Raiders not too worried about insider info

© St. Petersburg Times
published January 22, 2003

SAN DIEGO -- Jon Gruden may have designed the Oakland offense and installed the audible system, but the Raiders say they won't have to make many changes to prevent the Bucs from having an advantage.

"He's very detailed and knowledgeable about our team, but a lot has changed," quarterback Rich Gannon said. "A lot has evolved, and honestly I think John has spent a lot of his time on the offensive side preparing. He leaves a great deal of responsibility to the defensive coordinator."

Plus, Gannon said, things are done a little differently than when Gruden coached the Raiders.

"Despite what everybody thinks, we are not a big audible team," he said. "We call a lot of plays at the line of scrimmage. We are not a team that does a lot of hand signals. A lot of the communication is by word of mouth. There isn't a whole lot that you will be familiar with. A lot of our terminology is different."

Said receiver Tim Brown: "We don't audible that much anymore. What we do is call two or three plays in the huddle. We won't check to a play. It's very rare if we do that. By doing that, even if a team thinks we are calling an audible, they do not know what we are going into. They don't know if we are going to a weak-side run, a strong-side run, a pass, a deep pass. That is why we've had so much success."

Added coach Bill Callahan: "I'm as familiar with him as he is with us. I don't know where that battle enters into it, because the week is so short and there's a timetable where you really can't get into the intricacies of each other's offense and defense."

HOT TOPIC? GUESS: As long as the Raiders mouths are moving this week, they are going to be talking about Gruden.

Some samples from Tuesday's Media Day:

Receiver Jerry Porter: "When Gruden left I breathed a sigh of relief. I talked with Coach Callahan and got back to football."

Tackle Lincoln Kennedy: "I'm 6-7, he's 5-foot-nothing, you look at him and he wants to rule the world. He has this little scrunch on his face when you are around him. He takes little shots at you. It's funny. I laugh every time I see him. To me, it's tickling. He's not mean in any way. For me, to look at him when he is trying to be big and bad is hilarious."

Brown: "I think the guys that didn't like him are glad that he's gone, and everybody else that did like him is happy for him."

Cornerback Charles Woodson: "This is what everybody wanted to see, us versus Gruden and Tampa Bay. It will be a great matchup, a great game. I have a lot of respect for Coach Gruden. He did a great job with us, and he has done a great job with Tampa. The game itself is not about Coach Gruden. It's the Super Bowl, not the Gruden Bowl. Our concentration is on staking claim as the best team in the NFL, not the best Gruden team. The motivation is all about this game."

HOMEBOY: John Lynch isn't the only player having a Super Bowl homecoming this week: Kennedy played at San Diego's Morse High.

"It's a childhood dream," Kennedy said. "If you play this sport, you are out to be the best, you are out to be a champion. What better venue for myself than to come back to my hometown. My last high school game was on this field. I am coming back trying to represent San Diego in a good fashion."

HEAD GAMES: Jon Ritchie has a problem, especially for a fullback: He bruises easily and bleeds from the head.

"I just have a strange situation with calcium deposits on my head," Ritchie said. "I use my head a little too much when I block. It's the impacts. You know how Rocky got cuts on his face from the gloves? I get cuts on my head from the helmet smash hits."

TRASH TALKER: The matchup between Raiders guard Frank Middleton and Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp should be an interesting one to watch ... and hear.

"Warren is made for TV," Middleton said. "I am just one of those hard-working guys. I am the guy with the hard hat, and he is the guy with the suit.

"I think I can hold my own against anyone when it comes to talking. But Sapp has a feel for the camera. He gets a layout of all the cameras before the game or something. He finds the cameras. I'm more go-to-work and then lay down. I don't do that much camera work."

RUNNING LATE: Seniority has its privileges.

The start of the Raiders' media session was delayed several minutes while the team posed for a picture.

The last players out of the locker room were veteran wide receivers Jerry Rice and Brown.

Their arrival elicited cat calls and whistles from teammates seated on a makeshift row of bleachers.

"We have to wait for the Hall of Famers, but we're not mad," Middleton said. "They came out a little late for pictures, but that is the team. They got us here. They were doing all their big-time interviews before they came out here with the regular people."

REMEMBER HIM? He has not taken a snap in two years and is the Raiders' third-string quarterback, but former first-round draft pick Rick Mirer thinks there still is a place for him in the NFL.

Taken by the Seahawks with the second pick in 1993, Mirer is 32 and on his sixth team.

"I've never imagined not playing," Mirer said. "I haven't played, but I feel good. My body is good. You never know, man, you never know."

STEPPING OUT: A veteran of seven seasons in the NFL with one previous Super Bowl appearance, safety Anthony Dorsett continues to draw attention because of his last name.

Dorsett's father, of course, is former Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett.

"I will always live in my old man's shadow," Dorsett said. "How can you step out of the shadow of a Heisman Trophy winner, a Hall of Famer, a Super Bowl winner? He has won championships at every level.

"I will always be in that shadow. Does it bother me? No, it doesn't bother me at all. It is not something that intimidates me at all."

ODE TO THE MURPH: With Raiders managing general partner Al Davis standing nearby, a 13-foot bronze statue of the late Jack Murphy and his black Labrador retriever, Abe of Spoon River, was unveiled outside the stadium that bore Murphy's name for 16 years.

As sports editor and columnist with the San Diego Union, Murphy was instrumental in getting the Chargers to move from Los Angeles in 1961 and in getting what was then known as San Diego Stadium built in 1967.

Murphy died of lung cancer at age 57 in 1980, and the stadium was renamed in his honor in '81.

The place that was affectionately known as "The Murph" was renamed Qualcomm Stadium in 1997 after the telecommunications company gave the city $18-million to fill the gap in financing for a $78-million stadium expansion to accommodate the Chargers and attract Super Bowls.