Brian Murphy doesn't point the finger in any one direction for what happened with the Vikings' special teams last season.
Murphy, promoted to special-teams coach Tuesday, is in charge of turning around a special-teams unit that set an NFL record by allowing seven touchdowns last season.
"To place blame in one spot I think would be unfair,"
said Murphy, who was an assistant under former special-teams coach Paul Ferraro since 2006. "We had some shortcomings that can be fixed. It's my responsibility now to make sure those things are corrected, and that begins here in the offseason."
Murphy said he anticipates hiring an assistant special-teams coach to fill the job he held until his promotion. He already has contacted some candidates to gauge interest but didn't reveal names.
"I think we've got a solid group of core players,"
Murphy said. "They're good to be around. They want to be good. In order to get better as a team, I think we've got to come around on our end (on special teams). I think those guys are willing to do that."
Ferraro left last month to coach linebackers for the St. Louis Rams.
— Rick Alonzo
Packers firm up staff: Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy has finalized his coaching staff changes, formally naming eight coaches to new positions. Additions include outside linebackers coach Kevin Greene, defensive line coach Mike Trgovac, secondary/safeties coach Darren Perry, strength and conditioning coordinator Dave Redding,offensive quality control John Rushing and coaching administrator Chad Morton.
Scott McCurley has been promoted to defensive quality control assistant, and Joe Whitt Jr. has been promoted to secondary/cornerbacks coach.
Final rating: No. 1: Upon further review, Nielsen Media Research now says that the Arizona-Pittsburgh Super Bowl game was the most-watched in history.
Nielsen said 98.7 million people, on average, were watching Pittsburgh's exciting 27-23 victory Sunday night. That beats the 97.5 million who watched the 2008 game, which held the record for most popular Super Bowl.
Briefly: Oakland retained head coach Tom Cable, officially removing the interim designation from his title more than five weeks after the Raiders' season ended. Cable went 4-8 after replacing Lane Kiffin.
# Brian Schottenheimer be-lieves Brett Favre still has plenty left in that rocket right arm.
"I would welcome the opportunity to coach Brett again,"
the New York Jets' offensive coordinator said.
