Rich Gannon, Bill Romanowski dispute Tim Brown's claims
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| Rich Gannon doesn't think former coach Bill Callahan sabotaged Super Bowl XXXVII. (US Presswire) |
Former Oakland wideout Tim Brown might be insisting that then-coach Bill Callahan "sabotaged" the Raiders' chances of winning Super Bowl XXXVII, but one key player from that Raiders 2002 team doesn't agree with Brown: quarterback Rich Gannon.
Gannon, who won the NFL MVP award in 2002, doesn't seem to think that Callahan "sabotaged" the team. "In terms of Bill Callhan, let me just say this: He was a good football coach, he was a good man. We all wanted to win," Gannon said on his SiriusXM show via Profootballtalk.
Brown thought Callahan changed the game plan from a run-heavy scheme to a pass-heavy scheme just two days before the game, giving the Raiders little-to-no time to practice the new stuff.
Gannon doesn't seem to agree with that assessment. "I think that what happened was that we came out and tried to run the football early in that game," Gannon said. "We didn't have a lot of success. We fell behind and at that point we started throwing the ball too much."
The stats seem to back up Gannon's version: The Raiders averaged 1.7 yards per carry and ran for 19 yards against the Buccaneers.
Gannon isn't the only Raider having a hard time believing Callahan sabotaged the game. Former Oakland linebacker Bill Romanowski isn't buying it either. "He absolutely couldn't be further from the truth," Romanowski said of Brown on 97.5 WPEN-FM in Philadelphia. "He doesn't know what he's talking about. And I'll tell you what, I'm blown away that something like that would come out of an intelligent man's mouth."
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Romanowski also called Brown's accusations "complete crap."
Callahan, in Mobile, Ala., for the Senior Bowl, has unequivocally denied the accusations.
Not every former Raider disagrees with Brown though. Former running back Charlie Garner thought the game plan changed, too.
"There may have been something to what Mr. Brown has been saying," Garner said. "We came out with another game plan and it was just not what we practiced."
Brown hasn't had to many good things to say about former Raiders' coaches lately. After the Bears hired Marc Trestman last week, Brown had this to say: "I don't want to say it was a joke, but I just never saw Trestman as being a head coach."
If you're wondering how Brown knows Trestman: Trestman was the offensive coordinator in Oakland from 2001-03, which, of course, includes the Raiders' Super Bowl season.
And the plot thickens.
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