The Raiders and the 2003 Super Bowl sabotage conspiracy

OK, this thing is growing some legs, and although we talked about it on the HOF thread, it's getting pretty damn interesting on its own and could be fodder throughout Super Bowl week for anyone who was connected to it -- including quarterbacks coach Jim Harbaugh.

It started with Tim Brown saying Bill Callahan changed the game plan from a run-heavy attack to a pass-heavy one, doing it on the Friday before the Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay. According to Brown (and whatever voices inhabit his head), the motivation for this was that Callahan hated the Raiders and loved Jon Gruden, so he did everything he could to create a result that would leave himself as the butt of jokes and cement Gruden's legacy. (What a right-hand man!) Brown also says the late change may have caused Barret Robbins to go off the deep end because he had to make the pass-blocking calls on short notice instead of the run-blocking ones he was ready for.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/21/tim-brown-suggests-sabotage-by-bill-callahan-in-super-bowl-xxxvi/

It was easy enough to dismiss as lunacy. But then ...

Jerry Rice http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/22/jerry-rice-agrees-with-tim-brown-bill-callahan-sabotaged-us/

and Charlie Garner http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/22/charlie-garner-agrees-with-tim-brown-sort-of/

agreed that for whatever reason, the game plan did change at a very late point in the week. (Rice also went with Brown's convoluted reasoning about why that would have happened.)

Rich Gannon and Bill Romanowski say no way. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/nfl-rapidreports/21599489/former-raiders-rich-gannon-and-bill-romanowski-disagree-with-tim-browns-claims

Marc Trestman, the offensive coordinator, declined comment.

And Al Davis continues to pull some very long strings from above.

I must say, this is one of the more inventive anti-Raider conspiracies I've ever heard. Usually it's someone else doing something to the Raiders, not the Raiders themselves doing it to each other.

 

If this isn't the dumbest thing I've ever heard, it's surely in the top five.

Are you sure Starman didn't come up with this?

 

Why is this coming out now? It's been a decade. No one in their right mind will believe this.

And if Callahan really threw a game that would have cemented a positive legacy for him, the burning hatred he possessed would not have been for the Raiders but himself.

 

Call the truthers.

 

Nebraska fans will point out that Callahan spent four years throwing games in Lincoln.

 

Ridiculous. Greg Papa, their PBP man then and now, today said on the radio Barrett Robbins told him why he went AWOL and Papa said it had nothing to do with the game plan. Papa also said on gameday, he spent an hour with Callahan and Callahan felt very confident in what they were going to do in the passing game.

Lincoln Kennedy yesterday said this did not happen (he was the starting RT or LT).

 

Brown went to Notre Dame, no credibility.

 

as i recall, that team threw a hell of a lot, winning an ancient rich gannon the mvp (he threw for about 4,700 yards that season). and bill callahan liked to throw a lot, so i'm not really buying the idea that they had a run-heavy game plan to start with.

 

i didn't read a single thread in that post, but i honestly believe somebody was holding hostetler's children hostage during that game.
said it during halftime of that game ... in fact.
there's no other explanation for the way that cat played that game ... or is there? fuck that guy for throwing that game. i hope he burns in hell.

 

hostetler threw that fucking game, period.

 

The Raiders ranked first in the NFL in passing yards that season, but a mere 18th in rushing, and these guys think Callahan was throwing the game by deciding to go with a pass first game plan?

One of the dumber conspiracy theories I've heard. Wonder what Brown, Rice and Garner think about Sandy Hook.

 

I can guarantee you Hostetler did not throw that game.