Silver and Black Report

The New York Jets continued to revamp their coaching staff by hiring Sanjay Lal to lead their wide receiving unit.

Lal spent the last three years with the Oakland Raiders. On Thursday, he impressed New York’s front office enough to land him the job today. He now joins Tony Sparano, who replaced Brian Schottenheimer at offensive coordinator, while former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley could be in the mix as New York’s passing-game coordinator.

With the Raiders, Lal helped develop their raw receiving corps, ultimately helping Darrius Heyward-Bey to career highs in receptions (64), yards (975) and touchdowns (4) in his third year, after posting a combined 35 catches for 490-yards and two scores in his first two seasons.

Jacoby Ford had a productive rookie year under Lal’s tutelage. The speedy target stated on his twitter account, ““Man ima miss Sanjay Lal. Great coach. Good luck on the east coast coach!!”

DHB and Louis Murphy started under Lal’s watch, the first time that a NFL team had a starting tandem at receiver with rookies since 2000.

Lal had a difficult job aiding the development of Oakland’s inexperienced unit – especially DHB, a highly scrutinized first-round selection. He also had often-injured Chaz Schilens and inconsistent draft selections such as Johnnie Lee Higgins.

Now he heads to New York to work with the enigmatic Santonio Holmes, who was problematic for the Jets at season’s end after being named a captain at the onset of the campaign and Plaxico Burress, who finished his first year with Gang Green after being incarcerated.

ANALYSIS:

Lal came in with Lane Kiffin’s staff as a quality control coach and departed after leaving his mark on the wide receiving unit. It wasn’t an easy task for Lal, who worked every day with DHB, one of the more scrutinized selections in recent memory. DHB evolved into a very productive target, and some of that credit has to be given to Lal. He always had a revolving door of young targets to work with, from Ford to Denarius Moore. He also had a few receivers that just never left their mark in the league and still haven’t; Nick Miller and Todd Watkins, to name a few. He’s earned his way to a very good job, as it appears that Rex Ryan is trying to build a super-staff together after failing to reach a Super Bowl once again.

Oakland’s new coach will bring in his own personnel men, and with Reggie McKenzie ready to empower whoever he hires, don’t expect too many holdovers if any on the Raider sideline.

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To everyone in the Raider Nation – enjoy a safe and prosperous Holiday Season with best wishes for the New Year. Since this is the season of giving, SBReport.net will hand out presents to a few Oakland Raiders:

Kevin Boss, TE

A few more plays in the weekly game plan: After back-to-back 500 yard-plus seasons with the New York Giants, the tight end, who inked a deal with $8 million in guarantees, has had his number of targets and touches go down dramatically in this wide-receiver friendly system that also have dangerous pass catchers out of the backfield.

Tyvon Branch, SS

Strong Pro Bowl consideration: Always known to be one of the more talented young strong safeties in the conference, Branch has put it all together in 2011.

Michael Bush, RB

A strong finish to the season: Darren McFadden’s injury showcased him to the league and now, he can go into the free-agent waters if he chooses to and land a nice deal. Rushers usually don’t get loads of money thrown at them, but he’s very young, does not have a lot of wear and tear and already knows how to share a backfield with another ball carrier. If Oakland does not place a tag on him, he’ll be a sought after player.

Bruce Campbell, OL

I’m sure he’ll love if Santa found a way to get him off the inactive list.

Jason Campbell, QB

A good home in 2012: Campbell was in and out of the line-up last year when Bruce Gradkowski was around. This year, the job was his and the team was rolling before his injury. Now, with Carson Palmer around and Terrelle Pryor looming, he may have to shop himself around in the off-seaosn. Campbell is a hard worker, very classy and a pros pro.

Aaron Curry, LB

More running backs and quarterbacks to hunt down: One of the better additions to this club, who looks to have found his niche in Silver & Black.

Jacoby Ford, WR/KR

Healthy set of legs: a quad injury, hamstring issues and a foot ailment have been some of things the second year talent had dealt with in 2011.

Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR

A bullhorn: DHB is not a diva and has worked hard to shed the image of being a one-trick pony. He’s become a more complete wide-receiver, but you’ll never here him say, “I told you so.”

