Post by TheShadow on Dec 2, 2003 17:52:00 GMT -5
www.oaklandtribune.com
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- After 30 questions about a lot of dumb things -- penalties, turnovers, player revolt, home remedies and even the image of Bill Romanowski -- and Bill Callahan finally said enough was enough Monday.
"Hey, look," the Oakland Raiders coach said. "I'm done with the penalty issue. I've addressed it. I addressed it yesterday and I addressed it again today. It's over."
Maybe. The next four games will tell.
Callahan's press conference the day after his "dumbest team in America" remark did not feature the coach taking anything back nor anything resembling an apology.
He did not use the word dumb. He used the word smart and smarter instead. He tried to clarify in case anybody misunderstood.
"It's the emotional discipline of doing what's right," he said. "I am not criticizing the intellect of our players. I am criticizing how we play.
"There wasn't an intent to light a fire under anybody. It's just a message of where we're at."
Which is?
"We have pride," he said. "We don't have poise right now."
Then why did he choose to say what he said this late in a season that included 11 games with similar results?
"It reached the boiling point," he said. "It reached that point where we've got to wake up. We've got to change it ... if we're going to win."
He did want to clarify one thing regarding his remarks Sunday that included the D-word.
"It's about our play ... it's not about the players," he said. "I totally respect our players and always have. We just give away field position. We give away drives. We give away the opportunity to get off the field or continue drives. They've been killers in every respect."
There is an often-used word for teams that can't seem to get out of their own way -- underachievers. Given an opportunity, Callahan would not go there Monday.
"Our team is ... very capable of winning every game we're in," he said. "My frustration is we haven't won ... the close games. Let me just say that these guys compete. They play hard. We're certainly capable of winning (against) every opponent that's on our schedule."
What made Callahan reach his boiling point Sunday was that he felt the Denver game was a game his team should have won.
"With all due respect to the Broncos, they're a fine football team," he said. "I felt we had a legitimate opportunity to win that game. I believe that wholeheartedly. To give away the game as we did ... we just shot ourselves in the foot."
The result was his eruption. He said he still felt that way a day later.
"I'm upset, I'm angry, I'm disturbed," he said. "We have found ways to give away games that is uncalled for. I brought that to light and I'll continue to make mention of that to this team."
Callahan's press conference came an hour before he was scheduled to meet with the team at 1:15 p.m. It was not known whether players met beforehand, as wide receiver Tim Brown had suggested, to stave off further confrontation or insurrection.
In response to the angry locker room Sunday, Callahan said "nobody is above criticism. We're all going to be critiqued and criticized. I'm going to challenge this team ... to improve the situation we're in right now.
"I'm mad about it and I want to rectify it. It's too late in the season to make the same types of mistakes we're making. They'd better get it pretty soon because time is running out."
The locker room was open for 45 minutes after Callahan addressed the media but the only players who wandered in were injured players who were rehabbing.
"He is the head coach and we did play pretty dumb yesterday," quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo said. "This is an emotional game. We're trying to win. We're battling. When you put a huge amount of time into something you care about doing, there is going to be emotion involved. He's an emotional guy. Not bad emotional ... it's good. It's football."
"I'm not sure exactly what he said but he just spoke his mind as the coach ... good, bad or indifferent," safety Rod Woodson said. "Nothing you can do about it. It's done.
"When you are 3-9, anything can be taken out of context or anything can be negative. We had these problems last year but we were winning, so it really didn't matter."
Callahan also pointed out that the penalty bug was nothing new.
"We overcame them a year ago," he said. "Like they say, winning is a great deodorant. Those things didn't get swept under the rug. They were addressed ... continually.
"We overcame (errors) with the type of play we had. Now we're not getting that type of play so things get magnified."
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- After 30 questions about a lot of dumb things -- penalties, turnovers, player revolt, home remedies and even the image of Bill Romanowski -- and Bill Callahan finally said enough was enough Monday.
"Hey, look," the Oakland Raiders coach said. "I'm done with the penalty issue. I've addressed it. I addressed it yesterday and I addressed it again today. It's over."
Maybe. The next four games will tell.
Callahan's press conference the day after his "dumbest team in America" remark did not feature the coach taking anything back nor anything resembling an apology.
He did not use the word dumb. He used the word smart and smarter instead. He tried to clarify in case anybody misunderstood.
"It's the emotional discipline of doing what's right," he said. "I am not criticizing the intellect of our players. I am criticizing how we play.
"There wasn't an intent to light a fire under anybody. It's just a message of where we're at."
Which is?
"We have pride," he said. "We don't have poise right now."
Then why did he choose to say what he said this late in a season that included 11 games with similar results?
"It reached the boiling point," he said. "It reached that point where we've got to wake up. We've got to change it ... if we're going to win."
He did want to clarify one thing regarding his remarks Sunday that included the D-word.
"It's about our play ... it's not about the players," he said. "I totally respect our players and always have. We just give away field position. We give away drives. We give away the opportunity to get off the field or continue drives. They've been killers in every respect."
There is an often-used word for teams that can't seem to get out of their own way -- underachievers. Given an opportunity, Callahan would not go there Monday.
"Our team is ... very capable of winning every game we're in," he said. "My frustration is we haven't won ... the close games. Let me just say that these guys compete. They play hard. We're certainly capable of winning (against) every opponent that's on our schedule."
What made Callahan reach his boiling point Sunday was that he felt the Denver game was a game his team should have won.
"With all due respect to the Broncos, they're a fine football team," he said. "I felt we had a legitimate opportunity to win that game. I believe that wholeheartedly. To give away the game as we did ... we just shot ourselves in the foot."
The result was his eruption. He said he still felt that way a day later.
"I'm upset, I'm angry, I'm disturbed," he said. "We have found ways to give away games that is uncalled for. I brought that to light and I'll continue to make mention of that to this team."
Callahan's press conference came an hour before he was scheduled to meet with the team at 1:15 p.m. It was not known whether players met beforehand, as wide receiver Tim Brown had suggested, to stave off further confrontation or insurrection.
In response to the angry locker room Sunday, Callahan said "nobody is above criticism. We're all going to be critiqued and criticized. I'm going to challenge this team ... to improve the situation we're in right now.
"I'm mad about it and I want to rectify it. It's too late in the season to make the same types of mistakes we're making. They'd better get it pretty soon because time is running out."
The locker room was open for 45 minutes after Callahan addressed the media but the only players who wandered in were injured players who were rehabbing.
"He is the head coach and we did play pretty dumb yesterday," quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo said. "This is an emotional game. We're trying to win. We're battling. When you put a huge amount of time into something you care about doing, there is going to be emotion involved. He's an emotional guy. Not bad emotional ... it's good. It's football."
"I'm not sure exactly what he said but he just spoke his mind as the coach ... good, bad or indifferent," safety Rod Woodson said. "Nothing you can do about it. It's done.
"When you are 3-9, anything can be taken out of context or anything can be negative. We had these problems last year but we were winning, so it really didn't matter."
Callahan also pointed out that the penalty bug was nothing new.
"We overcame them a year ago," he said. "Like they say, winning is a great deodorant. Those things didn't get swept under the rug. They were addressed ... continually.
"We overcame (errors) with the type of play we had. Now we're not getting that type of play so things get magnified."