Jerry Rice Joins Tim Brown in Saying Bill Callahan Tried to Sabotage the 2003 Super Bowl So His Friend, Jon Gruden, Could Win it
Here’s your NFL off-week Super Bowl story:
Jerry Rice went on ESPN this afternoon and just echoed what his former teammate, Tim Brown said about coach Bill Callahan “throwing” the Super Bowl in 2003. Tampa Bay destroyed the Raiders, 48-21. The Raiders had the NFL’s 2nd highest scoring offense that year (28 ppg), and led the league in passing at 279 ypg. The Bucs led the league in pass defense and points per game. Something had to give.
So, according to Brown and Rice, Callahan suddenly changed the game plan a few days before the game, and went away from the run and curiously got suddenly pass-happy. They carried 11 times for 19 yards.
Via Pro Football Talk, here’s what Rice said:
“For some reason — and I don’t know why — Bill Callahan did not like me,” Rice said. “In a way, maybe because he didn’t like the Raiders, he decided, ‘Maybe we should sabotage this a little bit and let Jon Gruden go out and win this one.’”
According to Rice, Robbins was so demoralized by Callahan announcing in a team meeting that he was going to call mostly pass plays that Robbins decided to bail on the Super Bowl.
“With Barrett, he was frustrated, like, ‘You cannot do this to us at the last second.’ Maybe that’s why he decided to not show up,” Rice said.
Bill Callahan is the offensive coordinator of the Cowboys – in fact, today, it was reported that he’d be calling plays next year instead of head coach Jason Garrett. This one shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out. Get Callahan and the QB, Rich Gannon, on the phone, and someone ring the offensive coordinator, Marc Trestman, too.

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40 Responses to “Jerry Rice Joins Tim Brown in Saying Bill Callahan Tried to Sabotage the 2003 Super Bowl So His Friend, Jon Gruden, Could Win it”
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January 22nd, 2013 at 6:27 PM
Again, anything is possible. Callahan is that big of a fucking idiot.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:33 PM
FYI, might want to tweak this.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:36 PM
This too…
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:45 PM
led the league in rushing at 279 ypg.
you are totally confused.
The Raiders led the league in passing.
The Bucs led the league in rush defense
again, no
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:46 PM
Rich Gannon, on the phone,
he already did a radio interview. You can find transcripts and/or excerpts at places that cover sports.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:49 PM
I like how Jerry Rice equates not liking him personally with not liking the Raiders. After all, he’s Mr Raider.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:50 PM
I’ll go out on a limb that no NFL team has rushed for 279 ypg ever
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:50 PM
led the league in rushing at 279 ypg.
Charlie Garner. Legend.
/History re-written.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:51 PM
So many things wrong here.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:51 PM
Bill Callahan is the offensive coordinator of the Cowboys – in fact, today, it was reported that he’d be calling plays next year instead of head coach Jason Garrett.
this is not a bad plan. Somebody needs to be coaching the actual game, not just the playsheet. Plus, Tony Sparano needs a job as a Tight Ends coach who does game day Oline wrangling. And that’s Jerry’s boy.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:53 PM
Only because they would draft Tommie Frazier to run the wishbone.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:54 PM
I’ll go out on a limb that no NFL team has rushed for 279 ypg ever
not even close, but one team got above 200 ypg, a long time ago.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:54 PM
Cargill, how much say does Jerrah give Garrett regarding the coaching staff?
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:55 PM
actually, quite a few of those were over 200ypg.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:57 PM
Cargill, how much say does Jerrah give Garrett regarding the coaching staff?
less than he did last year, although it was Garrett who wanted Rob Ryan fired, and probably Garrett who wanted to run Tampa 2. That just seems like Garrett’s dream defense. Plain vanilla, every single play.
But he made him tell his brother to GTFO or get fired, so not as much as he used to.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:58 PM
I think Jason was trying to give Callahan a pass by showing how easy it is to confuse passing and rushing.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:59 PM
For the record:
TB:
#1 in pass defense with 2490 yards (500 fewer then next), 10 TD’s, 31 INT (good lord)
#5(T) in run defense with 1554 yards, 8 TD’s
Oak:
#18 rushing offense with 1762 yards (below league average), 110 y/g, 21 TD’s
#1 passing offense with 4475 yards (279/g), 26 TD’s
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:00 PM
This is common, right? Pro Bowlers throwing away their careers because they don’t like one gameplan?
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:01 PM
For the record:
that’s actually information from the record, not information for the record. It’s not like you just tabulated it. You clicked around on that link he provided, but misunderstood.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:02 PM
GOAT or not, that’s pretty morbid blaming Callahan for Robbins’ demons.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:02 PM
Him to the Jets would be such a Jets move. He’s rumored to the Rams, but I could see NYJ spinning “You think two brothers against each other in the SB is impressive, wait till you see what we do with two on the same staff!”
It’ll be 2013′s version of reinventing football after their Tebow wrinkle set the league ablaze.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:03 PM
This is common, right? Pro Bowlers throwing away their careers because they don’t like one gameplan?
about as common as a coach taking a shit on his own career, but waiting until the Superbowl to do it. And then only doing it by running the regular offense instead of a vastly altered one. And doing all that as a personal favor to a friend.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:03 PM
teams with 200+ ypg rushing (best I could tell)
1934 Bears
1958 Browns
1973 Bills
1975 Bills
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:03 PM
He was bi-polar…currently in prison. Not the most stable human being, but it does seem like an odd excuse.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:04 PM
I read your comments to the Mickelson post yesterday, and you are all morons. MikeNYC, believe it or not, was the only one making sense.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:04 PM
…and then killing Steve McNair
/did I do it right?
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:04 PM
Him to the Jets would be such a Jets move.
doesn’t make sense, and it’s bad for Rob’s career. That’s a desperation move if nobody hires him. And he’d probably come on to coach special teams for a year or something, not to coordinate defense. That’s what Rex already does.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:04 PM
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:05 PM
Strong take. Rack him.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:05 PM
In as much as catchy ad hominem attacks and rote insults can make ‘sense’ in absence of logic or fact, then yes, I agree.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:06 PM
i didn’t know grover norquist’s gay lover posted here
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:07 PM
Which is exactly why it would happen. This is the organization that allowed Rex to pick the GM. Rex is the guy who claimed he’s starting anew, after four years. Rex is also going to put his philosophy on offense this year, after claiming he hired Sparano because he’s just like him. Sense has nothing to do with Jet operations.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:08 PM
Peterson: 2500 yards
Ponder: 500 yards
Slow white dude with no power who only could have been more undeserving of a Heisman had he ridden the body of his dead girlfriend to NYC: -100 yards
Sorry, the math doesn’t add up.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:09 PM
+Percy
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:09 PM
Two years ago, maybe. Rex is gone after this year if he’s worse than 9-7. He’s not adding to his shit by answering questions about his brother after ever return TD allowed.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:12 PM
I know it won’t happen. But it provided an opportunity to poke fun at Rex’s chicken-with-no-head operation that Woody allows him to run unchecked.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:12 PM
No worries, scrotum. We can still hope for a Revis holdout.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:13 PM
Is it really picking if all other candidates take other jobs or pull their names out?
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:15 PM
Rex really is the gift that keeps on giving. Well, his enabler Woody too.
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:20 PM
Clayton is evidently Al Davis from the tomb. He posted 30 of the 31 posts here.