now! 😊⚒️💙

[@jjkeim7374]

AND OUR KICKERS

[@geraldvounas2452]

💪

[@jorgenthompquist226]

Great video, I’m an AI- Prove you’re an Al Davis too

[@jorgenthompquist226]

AL

[@amelierenoncule]

All I know, mon ami, is that this coward refused to enter the '84 game, against the Bears...as QB. Almost peed-his-pants, he did !

[@lindalealphamale]

John cis a more?

[@user-fd5vy9ud3r]

I think that my all time goat punter is pat mcafee, anyone else?

[@jasonfreitas6845]

Vikings on wrs Carter moss Thielen harvin diggs Jefferson Packers on qb is obvious to look into I’m thinking rams RBs but don’t feel like looking it up but you know the rams have had running backs

[@poindextertunes]

running backs is probably chiefs up until recently when Reid changed the offensive scheme

[@user-june-bayarea-510]

Shane L. My dude

[@angelduarte-rr2zj]

man u messed up u didnt talk about janakowski well u did but not the right name it wasnt shane it was sebastion janakowski

[@bembrysburner3068]

So punting really doesn't matter... Look where all that elite punting got them

[@osaji922]

Three Super Bowls with Ray Guy. One Super Bowl appearance with Lechler.

[@bembrysburner3068]

my bad ig they have 3 rings against plumbers and fireman

[@osaji922]

@@bembrysburner3068 what?

[@bembrysburner3068]

@@osaji922 whoopsies too much time on twitter

[@bembrysburner3068]

@@osaji922 too much twitter for me bro

[@kimofromkalihi]

Why couldn’t it be a QB?😢

[@JO-uy6zs]

We'd have 6 Lombadis if we didn't get fucked by the biased NFL. OAKLAND RAIDERS FOREVER 🏴‍☠️

[@Mr.MikeBarksdale]

I get this channel geeks out over punters, and while Ray Guy was truly great, simply put, using a First Round Pick on a punter is absolutely insane. As good as Mr. Guy was, there is a concept in economics called Opportunity Cost at play here. They aren't just selecting Ray Guy. The Raiders are NOT selecting lots of other talented players. How much yardage does Ray Guy get you every week? 20 yards more than a replacement level punter? 40? No punter in the world is worth the talent you are giving up by drafting him. Three Hall of Famers were undrafted behind him: WR Drew Pearson, OG Joe DeLamielluere, and some QB from Oregon named Dan Fouts. Just the CHANCE to get any of those guys in the draft would be better than drafting a punter. It's like Devin Hester. Okay, fine. You have to put him in the Hall of Fame? Last time I checked, TDs on returns are worth the same as other TDs. Every yard Mr. Guy saves you is just one yard. Yes, Special Teams are important, but let's not get crazy here. It's still the third most important unit of a team, and it always will be.

[@chrish931]

Well they won three Super Bowls from 76 to 83 so i would say it turned out alright, they were loaded already when they drafted Guy and that was the era before free agency and the salary cap so keeping your talent was easier back then.

[@osaji922]

They could afford to take a punter in the first round because their team was literally filled with hall of famers.

[@Mr.MikeBarksdale]

@@osaji922 Really? Aging Ken Stabler was better than a young Dan Fouts? I mean, that's absurd.

[@osaji922]

@@Mr.MikeBarksdale Aging Ken Stabler? In 1973? Ken Stabler won the MVP that season. lol It was also his first full year as starter and yeah, he was better than Fouts. Who the hell was Fouts in '73? Chargers didn't catch on until years later. His supporting HOF teammates were, Otto, Upshaw, Shell, Brown, Biletnikoff, and Branch.

[@jaggedstarrPI]

Hey, Mr. Narrator, if you're posting videos about the Raiders, you just CANNOT butcher the pronunciation of John Matuszak. Hint: His nickname was "The Tooz." You pronounced it, "John MATIZIK. He's Raiders royalty. So, say it like, "MA-TOOZ-AK!!!" :-)

[@jimblomquist4017]

Your statement that punting started to become important only in the 1950's is horribly misinformed, especially for a channel dedicated to punting. Punting was a major tactical part of the game in the early years of the NFL. Might be worth you doing some research for another video, although there's pretty scant video from that period.

[@kylemann2426]

I think he meant drafting punting specialists as a position player… Even so he’d still be wrong. The first punting specialist to be drafted as a position specific punter wasn’t until 1966 when the Chiefs drafted Jerrel Wilson. Up until then punting was done by any other position player who could perform the function of a punter as a secondary role