Jerry Rice and Tim Brown Claim Bill Callahan Threw Super Bowl XXXVII

I really wish sometimes that controversy didn't sell so well. I say only sometimes because as a blogger I need some material for my site, but it would be nice to think that maybe we could just have news that is news.

Instead it almost seems as if the media is turning into an avenue for celebrities/players past and present can say whatever they want to no matter how inflammatory and ridiculous.


Take the recent semi-scandal that former Oakland Raiders great Tim Brown has caused. The coming Super Bowl will mark ten years since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers destroyed the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. Apparently that anniversary has given some players, like Brown, cause for reflection.

Brown is now trying to claim that the head coach at the time, Bill Callahan (who is now the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys), threw the game because he hated the Raiders and wanted to do his old boss Jon Gruden, head coach of the Buccaneers, a favor.

To make the whole mess even more disturbing is that another of the greatest players of all time, wide receiver Jerry Rice is backing him up.

Now of course there are several players that have since spoken out against Brown and Rice as has Callahan.   Brown even admitted that there is no proof that Callahan threw the game, and just offers the change in game plan from run heavy to more of a pass oriented attack.

This is where someone should have stopped Tim before he got started. The Raiders had the best passing attack in the NFL that year--of which he and Jerry Rice were a major part of. Their running game was a little more pedestrian (No. 18). Tampa Bay allowed less than 100 yards a game on the ground that season in spite of their small size up front (something Brown uses as evidence Callahan threw the game).

On paper the Buccaneers matched up very well with the Raiders offense. They had the No. 1 defense in the league including the top pass defense and the No. 6 unit against the run. No matter what the Raiders did it was going to be difficult to move the ball.

Had he done a quick search on the internet Brown might have found another reason why the Bucs had their number so easily that day. Gruden had coached the Raiders the year before with Callahan as his offensive coordinator. When he left the team did not change the playbook at all. So when the Bucs were lining up against the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII they probably knew what the Raiders were going to do before the Raiders did.

It was stupidity that cost you guys the Super Bowl that year Tim; that and the Tampa-2 defense.



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