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
Our fans are usually loud when the defense is on the field. I think from my standpoint, we respect that. So a lot of things we do we'll go off hand signals and wristbands when we're playing at home. Something we addressed this morning is our defensive communication. With the first home game, hopefully fans will come revved up. A young quarterback and an offense playing in our home is something you have got to account for.
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.
It's a very humbling experience. But we understand this is just one of the championships that we're after.
Going up in my collection with all my other stuff.
They realize that we have a game-breaker back there not only in Cadillac but in (Michael) Pittman and they only need one crease and they could turn it into a touchdown,
It could be a whole lot worse then where we are.
As good as this feeling is we're looking to feel even better next week.
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.
After that, I'm calling myself everything but a child of God,
It's a very humbling experience. I'm just so thankful to be a part of three division championships in this franchise's history.
The big-play element is still there. Daunte made a lot of big plays not throwing to Randy.
The style in which we won says a lot. The previous two games were blowouts, so the question was, 'Could we win a tough one?' Yeah, we can get in a fight, walk away with a few bruises and come away with a win.
It's tough. You just never know which play is going to be the one that changes the ballgame.
I feel grateful, to be honest with you. Thank God for the effort out there, on both sides of the ball. ... Thank God the replay official saw it as we did in our locker room and changed that call. Things like that go your way throughout a ballgame sometimes, and we've been pretty fortunate this year at the end of games to make plays to win games.