ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Barret Robbins was "incoherent and he was not capable of knowing where he was" the night before the Super Bowl, Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan said Wednesday in the team's first public comments on their troubled All-Pro center.

		I'm not a psychiatrist, but I spent 15 years as an emergency-medicine physician and was an emergency-room director. I saw ER patients on occasion who displayed the symptoms of depression and bipolar illness, which are different but sometimes related illnesses -- just as alcoholism and diabetes are illnesses. Those who suffer from bipolar illness come from all walks of life and all kinds of professions -- including some I know in the TV broadcasting industry (who shall remain anonymous). Bipolar illness was named by 20th-century psychiatry, but it has been around since the beginning of time. Historical evidence indicates that famous artists, musicians, and military and political leaders (such as Roman emperors and American presidents) have all suffered from bipolar illness. I don't know the details of Barret Robbins' situation, but it's certainly possible that the emotional stress over his ability to perform in the Super Bowl, compounded by his reported illness, contributed to his troubles Super Bowl weekend. More... Dr. Jerry Punch is a broadcaster with ESPN and ABC Sports.

Robbins, who has a history of depression and bipolar illness, spent Super Bowl Sunday in a San Diego hospital after disappearing from the team's hotel. Callahan said Wednesday he still wasn't sure of Robbins' whereabouts, but that Raiders officials had been in contact with the player's wife.

Callahan also said that there's a "viable'' chance Robbins will play for the Silver and Black again.

When asked if Robbins is still a Raider, Callahan said, "absolutely."

The 6-foot-3, 320-pound lineman reportedly had stopped taking his medicine for depression. He missed a team meeting, a position meeting and a walkthrough practice Saturday, Callahan said.

"I was fearful something wrong was occurring,'' said Callahan, who decided to bench Robbins on Saturday night, then later chose to send him home. "I was concerned about something tragic happening.''

But Robbins could not make flight arrangements from San Diego to Oakland because his wallet and identification were missing, Callahan said.

The first-year coach called his decision to send Robbins home a "no-brainer,'' adding that Robbins was not in a physical or mental state to play a football game.

"I feel terrible in a lot of respects for the situation and very disappointed, as I'm sure Barret's disappointed,'' Callahan said. "I have not had an opportunity to speak with Barret, but I know that he senses and feels that. Hopefully we can rectify and he can rectify the current situation that he's in. But leading up to the game, I had no idea of his whereabouts.''

Callahan plans a meeting with Robbins, but offered no timetable. Robbins sat out of Wednesday's Super Bowl practice because of a sore knee, but did practice Thursday.

"I don't know where he was, and I don't know until I look at him eye to eye and ask him,'' Callahan said. "There's a lot of speculation out there and I refuse to listen to it until I get the opportunity to speak to Barret. At this juncture, the main thing is his health and his family and his right to his privacy. We're going to do everything we can as an organization to help him, to assist him and to support him to get better.''

A man who claims he was among a group that drank with Robbins on the day before the Super Bowl told the San Francisco Chronicle that heavy drinking left the Raiders center despondent and suicidal.

"He was crying and totally depressed about his life and the pressure he was under,'' said Cartier Dise, who owns a vehicle customizing business that has provided rims and wheels for the vehicles of Raiders players.

"This guy was messed up. All he could think about was his family, his two daughters. He was talking about killing himself, saying he was disappointing people and he had a lot of people to support financially and he was letting them all down,'' Dise told the San Francisco Chronicle.

"There's a point in time you can only do so much as a coach and as an organization,'' Callahan said. "His situation didn't mandate personal bodyguards around the clock.''

Dise, 25, declined to comment when asked by the Chronicle whether Robbins -- who was dismissed from the team hours before the Raiders lost 48-21 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in San Diego -- had spent much of Saturday partying in nearby Tijuana. Four players said Sunday that Robbins had been in Tijuana. Dise also did not return calls to The Associated Press.

According to the Chronicle, Dise owns and operates a vehicle-customizing business that sells chrome accessories for cars and SUVs. Raiders players have said he has provided rims and wheels for their vehicles.

Dise told the Chronicle he was part of a group that drank with Robbins the day before the Super Bowl.

"Everybody was doing shots of tequila. B-Robb was buying rounds for everybody and it was pretty crazy," said Dise, who added he and Robbins were at a club but went their separate ways by midafternoon Saturday.

"(Robbins) would be (happy) one minute and then the next he was crying and talking about how much all that Super Bowl stuff was getting to him. He said he and his mom had both been sick."

Robbins had been acting strangely during the week, appearing dazed during Tuesday's Media Day, and seemed disoriented when he showed up for a team meeting.

Shortly after the team told him he wouldn't be playing in the Super Bowl, he was admitted to a San Diego hospital, Robbins' agent Drew Pittman said.

A Robbins family member said he was on a suicide watch, according to the New York Daily News.

Because of his history of depression, Robbins was treated by doctors associated with the NFL's emergency response team, a league source told the Chronicle.

Robbins told the Chronicle in 1997 that both his parents had struggled with depression and that he controlled his own illness through medication. "It's a battle within your head," he told the paper then. "It's not an easy thing to deal with. Anybody who can overcome something like this is bound to be a better person in all aspects of life."

A Raiders spokesman said Tuesday that the team was uncertain whether Robbins remained hospitalized.

Robbins was replaced on the AFC Pro Bowl roster Monday by New England center Damien Woody.

Four teammates, all speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Chronicle that Robbins spent Saturday in Tijuana, Mexico, despite warnings from team officials not to go there. Pittman called that "speculation."

Checks with the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, San Diego police and several area hospitals yielded no further information.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.