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
Simeon was very emotional stepping in that huddle.
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.
Our field-goal team has really stepped up to the plate and answered all the criticism that they had. Closing out games, whether it's kicking offense or defense, that's something that we haven't done well in the past two seasons and that's something we've done well this year. Obviously, it's the difference in three or four wins.
Each guy has got to get his (meeting) room. That's where my leadership comes, (by) kind of stepping aside, and that way they take ownership. That's one of my better qualities.
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.
The ironic thing is that was the talk before we won the Super Bowl ... that this defense is not what it used to be. We stepped up and showed people they were wrong. The same little mumblings are starting to rumble now, and we're going to step up and show the world again.
To me, that's Hall of Fame, ... To know you had an impact on one person in this world. For them to give you so much credit when you hear young people tell you what you mean to their lives. That changed me as a person. Being around those kids at that young age helped me mature as a man. It kept me from all other distractions that could've knocked me off the path. They were saving me as much as I was saving them.
This was about helping the team and putting us in the position to keep a lot of our players here that we currently have and, at the same time, give us something to go get a player that we felt could help us win a Super Bowl. That's the way it's always been when I've done this, a two-way street.
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.
We wanted to stop Willis McGahee. If he's able to run the football, then that takes a lot of pressure off a young quarterback.
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.
I was telling guys over there in the fourth quarter, we've got to hold on to get a win. We had some fun guys this year in the NFC, and I'm just glad I could be a part of it and help contribute to winning.
I would give up one thousand yards to get a win.