The Associated Press

ALAMEDA, Calif. - Bill Callahan went from the Super Bowl to the unemployment line in less than a year.

The Oakland Raiders announced Callahan's firing Wednesday, just one season after he took the team within a victory of an NFL championship as a rookie head coach.

The team told Callahan a day earlier. He asked to delay the announcement because his son Brian's college team, UCLA, played in a bowl game Tuesday night.

Openly criticized by his players, Callahan went 15-17 over two regular seasons, including 4-12 this season, the Raiders' worst record since 1997 and the biggest drop by a Super Bowl team.

He was fired shortly after quarterback Rich Gannon criticized Callahan and offensive coordinator Marc Trestman for a bad offensive system.

Owner Al Davis is not known for patience with coaches. Callahan, who earned $1 million a season, completed the second year of a two-year contract, and Davis declined a series of one-year club options that could have kept Callahan in Oakland through the 2006 season.

Callahan, a seven-year NFL assistant with no previous head coaching experience, was promoted from offensive coordinator when Jon Gruden went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2001 season. Gruden's Bucs beat Callahan's Raiders 48-21 in the 2003 Super Bowl.

This season, though, the Raiders tied for the worst record in the NFL with the Chargers, Cardinals and Giants. They ended their season with a 21-14 loss at San Diego.

There was speculation for weeks that Callahan would be dismissed. Now the Raiders are the seventh NFL team without a head coach.

AP OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Running for 2,000 yards is no longer a goal for Jamal Lewis.

It's a standard.

And the next time he does it, the Baltimore Ravens' running back plans to rush past Eric Dickerson into the NFL record book.

After becoming the fifth player in league history to amass 2,000 yards rushing in a season and carrying the Baltimore Ravens to their first division title, Lewis on Wednesday was honored as The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

Much in the same fashion that he pulled away from speedy defensive backs after breaking past the line, Lewis easily outdistanced runner-up San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson.

Lewis received 29 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL. Tomlinson drew eight votes.

Lewis is the eighth consecutive running back to win the award, including Priest Holmes last year. He is the first Ravens player to win it.

"It's a great honor. It's everything that I worked for in the offseason, everything that I strived for," Lewis said.

Lewis finished with 2,066 yards rushing - second best in NFL history and just 39 short of Dickerson's record, set in 1984.

AP DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ray Lewis is as fearsome and dependable as anyone in football, and that earned him his second Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year award Wednesday.

The Ravens' inside linebacker and leader is Baltimore's third player honored in 2003, joining Offensive Player of the Year Jamal Lewis and Defensive Rookie of the Year Terrell Suggs.

Lewis also was the NFL's top defender in the 2000 season, when he led a dominant defense that carried the Ravens to the Super Bowl title. He probably would have won the award in other seasons, too, had he been fully healthy, particularly last year, when Lewis missed 11 games with a shoulder injury.

"When I got hurt, I had a lot of choices to make," Lewis said. "I could have moped, because I was starting to have one of my best seasons ever, or I could have did what I did: I said I was going to come back bigger, faster and stronger all over again."

Which is precisely what happened, making him a landslide winner in voting. Lewis got 43 votes, Dallas safety Roy Williams and New England tackle Richard Seymour each received two votes, and three others each got one.

The Ravens (10-6) won their first division title and ranked third in the league in total defense. They host Tennessee on Saturday in a wild-card game.

REDSKINS: This time, the Washington Redskins want an established NFL coach. After the failure of Steve Spurrier, who had no NFL coaching experience, the Redskins have put the names of Jim Fassel, Ray Rhodes and Dennis Green at the top of their initial list of candidates.

Vice president for football operations Vinny Cerrato on Wednesday estimated a two-week timetable to find the fifth head coach for Dan Snyder's sixth season as owner.

It might be a longer wait if it's Rhodes, who is preparing for the playoffs as Seattle's defensive coordinator. The Seahawks have granted permission for Rhodes to interview with the Redskins, but the team said he has declined the request until Seattle's season is over.

Spurrier resigned Tuesday after going 12-20 over two seasons.

DOLPHINS: Miami will meet with Tampa Bay interim general manager Tim Ruskell and former New Orleans general manager Randy Mueller about the team's new GM position. Ruskell will visit the Dolphins on Friday; Mueller will come in Monday. The Dolphins hope to talk also with a third candidate, Buffalo assistant general manager Tom Modrak.

SEAHAWKS: Seattle right guard Chris Gray will miss Sunday's playoff game at Green Bay due to a torn ligament in his right knee. An 11-year veteran who started all 16 games this season, Gray was injured in last weekend's regular-season finale against San Francisco.