Dallas Morning News: Callahan calls allegations he sabotaged Super Bowl 'ludicrous', 'defamatory'

[BeachSkin]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dal...defamatory.ece

Former Raider Tim Brown has accused former Raiders Coach Bill Callahan of sabotaging their team in order to lose the Super Bowl to Tampa Bay (apparently accusations he has been throwing around for a while but now is getting attention because the OC for the Raiders for the Super Bowl, Marc Trestman, just got hired as HC at Chicago), because he hated the Raiders and was friends with Jon Gruden.

His accusations (which he has backed off of) have been supported by statements by Jerry Rice and Jon Ritchie, but retorted by Bill Romanowski and Rich Gannon.

Callahan has put out a statement ripping into the comments and has called for an immediate retraction. The accusations are obviously ludicrous. There has been scuttlebutt of this for years, including players accusing Callahan of "sabotaging" the team in their post Super Bowl year where they only won 4 games. Callahan is also rumored to be a very difficult personality to play for. As for his hating the Raiders, you can probably count on one hand the number of coaches who actually enjoyed working under Al Davis (And I have to say, I cant seem to find ANY info that points out to any friction between Callahan and a boss that was paying him a million dollars a year).

But a coach throwing the biggest game of his life to spite his own team? Come on.

[Dan T.]

Apparently, Callahan has continued that pattern as the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. And I thought it was Tony Romo's fault.

Seriously, though, that's a pretty despicable accusation for Tim Brown to level at Callahan. Call him a bad coach for not following the game plan set up for the game. But accusing him of purposefully throwing a game? That's as low as you can go.

[Mr. Sinister]

The Raiders just weren't going to win that game. Gruden knew that team inside-out, and Tampa's D was playing at a legendary level.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

Yea, i cant think of any reason at all why a coach would want to do something like this.....

[Gamebreaker]

Jerry Rice agrees with Tim Brown. Not saying they're right, but it does seem weird that you decide to change the gameplan with no time to practice or get the offense on the same page. The is the Superbowl.

[BillyKilmer]

The Raiders being the Raiders... They play the victim card more then all the other teams in the NFL combined.

[justice98]

Jerry Rice agrees with Tim Brown. Not saying they're right, but it does seem weird that you decide to change the gameplan with no time to practice or get the offense on the same page. The is the Superbowl.

Yeah, I don't see how any coach worth his salt would think that was a good idea. That the plays and gameplan you spent 2 weeks on are going to be less effective than the plays and gameplan you spent zero time on.

But it's interesting that Callahan didn't explain why the gameplan changed, he just said the allegations of sabotage weren't true. Not that he's obligated to explain it, but if he'd put forth a good logical reason that'd probably go a long way.

[mboyd784]

I'm not saying these allegations have any merit....BUT....Brown and Rice are NFL legends with great reputations both on and off the field...AND...Bill Callahan has the reputation as a tempermental ******* who has burned nearly every bridge he's come across.

Just Sayin...

[LeesburgSkinFan]

1) Bill Callahan was never a good coach to begin with. It is not inconceivable that not only would he change the teams game plan 36 hours ahead of the Super Bowl, but that he would use Jon Grudens playbook in that game as well.

2) The offensive players all hated Callahan and his last minute decision to change the game plan before the Super Bowl and have an axe to grind. It was obviously an embarrassing loss for many of them (not Romo who has 4 Super Bowl rings), but this conspiracy theory offers a comforting reason for the loss, rather than their own personal failures on the field.

3) I think its common for embittered workers to somehow project management incompetence into delusions that management is deliberately "sabotaging" the company. As the old question goes, "Coach might not be trying to deliberately cause the team to lose, but if he was, how would he act differently?"

[Mr. Sinister]

I just don'r think any coach would do this unless they were mentally on the verge of suicide... seriously (or maybe their lives were being threatened). Any guy that wants a future as a head coach at any level, wouldn't do something like that.

[Dan T.]

Jerry Rice agrees with Tim Brown. Not saying they're right, but it does seem weird that you decide to change the gameplan with no time to practice or get the offense on the same page. The is the Superbowl.

- This was the Super Bowl where Raiders Pro Bowl center Barrett Robbins turned up incoherent just hours before game time after being missing most of the week and had to be inactive for the game. Center is usually the guy who calls offensive blocking assignments. That surely threw a monkey wrench into any game plan for running the ball.

-The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the top ranked defense in the NFL that year.

- Gruden knew the Raiders inside and out. The Tampa Bay defense knew what the Raiders were running as well as the Raiders did. They knew the Raiders' audibles.

- The Raiders had little luck running the ball early, and fell behind in the first half, forcing them to throw more than planned. They had a total of 19 yards rushing all day, on 11 attempts.

[Redskin4ever]

Nothing in here makes me believe there was intentional sabotage. But has anyone considered that maybe Al Davis played a roll in changing the game plan? The guy was notorious for wanting to throw the ball deep. If he gets wind of the game plan, he may have said that's not Raiders football.

[justice98]

- This was the Super Bowl where Raiders Pro Bowl center Barrett Robbins turned up incoherent just hours before game time after being missing most of the week and had to be inactive for the game. Center is usually the guy who calls offensive blocking assignments. That surely threw a monkey wrench into any game plan for running the ball.

-The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the top ranked defense in the NFL that year.

- Gruden knew the Raiders inside and out. The Tampa Bay defense knew what the Raiders were running as well as the Raiders did. They knew the Raiders' audibles.

- The Raiders had little luck running the ball early, and fell behind in the first half, forcing them to throw more than planned. They had a total of 19 yards rushing all day, on 11 attempts.

Much of this is true, but it was a 6-3 game halfway into the 2nd quarter.

The Raiders had the NFL's top ranked offense themselves that year, with the league MVP. Not saying the Tampa defense still wouldn't have won the game, that Raider offense was good enough to have put up a fight.

And about Gruden knowing the Raiders, while this is true, we'll never know how much that came into play considering they were running a gameplan they'd not spent a day of practice on. They essentially were flying by the seat of their pants.

[gortiz]

Jerry Rice agrees with Tim Brown. Not saying they're right, but it does seem weird that you decide to change the gameplan with no time to practice or get the offense on the same page. The is the Superbowl.

I mean ...when you look at it from this standpoint.

That is the definition of sabotage!

I just think his actions were so freaking damaging these guys are looking for answers and incompetency is just not working for them.

[abdcskins]

If Callahan hated the Raiders so much, why would he coach them? Doesn't make any sense. You don't agree to coach a team you hate.

Also, the Raiders lost that game 48-21. Clearly their offense wasn't the only problem. Should've changed their defensive game plan.