Friday, January 12, 2001
Raiders' Tim Brown not flashy, just effective
By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OAKLAND, Calif. — Quick: Who's the Raiders' all-time leading receiver?
It's not Fred Biletnikoff.
Not Cliff Branch.
It's Tim Brown, with his 876 receptions.
Who holds the team's single-season receptions record?
Again it's Brown, who had 104 in 1997 — not the more mythical Dave Casper or Todd Christensen.
Brown, the 13-year veteran who's in the playoffs for the first time since 1993, is the greatest Raider to elude fame.
He has put together a Hall of Fame career in relative anonymity as the nomadic Raiders moved from Los Angeles back to Oakland and suffered through five consecutive non-winning seasons and four coaching changes — remember Mike White and Joe Bugel? — before Jon Gruden returned the Raiders to the playoffs.
The Raiders, 27-0 winners against Miami in a divisional playoff game, will play Sunday against Baltimore at Network Associates Coliseum in the AFC Championship Game.
And Brown is savoring every moment of his third postseason experience and his first shot in 10 years at needing just one win to reach a Super Bowl.
“Obviously, it's very, very important to me. It's paramount that we try and take advantage of the situation,” said Brown, the 1987 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame. “I got a phone call this morning from one of my good friends I went to college with. When I picked up the phone, he was screaming at me. Basically, all he was saying (was), "You remember that doggone Buffalo game you played in 10 years ago?'”
That game was Jan.20, 1991, at Buffalo. The Bills won 51-3 and went onto the Super Bowl. Brown hasn't been back to the conference title game since.
This season has been more rewarding than that '90 season, his third, when Brown was injured and had only 18 catches.
“I was playing third downs, returning punts,” he said. “To be a more integral part of what we've done this year is obviously a good feeling.”
His 2000-01 season featured 76 receptions for 1,128 yards and 11 touchdowns. Now 34, he's more appreciative of the opportunity to play for the conference and league titles.
“You know, 10 years ago, you don't know what to think,” Brown said. “You think that's the way it should be, with all the talent we had. I was thinking anyway that we should have been there my first two years.”
The Raiders once had a standing reservation to the AFC Championship Game. From the 1967-77 seasons, Oakland played in nine of 11. They were the only team to reach Super Bowls in the 1960s, '70s and '80s — the last in January 1984.
But the Raiders haven't won big since Brown joined the team in Los Angeles in 1988. In his first 12 seasons, they were 97-95, limiting his national exposure.
Then there's the matter of his “Mr. Nice Guy” image.
“Tim Brown is not flamboyant. Some people say I'm too clean-cut,” he said. “They want to have me get a little dirt under my fingernails. You know, all that stuff, I can't worry about. I have to go out and be who I am, do the things I do on the football field.
“But surely a big part of me not getting my recognition, getting the recognition that a lot of people think I deserve, is only being in this game two times in my career. I think for the most part, if I can finish up my career with a couple games like this, I'll be fine.”
Brown is the anti-Raider Raider. He's not loud or self-promotional. He's not the dirty or fun-loving player — such as Jack Tatum or Lyle Alzado — fans associate with the Raiders.
“You know, we don't worry about that kind of stuff,” he said. “I don't know what the mystique is to be a Raider. I can't get into all that. It's like when I got to Notre Dame, everybody was asking me about the history and tradition of Notre Dame. When I leave, I would have left my history and my tradition.”
Brown has made an impression on one of his most reknowned contempo raries, Baltimore safety Rod Woodson. Brown's Notre Dame team played Woodson's Purdue Boilermakers in college. They will see plenty of each other Sunday.
“Tim always plays well,” Woodson said. “He had another great season this year. You know, he's made some big plays on me. I mean, he is a smart football player. He understands the system. He understands how to read defenses. He can make things happen when he gets the football in his hands.
“Tim has done a lot for the Oakland Raiders. When I think of the Raiders, I think of Tim Brown. He's definitely, for me at least, their cornerstone of that offense.”
But Brown is not the Raiders' whole offense, as he once was.
Quarterback Rich Gannon received MVP consideration. The Raiders have the NFL's No.1 rushing attack. Wide receiver Andre Rison, released by Kansas City in training camp, doesn't allow defenses to focus on Brown. Rison caught 41 passes for 606 yards and six touchdowns this season.
Brown is happy to win, even if his individual statistics took a hit from 1999, when he had 90 catches for 1,344 yards.
“I knew once we got Andre, if he could still do half of the things he was doing before, then it was going to be a year that my numbers were going to be down,” Brown said.
“I was hoping that would happen, because if that was the case, that would mean Andre was doing some good things for us.”
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Raiders' Tim Brown not flashy, just effective