1. #1
    Killer_Demo
    209 Street-Tough
    Killer_Demo's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 06-15-08
    Posts: 8,409
    Betpoints: 4201

    Raiders sabotaged in SB XXXVII says Tim Brown

    From ESPN.com

    According to receiver Tim Brown, Jon Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers thrashed the Raiders 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII because Oakland was "sabotaged" by Bill Callahan, the team's head coach at the time, who changed the game plan at the last minute.
    Brown's comments to SiriusXM NFL Radio on Saturday were earlier reported by ProFootballTalk.com, which was provided audio of his remarks.
    The Ben & Skin Show


    Tim Brown joins the Ben & Skin Show to talk about his recent comments about current Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Bill Callahan and the Oakland Raiders' loss in Super Bowl XXXVII.
    More Podcasts »


    Brown said that when the Raiders got the game plan on the Monday before the Super Bowl, it was a run-heavy attack taking advantage of Oakland's size advantage on the offensive line. However, Brown said Callahan scrapped the plan on Friday to the shock of the team.
    "We all called it sabotage ... because Callahan and Gruden were good friends. 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."
    Gruden had been the head coach of the Raiders from 1998-2001, and Callahan was his offensive coordinator. When Gruden moved on to Tampa for the 2002 season, Callahan was made head coach, and the two wound up in the Super Bowl against each other.
    Brown tried to backtrack some from the word "sabotage" Tuesday in an interview with "The Ben and Skin Show" on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM but still implied the facts of the situation leave many questions about Callahan's loyalty at the time to the Raiders.
    "I don't think he would have sabotaged the Super Bowl but ... this is the problem we have, because of his relationship with Gruden, because of his disdain for the Raider organization, that's what makes people get to that conclusion," Brown said Tuesday.
    Brown said "sabotage" was the word that was thrown around the Raiders' locker room.
    This isn't the first time Brown has made these accusations against Callahan. The receiver also made these claims four years ago on the morning of the Super Bowl.
    "I've been talking about this for 10 years," Brown said in his interview with ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM.
    Brown stressed that he was expressing his opinion and had no proof that Callahan intentionally doomed his own team.
    "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," Brown said. "He hated the Raiders so much that he would sabotage the Super Bowl so his friend can win the Super Bowl. That's hard to say, because you can't prove it.
    "But the facts are what they are, that less than 36 hours before the game we changed our game plan. And we go into that game absolutely knowing that we have no shot. That the only shot we had if Tampa Bay didn't show up," he said.
    Brown said center Barret Robbins, who disappeared from the team in the days before the game and did not play, begged Callahan not to change the game plan.
    Williamson on Brown's Comments

    Tim Brown's accusations against Bill Callahan are powerful but there won't be any consequences. The Buccaneers will always be the winner of the game and the Raiders will always be the loser, Bill Williamson writes. Blog


