Raiders' Great WR Brown Never Played in a Super Bowl

“We get our game plan for victory on Monday, and the game plan says we’re gonna run the ball,” Brown recalled. “We averaged 340 (pounds) on the offensive line, they averaged 280 (on the defensive line). We’re all happy with that, everybody is excited. We tell (running back) Charlie Garner: ‘Look, you’re not gonna get too many carries, but at the end of the day we’re gonna get a victory. (Running backs) Tyrone Wheatley and Zack Crockett, let’s get ready to blow this thing up.’ Then Callahan blew things up and changed the game plan.

“We all called it sabotage ... because Callahan and Gruden were good friends. And Callahan had a big problem with the Raiders; you know, he hated them. You know, only came because Gruden made him come. He 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.

“Then Gruden leaves and 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 could win the Super Bowl. That’s hard to say, because you can’t prove it.”

The Raiders had routed the Buccaneers, 45-0, two years earlier at the Oakland Coliseum by rushing for 262 yards and four touchdowns as All-Pro center Barret Robbins dominated the line of scrimmage.

However, Robbins did not play in the Super Bowl because of a knee injury and left the team during the week, apparently because of mental problems, which many observers believe had much to do with the Raiders’ poor performance against the Buccaneers.

Some claim Callahan should have kept a close eye on Robbins, but that didn’t happen.

Brown, who the Raiders selected with the sixth overall pick of the 1988 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame after he earned the Heisman Trophy, finished his Silver and Black career with 1,070 receptions for 14,734 yards and 90 touchdowns.

That helped Brown play in the Pro Bowl nine times and was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

However, the one thing missing from his resume is that Super Bowl ring.

The NFL Draft will be held in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders currently hold the No. 13 overall pick.

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