Raiders make Hester look mortal
It sounded like an old-school challenge when Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said in a conference call earlier this week that his special teams would kick to Devin Hester.
It was, and they did.
In the past few weeks, the first-year coach said he felt good about the play of his special teams.
The Raiders on Sunday justified Kiffin's faith in them, keeping Hester as quiet as a mouse.
"I thought he was going to be the difference and our punt team and our kickoff team showed up today," said Jarrod Cooper, one of the Raiders' special-teams playmakers. "It feels good to handle him the way we did. But I definitely wouldn't want to play him next week."
The Raiders answered Kiffin's challenge and turned one of the league's most electrifying players into a liability.
Hester returned 6 punts for just 14 yards and 2 kickoffs for only 34 yards. His longest return went for 19 yards.
"I did get frustrated a couple of times, but you just have to stay patient and know your opportunities are going to happen," Hester said.
Most teams facing the Bears choose to avoid putting the ball anywhere near Hester on punts and kickoffs.
But the Raiders' special teams did just the opposite.
Place-kicker Sebastian Janikowski and punter Shane Lechler put the ball into Hester's hands -- but they often kicked it to him on a bounce or into the corners, doing their parts to keep him neutralized.
"They had an unbelievable challenge," said Raiders running back Justin Fargas. "Hester is a great player. As a unit, our special teams, they were fired up and ready to step up to the challenge and they showed that and they went out there and got it done. You've got to take your hats off to them."
The Raiders got away with one when Hester was off to the races midway through the third quarter. After a 58-yard punt, he broke down the sideline for 64 yards to the Raiders' 30. But a holding penalty on Brendon Ayanbadejo negated the return.
"We got down there, we took shots on him," Cooper said. "I feel sorry for any team that doesn't prepare every day of the week for this man because this man is a game-breaker.
"We practiced very hard for him. We had Chris Carr, we had Tim Dwight out there running around at the same time while we were covering punts in practice. It just goes to show how hard we work in a week.
"I guarantee that if a team sleeps on Hester, he will run all over you in a heartbeat. Definitely a game-breaker. He's scary when he gets the ball."