http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000129516/article/tim-brown-slams-callahan-for-raiders-super-bowl-loss Former Oakland Raiders wide receiver and Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Tim Brown blames ex-Raiders coach Bill Callahan for the team's embarrassing 48-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. Speaking on Sirius XM NFL Radio this past Saturday, Brown speculated that Callahan might have changed the team's game plan the Friday before the game because he was friends with Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden and "hated" the Raiders. (Gruden had coached the Raiders before taking the Bucs job the prior offseason.) "We get our game plan for victory on Monday, and the game plan says we're gonna run the ball," Brown said. "We averaged 340 (pounds) on the offensive line, they averaged 280 (on the defensive line). We're all happy with that, everybody is excited." But Brown said Callahan, now the offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys, called an audible the Friday before the game, switching from a run-heavy attack to a passing one. "We all called it sabotage ... because Callahan and Gruden were good friends," Brown said. "And Callahan had a big problem with the Raiders, you know, hated the Raiders. You know, only came because Gruden made him come. Literally walked off the field on us a couple of times during the season when he first got there, the first couple years. So really he had become someone who was part of the staff but we just didn't pay him any attention. Gruden leaves, he becomes the head coach. ... It's hard to say that the guy sabotaged the Super Bowl. You know, can you really say that? That can be my opinion, but I can't say for a fact that that's what his plan was, to sabotage the Super Bowl. ... That's hard to say, because you can't prove it." The contradiction in Brown's quote is self-evident, making him sound more like a disgruntled former player than a clear-headed analyst. In the interview, first reported by ProFootballTalk.com, Brown also appears to blame the sudden change in game plan for the Super Bowl-eve disappearance of Raiders center Barrett Robbins from San Diego. Robbins had bipolar disorder, and went missing the day before the game. He turned up Saturday night and admitted to wandering around Tijuana all day, but was left off the team's game-day roster.
of course Bill Callahan is to blame for that loss. whether he was trying to sabotage the team is irrelevant to it just being a dumb idea to change the game plan you have been working on two days before the game.
Sure Callahan did that. I mean, what coach would want a SB win on his resume? This is an absurd conspiracy theory. Was Brown wearing a tin foil hat when he made this claim? If Callahan was so unhappy,why wait until the SB to "sabotage" the season?
Jerry Rice has now backed up Tim Brown's comments. Did Bill Callahan sabotage our offensive line then?
This is a joke. What guy would ever sabotage his own career? Colin Cowherd said today that no guy would ever sabotage his shot at making 7 figures, no matter what -- and he's right.
This is a preposterous allegation on SO many levels. I'll give you just one: It is inconceivable to me that a coach would purposely squander his once in a lifetime opportunity to become a Super Bowl winning NFL head coach just because of his personal distaste for the organization he works for. Makes . . . NO . . . SENSE.
Yep, and if you heard Romonowski's interview on that same program, I thought he very articulately tore this absurd (and borderline insane) allegation to shreds.
There are 3 guys saying it but I don't buy it.. the key is he changed the gameplan after Barrett Robbins went looking for donkey shows. When you lose an OL the caliber of Robbins you probably adjust your gameplan.
This is absurd. Two HOF caliber receivers complaining about changing from a run game? Doesn't say much about what they thought of their own abilities I guess.
The gameplan was changed Friday, Robbins went missing Saturday. So Robbins going missing was not the key driver for the change. It's just a terrible coaching decision, not outright sabotage though. As someone else mentioned, why be successful all season just to sabotage in the super bowl? They could have sabotaged 2 weeks earlier when we played them.:beer:
Tampa got a huge early lead that Oakland wasn't going to run their way out of. The key destruction of the Raiders was the second TD drive by TB that was a 17 play drive aided by 3 defensive penalties on the Raiders. This game was a complete blowout and the Raiders D and O sucked balls.
Not that I these allegations hold any water, but the last person I would look to tear a borderline insane conspiracy theory to shreds is Romanowski. He's more than borderline insane. The guy is a fucking cuckoo bird.
To suggest that a career football coach, in his first year as Head Coach, would deliberately sabotage his team's Super Bowl chances is preposterous. Now, is it Callahan's fault that the Raiders lost that Super Bowl? Probably, though there were other factors. No question that changing the game plan two days before the Super Bowl is a bad decision. Probably brought about panic and overthinking on Callahan's part. Not changing the code at the line, when the Bucs are coached by a former Raiders HC who knows the code, is a terrible oversight. But this, and his subsequent years with the Raiders and at Nebraska, just leads to the conclusion that Callahan is a bad Head Coach who had the good fortune to land at a good team in 2002.
Thanks for clarifying. I was at work when I wrote it but when I got in the cfar I heard Rod Woodson on the radio and he said what you just did. Woodson also said he thought Brown and Rice were crazy for saying so. He said Robbins issues had nothing to do with the gameplan and that Robbins had issues all season.