T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR

Gift Cards: For him to give to Hue Jackson and Carson Palmer – as they are the main reasons he has a roster spot.

Sebastian Janikowski, PK

Another 10-more attempts from 63+ yards out: The only kicker in league history that is expected to nail those lengthy field goals. He deserves to stand alone atop the record book for longest field goal made.

Shane Lechler, P

A tire swing for his backyard: He should practice his accuracy and sell himself as a passer for his final few years. Lecler’s spiral is tight, but…

Rolando McClain, LB

A new P.R. person: I’m sure whoever had that job this season had nightmares after McClain displayed his pearly whites while being handled by officers.

Darren McFadden, RB

Healing Pills and Wolverine like armor: Oakland would surely love to have him for the final weekend and a possible playoff run. Questions about his fragility will always be asked, so some sort of mutant-like armor would be very useful for the rest of his career.

Carson Palmer, QB

An entire off-season worth of workouts with the team: He’ll get that this time around and then we’ll be able to access the trade a tad better in the coming years.

Richard Seymour, DT

Manny Pacquiao’s hand-speed: Next time he clobbers someone, maybe he’ll do it fast enough where no one will see it. Then, he can avoid being booted from a game.

Jared Veldheer, LT

Suntan lotion: He’ll be going to many Pro-Bowls in his career.

Trevor Scott, DE

A compass: So he can find his way back. Since his injury in 2010, we haven’t seen the same explosiveness or fire.

Hue Jackson, Coach

A penalty box: Maybe he can put his players in it if they keep on accumulating flag after flag like it’s going out of style.

John Fassel, Special Teams Coach

A pencil and a pad: No one draws up fakes or other plays on special teams like he has the last few years. One of the more underrated unit coaches in the league.

Sanjay Lal, Wide Receiver coach

Acknowledgment: DHB, Ford, and Moore… he’s worked with a lot of young targets and they are coming along nicely.

Tommy Kelly, DT

Podium: No other Raider provides better quotes.

The Raider Nation

A playoff berth: Boy, do you guys really deserve it.
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The Oakland Raiders are just days away from starting their 2010 training camp in Napa, California. SBReport.net will be there to cover all the action: with images, audio and video from the Raiders training facility. Here are glimpses of the Silver & Black’s OTAs and a sneak peak of what we will see more of in the summer:

Wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal challenging Johnnie Lee Higgins (#15) at the line of scrimmage

Linebacker David Nixon (#56) striking a pose…

Darrius Heyward-Bey (#85) snatching a pass.

Erik Pears (#72) will attempt to grab a starting spot along the offensive line.

Robert Gallery (#76) has become an anchor along the trenches.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

A report by ESPN states that the Oakland Raiders are asking permission to speak to Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback coach Hue Jackson.

The Raiders reportedly have received permission to talk to the 24-year coach for an unspecified position.

We can assume that Oakland is looking for as much support as possible for JaMarcus Russell. Jackson worked his first season as a quarterback’s coach in 2008 with rookie Joe Flacco.

Jackson has been the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons (2007) and the Washington Redskins (2003).

Under Jackson’s tutelage, Flacco became the first rookie in NFL history to win two playoff games under center. While with the Cincinnati Bengals (2004-2006), Jackson worked with receivers.

Chad Ochocinco (1,369) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (1,081) became the first duo at wide receiver to put up 1,000-yard seasons for the organization. Ochocinco had his best years under Jackson and Houshmandzadeh developed into one of the better pass catchers in the AFC.

Sanjay Lal has not had success working with some of the young wide-outs in Oakland. Could this be an addition to boost their development? Is to help out Russell? Heck, it’s Raider-Land, so for all we know, he may be interviewing for a head coaching spot.

No announcement has been made about Tom Cable’s status, so its unlikely talks with Jackson will help the Raiders comply with the Rooney Rule.

All we know at this point is, Jackson has been contacted and with his expertise, the Raiders could surely have him dabble in many of the non-functional spots on this club.

Here is a link to Jackson’s profile on the official Baltimore Ravens web site:

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/People/Coaches/Hue_Jackson.aspx