Two former Oakland players who were members of the Super Bowl XXXVII squad went on WDAE Wednesday morning to give their own insight on Tim Brown’s comments. 

Brown, the long-time Raider and brief Buccaneer wide receiver (2004), made waves this week after suggesting in a radio interview Saturday on SiriusXM NFL that the Bucs’ won the Super Bowl because then-head coach Bill Callahan sabotaged the game plan. 

“We all called it sabotage . . . because Callahan and [Tampa Bay coach Jon] Gruden were good friends,” Brown said.  “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.  So really he had become someone who was part of the staff but we just didn’t pay him any attention.  Gruden leaves, he becomes the head coach. . . .  It’s hard to say that the guy sabotaged the Super Bowl.  You know, can you really say that?  That can be my opinion, but I can’t say for a fact that that’s what his plan was, to sabotage the Super Bowl.  He hated the Raiders so much that he would sabotage the Super Bowl so his friend can win the Super Bowl.  That’s hard to say, because you can’t prove it. 

“But the facts are what they are, that less than 36 hours before the game we changed our game plan.  And we go into that game absolutely knowing that we have no shot.  That the only shot we had if Tampa Bay didn’t show up.” 

Buccaneers great Derrick Brooks took to the airwaves on the Steve Duemig Show Tuesday afternoon, and essentially laughed off Brown’s comments, and vehemently refuted them. 

 “I just think it’s intriguing to me what’s being said,” Brooks said. “But at the end of the day, I just want our supporters to know that we players – you know, we look at this that we went out and we won that game. No one gave us anything. No one, as far as I’m concerned, sabotaged anything. We went out and we earned that victory and we’re celebrating 10 years later.” 

“If you look at our offense, their defense didn’t stop our offense at all,” Brooks said with a chuckle. 

“So, they can come out and say they want to run the ball, 40, 50 times, whatever – but the fact is, and I think (Raiders QB) Rich Gannon said it earlier, when they got down because they couldn’t stop our offense, it would have been a mute point to run the ball because they  were not going to catch up.” 

Bill Romanowski told Rob Diaz Wednesday morning on the Ron and Ian Show that his former teammate Brown was “delusional” and was “trying to make himself relevant.”

The four-time Super Bowl Champion’s interview is in its entirety below:

A short while later, another of Brown’s Oakland teammates, OL Lincoln Kennedy joined Diaz and like Romanowski, dispelled the notion that Callahan sabotaged the Super Bowl.

Kennedy recalls the conversation among the players the Saturday before the game in which Brown claims the word “sabotage” was used. According to Kennedy, the word was used out of context and he “just doesn’t believe” that Callahan threw the game. 

As far as the 2013 Hall of Fame finalist’s claims that his former head coach’s motive was that he hated the Oakland organization, Kennedy asked the question many people have the past few days. 

“Why take the job in the first place?"  

Kennedy went so far as to say that if Callahan did sabotage the game – which he adamantly disagrees he did – it would be “career sabotage.” 

The full interview with Kennedy can be found in its entirety below:

Tuesday night, Callahan came out and issued a statement calling Brown’s claims and Jerry Rice’s support of those claims “ludicrous and defamatory” and demandend a retraction. 

Brown appeared on the Dan Patrick Show Wednesday morning and began to back-track, telling the host, “I have never said he sabotaged the game.” 

For Brown, it may be too little too late and he might have just sabotaged his own chances of getting his bust in Canton this summer.