Derrick Brooks
Derrick Brooks
Derrick Dewan Brooksis an American former football linebacker who played in the National Football Leaguefor fourteen seasons. He played college football for Florida State University, and was twice recognized as a consensus All-American. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft, where he played his entire professional career. An eleven-time Pro Bowl selection and nine-time All-Pro, Brooks was named AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2002, and earned a...
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth18 April 1973
CityPensacola, FL
We have a good defensive team. You have a good group of guys who made the team defensively so I wasn't surprised we went out there and played well.
Twice we've played him and he's hurt us for big runs.
We just played collectively as a unit. Everybody did their job and pitched in.
They get beat up so much. I think these guys stepped up and played well with basically two rookies starting. These guys kept pounding and pounding.
Obviously, we wanted to play better than we played last week, come out of the gates a little faster. We had an opportunity to make some plays ... and we did.
Let's not be naive to the system. For the countless examples of people who have changed teams, there are countless of examples of people who haven't changed teams. Darrell Green finished his career with the Redskins and he always was one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league. Jackie Slater was always one of the highest-paid tackles in the league and he played his whole career with the Rams. Brett Favre got a $100-million contract a few years ago and they found a way to keep him, so it can be done. Is it important to me? Yes. Is it in my hands? No.
We've got to re-establish our personality. That group I played with back then, you saw a personality. Guys trusting each other. Embarrassed if they didn't make it to the pile in time. Now it's time for a new personality to come along and get established.
In this game there are so many rules favoring the offense. To see a little defense being played is a good thing.
Watching those tapes told me I've still got a lot of work to do,
We started an important streak, in my opinion. The first time we lost this season, we come back. In the past, one loss meant two, meant three, meant four. But today, from that standpoint, we took a huge step in bouncing back from a loss.
As an athlete you've got to watch your hydration and your nutrition, and use the right kinds of fuel to help you perform your best.
I always felt like I was challenged, I was never satisfied, and I looked forward to the challenge. From studying high school players to studying kids in college, I always studied the competition, at my position in particular, to make sure I set the standard.
You can pick any game and there are two or three plays that determine whether you win or lose, going either way. That's the beauty of the league, man. Every game counts, no matter who you're playing or what their record is.
Every rep that you take off, somebody else gets another look. That's just how I am. It's not a matter of being paranoid, it's a matter of being confident and not taking anything for granted.