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 are in second place, one game back. But we're by no means out of it. I guess it's a little down because of the way we lost. It appears we got dominated. ... It could be a whole lot worse than where we are at.
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.
I agree with Pittman in terms of camaraderie. I said it earlier in the season, camaraderie is going to be responsible for a couple games a year. I can honestly say we hung in there and pulled out a couple of tough wins that had nothing to do with football. This team is a closer team.
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.
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.
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.
In this game there are so many rules favoring the offense. To see a little defense being played is a good thing.
In years past, we have had a lot of turnovers and defensive scores. Last year, that part of our game was missing. We got our hands on a lot of balls. We caused way more fumbles that we didn't recover. The turnovers we got, we didn't turn them into touchdowns.
You (trim) 25-30 yards a game just off of that.
Their running game has obviously picked up the last couple weeks. They're running strong right now and playing well on defense too. If you can run the ball and get turnovers you're tough and that's what they've been doing the fourth quarter of the season.
People are just now starting to notice Troy as a game-changer. From a standpoint of making plays, he's carried Pittsburgh to where they are today. He's got a unique style all his own, and I'm a fan of his hair. I like that flair he plays with.
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.
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.
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.