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How do you think the Patriots won three Superbowls?

For the love of god people, that team gave up 40+ points it doesn’t matter what the offense did, defense is what got crushed.
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The Bucs scored at least two defensive touchdowns (just going off blind memory, may have been three). That was the difference in the game, moron.

Think Pete Rose was the only athlete who liked to gamble? What if Callahan had a ton of money riding on the game? Wouldn’t leaving the audibles unchanged, flip-flopping on the game plan, and hoping to set off your volatile center be great ways to influence the score – all without creating a paper trail? To channel Richard Milhouse Nixon: “I am not a crook. I am just a lousy head coach, with stupid players.”

Like conspiracy theories? Let’s take it one step further. What if Callahan had p*ssed off some really important, shady characters, and was told that if he didn’t guarantee a Raider loss, his wife and family would be killed?

REALLY like conspiracy theories? What if it was Al Davis who wanted / needed the game thrown? (Come to think of it, this whack-job theory would explain a lot about Al Davis, wouldn’t it?)

Just sayin. Maybe there is truth to Brown’s and Rice’s suspicions. Just because we can’t imagine Callahan fawning at Gruden’s feet, doesn’t mean there couldn’t be other explanations.

(Opening bag of popcorn….)

1. I watched this super bowl and I remember the sideline camera catching Jerry Porter saying very loudly early in the game (when it was still in contention) that he wanted to ‘see what their guts were like. Let’s RUN the ball’.

2. I also remember the sideline camera on the Bucs side catching their defenders saying ‘They’re doing exactly what coach said they were going to do’.

3. The 2002 Raiders weren’t THAT pass happy in the regular season. Their in season run/pass play balance was 619 passes to 414 runs. They scored 26 TDs in the air and 21 on the ground. That’s no where near what happened in the Super Bowl

4. Play balance in the super bowl for the Raiders was 44 passes to 11 runs. That is pure lunacy. Any coach worth 2 cents would know you cant win a game that way.

5. In the first half of the game, the Raiders trailed 20-3 and were getting the ball back at half time. Their play balance the first half? 8 Runs (1 by Gannon and two to run the clock to half time, and two by the FULL BACK) to 21 pass attempts/sacks.

6. No Charlie Garner?? The guy had almost 1000 yards rushing AND receiving in the same year. Averaged 5 plus yards per carry and 10 plus yards per reception.. and yet he got 7 carries (again, two to end the first half) the whole game. Makes no sense, especially when the game was still in contention at the half. He was targeted only 3 times in the first half for plays of 8, 6, and 8 yards.

7. The best way to beat a Cover 2 defense is to run right at it. The worst way to beat a cover to defense is to keep passing the ball when the pass rush is effective. Is there anyone that doesn’t know this? Didn’t Callahan?

8. Gannon had a whopping 7 completions and 2 INTs in the first half. Was that game plan working so well that it didn’t have to be adjusted in the Super Bowl?

9. To have lost this Super Bowl this way with hall of fame talent on the field, you have to wonder is Bill Callahan the worst Super Bowl coach EVER, or was something else afoot? Given the relationship between coaches and the hard evidence, its hard to call it completely out of the question.

In 2002, they let Favre throw versus Tampa and he threw 4 picks and got Chad Clifton killed, taking a loss.

In 2003, they cut Favre’s attempts by 1/3rd and made him play conservative. The Packers ran for almost 200 yards (passed for less than 100) and won the game.

He wouldn’t. It happened.

Callahan needs to speak and so does the rest of the coaching staff from that SB team, which I believe includes Jim Harbaugh.

Also, if I remember correctly, didn’t Callahan pull Rice from a game at one point and wouldn’t put him back in while he didn’t yet have a catch in that game, snapping Rice’s consecutive games with a catch streak? I don’t think Rice was very happy about it either.

Every team he’s been associated with has ended in disaster. He is a disaster.

And the way other Raider players are treating it, hell the way some fans that aren’t fans of either teams are that remember the game. It looks like this has a lot of truth to it.

Florio just doesn’t want to admit it, especially with Barret but we’ll only know 100% through Barret’s own words. I’m sure he can phone call in a statement, at least mail one.

1. It’s not possible to “throw the ball over 60 times” when you only run 55 TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS.

2. Throwing the ball often in the AFC Championship game vs Tennessee (41 passes, 18 runs) made a lot of sense. The Titans ranked #25 vs the pass with 6.7 ypa, 27 TDs, 18 INTs.
Throwing the ball MORE in the Super Bowl vs Tampa Bay (44 passes, 11 runs) was in inconceivably stupid. The Bucs ranked #1 vs the pass with 5.5 ypa, 10 TDs, 31 INTs.

3. While the Raiders’ identity was a passing team, in the regular season they still ran the ball 40% of the time despite often playing against teams helpless to stop their passing attack. Against the Bucs they only ran the ball 20% of the time despite facing an elite pass defense, arguably the best pass defense of any team in a decade.

Kudos for reporting Rice’s comment’s, but the author’s conclusions are terrible. The author is wrong to suggest that the Raiders passed as often throughout the season as they did in the Super Bowl. And the author is especially wrong to suggest that it made any sense to pass as often in the Super Bowl as they did in the regular season, let alone as much as they ACTUALLY did in the Super Bowl.

P.S. @fuzzebear, Brown has been privately saying this stuff for many years. Richie’s take about the late gameplan switch has been public for years as well. Why Brown chose now to make it public, I don’t know, maybe after 10 years he just had enough of hearing people comment on the game without knowing the real story.

Can’t fix stupid.

Rich Gannon and a few other players do not side with Rice and Brown. They interpreted what went on diffrently.

There’s no right or wrong. Just opinions with no proof of any sabotage.