Tim Brown earned the nickname "Mr. Raider," for being the best player on the Oakland Raiders for nearly his entire career. It wasn’t until the end of his career that the Raiders were any good after Jon Gruden took over as the head coach. Oakland would eventually make a trip to the Super Bowl under Bill Callahan at the end of the 2002 season.
Brown is one of the finalists to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and suggested in an interview Saturday with SiriusXM radio (via NFL.com) that Callahan sabotaged the Raiders by changing the game plan on the Friday before the Super Bowl XXXVII. Brown openly called it a “conspiracy theory” when he shared the story in front of a group of fans last September.
Although Brown is entitled to his opinion, he’s actually sabotaging his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame by making these comments on a national radio show in the few weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. The only thing Brown’s comments accomplish is to make clear of the fact that the Raiders had to overcome dysfunction to get to Super Bowl XXXVII.
Rich Gannon responded to Brown’s comments on SiriusXM radio (via soundcloud.com) by acknowledging that the Raiders had discussions about running the ball early in the week before the game, but that they weren’t really a running team and decided to do what they did best. Gannon said that the entire organization was responsible for losing the game and Callahan clearly wanted to win.
Fullback Jon Ritchie responded by text messaging Chris Mortensen of ESPN:
Former Raiders FB Jon Ritchie texts: "I've said it for years. What we practiced heavily during the week is not what we ran in (SB XXXVII)"
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) January 22, 2013 Ritchie (con'd): "Could have been due to Barrett (Robbins) absence. It was never explained to me." Jon mentioned he's said it several...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
