Ex-Raider Tim Brown says his coach, Bill Callahan, sabotaged Super Bowl
Oakland Raiders head coach Bill Callahan speaks at a news conference before Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego. Credit: AP, 2003
Former Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown suggested in two interviews Tuesday that then-head coach Bill Callahan sabotaged the team's chances in their Super Bowl XXXVII matchup against the Buccaneers in January 2003. As if that wasn't enough, former teammate Jerry Rice, the Hall of Fame receiver, agreed with him.
"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 . . . 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."
Asked about Brown's remarks at the Senior Bowl practice Tuesday in Mobile, Ala., Callahan declined to comment. Later in the day, he released a statement.
“While I fully understand a competitive professional football player’s disappointment when a game’s outcome doesn’t go his team’s way, I am shocked, saddened and outraged by Tim Brown’s allegations and Jerry Rice’s support of those allegations made through various media outlets over the last 24 hours,” Callahan said in a statement. “To leave no doubt, I
categorically and unequivocally deny the sum and substance of their allegations.”
Rice, on ESPN, agreed with Brown: "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.' "With Reuters
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