BROWN'S WORDS JUSTIFY RAIDERS' MOVE
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm Veteran receiver Tim Brown had a few choice words on Wednesday for the team
with which he spent 16 seasons.
And based on the content of Brown's candid comments, we think that the Raiders
made the right move in getting Brown out of town.
In part, Brown explained that he was released because Raiders exec Mike
Lombardi "pretty much sold [coach] Norv [Turner] on the concept of, it can
never be your team as long as Tim Brown is here. And that was the truth.
If I was there, it was going to be my team, because the guys were going to
listen to me, because I had years in the league and I'd been there for so long.
And the decisions I made in the locker room had always worked out for us."
Read that last sentence again, and think about what it means.
When a player begins to think that his tenure with the team makes him anything
more than a player, then it's high time for the player to move on. Notions of
structure and hierarchy are more important than ever in the post-salary cap NFL,
when the annual infusion of new players necessitates a clear understanding
that the coach is the coach and the players are the players. Period.
In fact, the idea that Brown was able for some period of time to exert such
influence in the locker room tells us that the move was long overdue -- and
it makes us wonder whether former coach Bill Callahan merits the brunt of the
blame for last year's horrendous performance. Hell, no coach could thrive in
an environment where a player is making locker room "decisions" for the team,
and no reputable coach would tolerate it for a second.
So we'll officially retract our position that the Raiders should have cut
Brown loose earlier so that he could have spent time in another team's
offseason program. Brown got what he deserved (including a $240,000 roster
bonus paid on June 3, two days after the date on which he could have been
dumped in cap-friendly fashion).
We also wonder how Brown's new coach reacted to this admission. Does Chucky
know that Tim was making locker room decisions for the team when Jon was the
head coach in Oakland? And does Brown plan to reprise this role in Tampa?
In the old days, it was an aging athlete's on-field performance that made us
embarrassed for them. Nowadays, it's often the things that come out of their
mouths that make them look far worse than their declining physical skills.