If I were Callahan, I’d have forgotten about the lawyer-written statement and said simply, “OK, Little Timmy. Put up or shut up. Produce the evidence or retract. Time to stop acting like some entitled child; be a MAN.”

I am actually in agreement with you. My comment was directed at those who point out Callahan’s ineptitude as strengthening Brown’s argument.

“Some of you don’t get it. Brown and Rice aren’t saying that he is a bad head coach. That’s a fact. He got fired for that at the Raiders and at Nebraska. They are saying that he lost the Super Bowl ON PURPOSE. Being a bad coach isn’t a scandal. Throwing a professional football game, especially the Super Bowl is a HUGE scandal.”

The problem with Brown’s story is that all logic is on Callahan’s side. There simply isn’t any logical reason for him to throw a Super Bowl. The only reason that comes even close to being logical is money, but that doesn’t make much sense when you’re talking about an NFL coach (who was compensated handsomely). If he had a gambling problem or deep financial debt, we would have heard about it by now and his career would probably be in ruins. Art Schlichter, for example. None of the evidence points to anything other than Callahan being a bad coach.

It’s certainly possible that he hated the team or the players enough to throw the Super Bowl, but that doesn’t mean it’s logical. I don’t see the motivation here, unless Gruden and him actually arranged something prior. Changing up the gameplan at the last minute speaks more to ineptitude than premeditation, I’d wager.

Al did not chanhe the game-plan…

Bill Callahan, aka “The Dumbest Coach in Super Bowl History” did.

As a guy above pointed out, the Raiders called 3 legit running plays in the 1st half, the other 5 were 1 by Gannon, 2 to end the half and 2 to the FB….where were Wheatly and Garner?.

Anyone who watched the game saw what happened. Anyone who has paid attention after has seen the clips of Bucs defensive players claiming they knew what was coming. Bill didn’t do enough to tweak the offense/cadence/call at line/ whatever to make it challenging for Gruden.

Then the added stress to an already stressful situation sent your mently unstable center over the edge.

It was poorly managed from the start and the results speak to that. That much is certain, that much is fact.

And he is still a delta bravo

I heard him trash Trestman, and now he’s trashing Callahan… If I didn’t know better if anyone is holding a grudge it’s Tim Brown.

Who cares if he changed the plans. Their center having a breakdown could have certainly factored into it, as could have Al Davis.

It’s no different than if your starting QB was declared out, and the backup not having the skills to execute the same offense as the starter.

The real problem is Tim Brown having an issue ten years later. If they changed the gameplan and won, Brown probably wouldn’t have said a damn thing.

Callahan has been in the league long enough, I’m sure he’s not throwing a SB for anyone, as he realizes how difficult it is to even get there, much less win one.

Is there defamation? Yes, even if claims are implicit … if it’s an unfounded accusation, and since one cannot prove this by fact, this clearly should head into court.

Of note, I saw another article in which Gannon rejected the claims.

But the big thing I cannot get past: never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to ignorance. It sounds to me that Callahan was just really, really inept. He very likely could have changed the gameplan at the last minute in a misguided attempt to correct his mistake once he learned that his former boss knew exactly what he was doing. He might not have changed up audible signals because he just didn’t have the presence of mind to consider that Gruden still knew them. It’s entirely possible, and I’d say probable, that Callahan was just completely outmatched and completely unprepared for the job. It’s certainly more probable than a guy intentionally sabotaging a Super Bowl.

As it is, it sounds to me like he inherited a pretty good team and didn’t do much to change any of it (which would explain why he got to the Super Bowl and then failed miserably).

I questioned how someone could be appointed head coach when they were so laughingly inept at the job. Then I remembered what I watched yesterday, NFL Film’s Top 10 Worst Teams, and I realized that terrible head coaching isn’t all that uncommon in the NFL. So really, out of the two explanations, I have to side with the more reasonable one: Callahan just sucks at coaching football teams.

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Gruden only won because how familiar he was with the offense which he installed. That’s the ONLY REASON THEY WON. PERIOD

They practiced that until Friday. Then the game plan changed inexplicably. According to Brown, and this should be something that can be verified, the center freaked out because of the changes and that was part of the reason he had a psychic break and headed to Tijuana.

According to Brown Callahan wanted to pass 60 times which would have been pretty much every down. The idea that this was a bad game plan was born out by the 5 interceptions and 3 pick 6s.

Then there’s NFL Films who still show video of the Buc players laughing on the sideline and saying that they practiced against every one of these plays all week. People want to say that that’s because Gruden knew the playbook, but there was a whole season worth of film on the Raiders that would tell you tons about the playbook. Neither the film or a prior knowledge of the playbook tells a coach what subset of plays to plan for all week, but Gruden knew what would be called.

The “official narrative” has holes in it. Big ones. Now people are calling Brown and Rice bitter and delusional. That’s a lot easier than defending the facts. Callahan would be a fool to take this to court and I doubt that the league would let him. A sport that concerns its self so heavily with image isn’t about to let this thing be questioned publicly by a team of lawyers.

I say the whole situation stinks. Would a player or coach throw a Super Bowl? I don’t know. Would a boxer throw a world title match?

Throwing the game might be a little strong, but yes Callahan doesn’t answer questions about changing game plan 48 hrs before game.

Tampa’s D was very good, but they did get help from the Raiders not changing audibiles and Gruden knowing the offense. Tampa’s D knew what plays were coming.

Plus Gruden gets too much credit. He’s good. But he did win with Dungy’s guys and not much else after that.