Tim Brown stirred up some controversy when he said that his former Oakland Raiders head coach Bill Callahan sabotaged the Super Bowl 10 years ago. While some in the media and around the league were skeptical of the claims, Brown got some support from one the NFL's greatest players.
Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice said on ESPN's "NFL Live" on Tuesday that the game plan was changed the way Brown described it and he thought it was "unusual." Rice went on to say that he trusts Brown because he was with the team for an extended period of time and understood the "pulse" of the locker room.
"For some reason - and I don't know why - Bill Callahan did not like me," Rice said. "In a way, maybe because he didn't like the Raiders, he decided, 'Maybe we should sabotage this a little bit and let Jon Gruden go out and win this one.'"
Rice is a Hall of Fame player who has an opinion that is respected around the NFL. His support of Brown is noteworthy in the sense that he would not make those comments if he didn't trust what Brown said.
"Yeah, I know exactly what I'm saying," Rice said.
Rice agreed with some of Brown's comments about center Barret Robbins, who disappeared before the Super Bowl. According to Brown, the reason Robbins may have disappeared was due to the change by Callahan. Following Callahan's announcement of the change of game plan, Brown directly quoted Robbins as saying: "Do not do this to me.... I don't have to make my calls, get my calls ready..we can't get this done."
"With Barrett, he was frustrated, like, 'You cannot do this to us at the last second.' Maybe that's why he decided to not show up," Rice said.
Brown first made his comments on Sirius XM NFL Radio this past Saturday, saying that that ex-Raiders coach Bill Callahan was the main reason why the team lost 48-21 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII.
During the interview he described that Callahan may have changed the team's game plan on Friday night because he was close with Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden and "hated" the Raiders. Gruden was formerly the coach of the Raiders the previous season before leaving for the Tampa Bay job, where he became the youngest coach to win the Super Bowl.
"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."
Throughout the day, other Oakland Raider players refuted his claims, including quarterback Rich Gannon and linebacker Bill Romanowski, who called Brown "delusional."
Brown said Callahan, now the offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys, decided to change the plans at the last minute, 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."
Running back Zack Crockett spoke on ESPN Radio this morning with Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg and said that the game plan changed due to Robbins' disappearance and that many of the calls were simplified.
Another player who Raiders offensive player who didn't want to be named, told ESPN that he did not agree 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.
Former NFL head coach and ESPN analyst Eric Mangini supported Callahan:
"There is no possible way that Bill Callahan would ever sabotage the Super Bowl or any other game as a head coach, as an assistant coach, as anybody affiliated with the team," Mangini said. "That's not who he is. When I first saw this article, I thought, 'This is ridiculous,' and the only thing that would be more ridiculous is if somebody actually believed it."
The Raiders were blown out by the Buccaneers and were down 20-3 after the first half. The team attempted 44 passes and 11 runs plays in the game while getting pushed around on the offensive line, allowing five sacks. In the game, Brown only made one reception for nine yards.
After making it to the Super Bowl, the Raiders went 4-12 in 2003, which resulted in rge firing of Callahan. The Raiders have not made the playoffs since getting to the Super Bowl and went just 4-12 in 2012 and finished third in the AFC West.
Rice is considered to be the greatest player of all-time by many in football and made 1,549 career receptions for an NFL-record 208 touchdowns with 22,895 yards, HE won three Super Bowls and was Offensive Player of the Year twice.