    "Barret Robbins begged Coach Callahan, 'Do not do this to me. I don't have time to make my calls, to get my calls ready. You can't do this to me on Friday. We haven't practiced full speed, we can't get this done,'" Brown said.
    Brown wouldn't correlate Robbins' absence from the team with Callahan's decision, however.
    "I'm not saying one had anything to do with the other. All I'm saying is those are the facts of what happened Super Bowl week. So our ire wasn't towards Barret Robbins, it was towards Bill Callahan. Because we feel as if he wouldn't have did what he did, then Barret wouldn't have done what he did," Brown said.
    Brown said "everybody knew Barret was unstable anyway" but the team couldn't fathom Callahan would change plans at the last minute.
    "So to put him in that situation -- not that he was putting him in that situation -- but for that decision to be made without consulting the players the Friday before the Super Bowl? I played 27 years of football. The coaches never changed the game plan the Friday before the game.
    "I'm not trying to point fingers at anybody here, all I'm saying is those are the facts of what happened. So people look at Barret and they say all these things, but every player in that locker room will tell you, 'You'd better talk to Bill Callahan.' Because if not for Coach Callahan, I don't think we're in that situation," he said.
    Brown said in his interview with ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM that he made his comments, not to disparage Callahan, but to defend Robbins.
    Jon Ritchie, the starting fullback for the Raiders in that game and a former ESPN NFL analyst told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen in a text that he agrees with Brown's comments.
    “ Barret Robbins begged Coach Callahan, 'Do not do this to me. I don't have time to make my calls, to get my calls ready. You can't do this to me on Friday. We haven't practiced full speed, we can't get this done.'
    ” <cite>-- Tim Brown, in comments on SiriusXM NFL Radio</cite>
    "I've said it for years. What we practiced heavily during the week is not what we ran in that game. Could have been due to Barrett's absence. It was never explained to me. I believe I said it on the record every year we talked about the Super Bowl (when he was with ESPN for four years). I always thought it would get sensational like this," Ritchie wrote in the text.
    However, another former Raiders offensive player who didn't want to be named, disagreed with Brown.
    "No, he (Tim) isn't right. While there was always dysfunction, that didn't happen. If anything Bill wanted to kick Jon's a--. Nobody would do that. Brutal. We got out-played and out-coached. Period," the former player wrote in the text to ESPN.
    Running back Zack Crockett, who also was on that Raiders team and is now a scout for the team, said he thought Callahan changed the game plan only because of Robbins' disappearance.
    "He may have known something we didn't know," Crockett told ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" of Brown.
    Crockett said "everybody was in shock" when Robbins left the team because he made all the offensive calls. He agrees with Brown that "with the offensive line we had, it was going to be a downhill game" if the original game plan was used.
    Bill Romanowski, a linebacker on that Raiders team, blasted Brown for his comments.
    "What is he trying to do? He absolutely couldn't be further from the truth. So you're saying that a man has a chance to cement himself in history with winning a Super Bowl and he wants to hand it over to his buddy? Give me a break, OK? It couldn't be further from the truth. He doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm blown away that something like that would come out of an intelligent man's mouth," he said in an interview Tuesday with 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia.
    Former Raiders running back Charlie Garner, however, didn't dismiss Brown's remarks.
    "There may be something to what Mr. Brown has been saying. I really don't know the validity of which (Callahan) despised the Raiders but I also know that he didn't want to be there, too," he said in an interview with 97.5 The Fanatic. "What we were doing in the game we never practiced."
    Oakland rushed the ball only 11 times in the Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers, and two of those attempts were by quarterback Rich Gannon. Gannon attempted 44 passes in the loss.
    Gannon on Tuesday defended Callahan.
    "In terms of Bill Callahan, let me just say this: He was a good football coach, he was a good man," Gannon said Tuesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio. "We all wanted to win."
    Gannon said he believes the fact that the Raiders didn't change the verbiage on offensive calls that Gruden installed for the team big factor in Oakland's loss.
    "So much of our verbiage and terminology was a carryover from what Jon Gruden had installed in terms of our run checks, and so we were calling certain plays and guys like Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks were calling out the runs. So it kind of took us out of our no-huddle plan at the line of scrimmage," Gannon said in the interview.
    Robbins was diagnosed as bipolar after that incident but regained his spot in the starting lineup the next season after undergoing treatment at an alcohol rehabilitation center. However, the Raiders released Robbins in 2004 after he tested positive for steroids.
    In addition to stays in alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs, Robbins has had several run-ins with law enforcement since the 2004 season.
    Brown's comments about Callahan came just days after he questioned the Bears' hiring of coach Marc Trestman, who was the Raiders' offensive coordinator when Brown was on the team.
    "I don't want to say it was a joke, but I just never saw Trestman as being a head coach," Brown said last week on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago.
    Brown had posted nine straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons with the Raiders entering 2002, the year Trestman took over as the team's offensive coordinator. In that 2002 season, Jerry Rice emerged as the team's leading receiver and Brown finished with 930 yards.
    "The year he took over as offensive coordinator is also the year my reign with the Raiders ended because he made Jerry the No. 1 receiver instead of myself," Brown said. "The year before I made the Pro Bowl and caught [91 passes for 1,165 yards] ... and the year afterwards, the year he takes over, I think I came like 50 yards from catching 1,000 yards in 10 or 11 straight seasons.
    "Hey, look, I'm not a selfish player, but come on, if I put the work in, make this happen for me. We had some interesting words about that part of it."
    Brown is one of 15 modern-era Hall of Fame finalists for the class of 2013. The Hall's 46-member selection committee will meet in New Orleans on Feb. 2 to make its selections.
    Callahan is currently the Cowboys' offensive line coach.

  2. #2
    thes0vereign
    Don't bet with your heart.
    thes0vereign's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 02-13-12
    Posts: 712
    Betpoints: 57

    Quote Originally Posted by Killer_Demo View Post
    Brown had posted nine straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons with the Raiders entering 2002, the year Trestman took over as the team's offensive coordinator. In that 2002 season, Jerry Rice emerged as the team's leading receiver and Brown finished with 930 yards.
    "The year he took over as offensive coordinator is also the year my reign with the Raiders ended because he made Jerry the No. 1 receiver instead of myself," Brown said. "The year before I made the Pro Bowl and caught [91 passes for 1,165 yards] ... and the year afterwards, the year he takes over, I think I came like 50 yards from catching 1,000 yards in 10 or 11 straight seasons.
    "Hey, look, I'm not a selfish player, but come on, if I put the work in, make this happen for me. We had some interesting words about that part of it."
    He doesn't sound selfish at all.

