Ex Raiders Coach Bill Callahan Responds to Tim Brown’s Allegations

We’ve heard just about every type of story over the years In the two weeks between the NFL season’s conference championships and the Super Bowl, but this was a first.  Former Oakland Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown said on SiriusXM’s  NFL Radio that coach Bill Callahan “sabotaged” the team in Super Bowl XXXVII 10 years ago, causing the Raiders to lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48-21.  Brown was essentially saying that Callahan threw the game.

Brown said that while he couldn’t prove it, he pointed to the fact that Callahan changed the game plan from a run oriented offense to a pass oriented one less than 36 hours before game time.  Why in the world would he “sabotage” his team in the Super Bowl?  Brown says it was because Callahan and then Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden were good friends and that Callahan “hated the Raiders”.  To add fuel to the fire, another receiver from that team, Jerry Rice, backed up Brown and seconded the accusation.

These ex players aren’t your run of the mill malcontents.  Rice is in the Hall of Fame, and Brown is likely to make it there himself someday.  Both were nearing the end of their careers at the time.  The Raiders trailed by 17 points early and were forced to pass more anyway.  Quarterback Rich Gannon threw five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.    Callahan was indeed friends with Gruden, but there is another factor here:  Gruden was in his first year of coaching Tampa Bay after being the Raiders head coach for four years.  Gruden knew most of the personnel on the Raiders and could adjust his game plan accordingly.  Plus it’s hard to win when three interceptions turn into touchdowns.

Callahan apparently did not get along with at least some of his players, and a last minute change to a game amounts to a poor coaching decision in light of the result.  But to accuse a coach of throwing a game because he lost some of the locker room, ignores the fact that the ultimate goal and dream of anyone who plays or coaches in the NFL is to win the Super Bowl.  If the game was thrown for any reason, those responsible would be banished from the sport for life, as the 1919 Chicago White Sox players who threw the World Series found out.  With no evidence, this is just over top.

Callahan, now an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, responded by telling a Dallas Radios station:   “I am shocked, saddened and outraged by Tim Brown’s allegations and Jerry Rice’s support of those allegations. To leave no doubt, I categorically and unequivocally deny the sum and substance of their allegation. To suggest otherwise, especially at this time when it involves the Super Bowl, is ludicrous and defamatory.”  Brown and Rice may want to just let this go before lawyers get involved.