Raiders Sabotaged by Coach in Super Bowl?

Perhaps this is why the Raiders keep losing today.

Am unusual accusation came from Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Tim Brown. In Super Bowl XXXVII, Brown says that Raiders head coach Bill Callahan changed the game plan at the last minute. Brown, a longtime Raider, said they were preparing to run a ground and pound style of offense for the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then on Friday before the Super Bowl, the game plan was changed to accommodate more of an aerial attack instead. The G.O.A.T. Jerry Rice, who was on the Raiders for that Super Bowl, confirmed what Tim Brown said about Callahan and the staff changing the game plan on Friday.

The reasoning for it? Brown suggested that Callahan didn't like the Raiders and was doing it for his old buddy Jon Gruden who was the coach of the Bucs in Super Bowl and had coached the Raiders the season before. Brown said "We all called it sabotage ... because Callahan and Gruden were good friends. And Callahan had a big problem with the Raiders, you know, hated the Raiders. You know, only came because Gruden made him come. Literally walked off the field on us a couple of times during the season when he first got there, the first couple years."

Jerry would back the theory to a degree saying "And in a way, maybe because he (Callahan) didn't like the Raiders, he was willing to sabotage just a little bit and let Jon Gruden go out and win this one."

Bill Callahan has denied these allegations.

"Any suggestion that I would undermine the integrity of the sport that I love and dedicated my life to, or dishonor the commitment I made to our players, coaches and fans, is flat-out wrong," Callahan said in the statement. "I think it would be in the best interests of all, including the game America loves, that these allegations be retracted immediately."

I have said it a million times: the Oakland Raiders always find a way to shoot themselves in the foot. It seems a little far fetched that a coach would willingly sabotage his own team for the sake of a friend. However, the testimonies of Tim Brown and Jerry Rice seem to suggest that something irregular happened for some unknown reason.

Could Al Davis have been involved.... more than usual? I know it's hard to believe that the late meddler could've been more involved with the team but something he could've said or done might've affected the game plan. Still that theory seems far fetched even for him. He would've tried changing something early in the week rather than later.

Whatever the case might've been, a Super Bowl's outcome had seemingly been affected. The Raiders barely ran the ball and their quarterback Rich Gannon threw 5 picks in a blowout loss to the Bucs 48-21.

I hope that the league gets involved and conducts an investigation into the matter. I am not sure if they will find any testimony that would be helpful but they should at least try. The integrity of the NFL is at stake.... unlike with the refs lockout, the concussion lawsuits, safety rule changes, and spygate.