  3. #3
    Ghenghis Kahn
    Best Baller on SBR
    Ghenghis Kahn's Avatar SBR PRO
    Join Date: 01-02-12
    Posts: 19,735
    Betpoints: 2261

    he should be more pissed about the tuck rule.

    when peyton does it, it's ruled a fumble.

    when brady does it, it's ruled an incomplete pass.

    also let's just assume the offense was rigged, how do you explain 48 points by tampa?

  4. #4
    frostno98
    frostno98's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 09-11-07
    Posts: 9,770
    Betpoints: 648

    Geez, it took Tim Brown 10 years to get this outRaiders lost that Superbowl because their roster were filled with a bunch of old dudes that were well over 35 years old.


    Tim Brown f..ked up when he decided to return to the Raiders instead of going to Broncos in 1994 to John Elway's number 1 target. That's why he doesn't have a Superbowl ring.

  5. #5
    brainfreeze0
    brainfreeze0's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 03-19-12
    Posts: 2,146
    Betpoints: 962

    Pfft thats bs. TB wasn't even worried about the Raiders. It was getting past Philly to win the NFC that was the part they were worried about at the time. Raiders never stood a chance that year. TB's D was just too good that year. Scoring points on both the D and O made them a force to be reckoned with. What a sore loser and still after 10 yrs.

  6. #6
    HauntingTheHoly
    HauntingTheHoly's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 04-28-10
    Posts: 1,397
    Betpoints: 483

    Quote Originally Posted by brainfreeze0 View Post
    Pfft thats bs. TB wasn't even worried about the Raiders. It was getting past Philly to win the NFC that was the part they were worried about at the time. Raiders never stood a chance that year. TB's D was just too good that year. Scoring points on both the D and O made them a force to be reckoned with. What a sore loser and still after 10 yrs.
    Raiders were favored to win. I live in Tampa and opinion was 60/40 in saying "we" could win it, the rest of the country was all over the Raiders.

  7. #7
    rm18
    Update your status
    rm18's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 09-20-05
    Posts: 22,291
    Betpoints: 207814

    Quote Originally Posted by Ghenghis Kahn View Post
    he should be more pissed about the tuck rule.

    when peyton does it, it's ruled a fumble.

    when brady does it, it's ruled an incomplete pass.


    also let's just assume the offense was rigged, how do you explain 48 points by tampa?
    didnt they have 3 pick 6's or maybe just 2?

  8. #8
    brainfreeze0
    brainfreeze0's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 03-19-12
    Posts: 2,146
    Betpoints: 962

    Quote Originally Posted by HauntingTheHoly View Post
    Raiders were favored to win. I live in Tampa and opinion was 60/40 in saying "we" could win it, the rest of the country was all over the Raiders.
    I was actually head to head against Philly fans the entire season. I was on TB from before preseason when no one was even talking about them. As it got down to Philly game I was worried about them playing in Philly cuz it was cold as hell there. Slow game to start but after a long ass pass to I forgot who TB momentum kicked in and they over ran Philly. I wasn't worried about Raiders. Of course my Philly friends wanted Oakland to win but in the end John Gruden and TB took it home. TB's always been my favorite team so I was hyped that year.

  9. #9
    Jonah
    Jonah's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 10-21-09
    Posts: 4,042

    Quote Originally Posted by Ghenghis Kahn View Post
    he should be more pissed about the tuck rule.

    when peyton does it, it's ruled a fumble.

    when brady does it, it's ruled an incomplete pass.

    also let's just assume the offense was rigged, how do you explain 48 points by tampa?
    5 interceptions, I think.

    All I want to know from the experts on this subject is - Is that extremely abnormal to change game plan like that so soon to game day?

    If it happens at least occasionally - how hard is that to deal with?

  10. #10
    R.P. McMurphy
    Update your status
    R.P. McMurphy's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 06-15-12
    Posts: 9,654
    Betpoints: 175

    Those 5 picks were likely assisted by the defense knowing where we were going with the football all game. Lets face it the key to that whole thing is Gruden and Davis fukked up by letting him go or we would have won it that season period! We were the fave in that game, the best team all season just killing good squads and would have beat anyone on the field that day who was not being led by our former coach. Been saying it for years line up those same teams and give us Gruden and them Dungy and we will see who comes out on top. But whats done is done no going back!

  11. #11
    KKoz9
    KKoz9's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 09-07-06
    Posts: 1,982
    Betpoints: 114

    Tim Brown is an absolute idiot

  12. #12
    k13
    k13's Avatar Become A Pro!
    Join Date: 07-16-10
    Posts: 17,527
    Betpoints: 1710

    Quote Originally Posted by brainfreeze0 View Post
    Pfft thats bs. TB wasn't even worried about the Raiders. It was getting past Philly to win the NFC that was the part they were worried about at the time. Raiders never stood a chance that year. TB's D was just too good that year. Scoring points on both the D and O made them a force to be reckoned with. What a sore loser and still after 10 yrs.
    Never stood a chance but were somehow 4 point favorites.

Top