February 4, 2021 • 62 mins
The Hall of Famer joins Steve and Jim. On the show, Derrick talks about being a co-chair of the Super Bowl host committee in the same city where he won a ring (41:51). As far as the game, he talks about what the Chiefs did in last season’s Super Bowl win that could be the key to securing a second straight title (28:16), and why the Bucs defense needs to counter it by making Patrick Mahomes “feel them” (29:54). And with the 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame class set to be revealed on Feb. 6th, Brooks makes the case for why former teammates John Lynch, Rhonde Barber and Simeon Rice should be Canton bound (54:20).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, everybody, we are back at the Huddle Flow podcast,
brought to you by Into It, the proud makers of
Quick Books, Turbo Tax and Mint. I'm Steve White with
my guy Jim Trotter. We are two thirds of the
Howard Mob. The other third Thomas Warren back on the
ones and twos by himself. He's got the wheels of steel.
And Jim, we are a couple of days away from
(00:37):
the Super Bowl. We're gonna be joined by a Super
Bowl champion and Hall of Famer Derek Brooks, former buccaneer
UH in just a few minutes. But leading up to
the Super Bowl and all the hype in well, the
hype is external because I'm here in Tampa. There's not
a lot of folks here. But Commissioner Roger Goodell UH
(00:57):
had a few things to say. It just it was
a real interesting kind of pullback that he did, Jim,
and you know, talking about the coaching diversity, because let's
start there, because he was asked a couple of really
good questions by Lindsay Jones the Athletic and then Peter
King of NBC Sports. In fact, Jim, let's hear from
(01:18):
the Commissioner Roger Goodell on that subject right now, I've
said this to you all many times. I'm not sure
there's an issue that we spent more time working with
our ownership on. Our ownership is committed, UM focused on this, UH.
And you know, we look at this as broadly as
possible about we want to make the NFL our clubs
(01:38):
more diverse. UH. And so it's much broader than just
head coaches for us. But the head coaches is important
and we put a lot of our policies and focused
on that this year. UH. As you know, we had
two minority coaches higher this year, but it wasn't what
we expected and it's not what we expect going forward.
So for us, UM, we want to continue to to
(02:00):
look and see what went right, what went wrong. I
think that has to happen with individual discussions with candidates,
both successful and unsuccessful candidates, the clubs and try to understand,
you know, exactly what did what went right and what
went wrong. UH. They're not the outcomes we wanted, and
we're committed more than ever to make sure that we
(02:22):
do that. UM basically saying, you know, what, what what
are you gonna do? Because it hasn't worked increased. Rooty
will hasn't worked. All of these other talking too, is
you've given the owners had work and he basically said, well,
I I guess we can keep talking to him. We're
not going to stop, but we're trying. I mean, it's
(02:42):
it's clearly a case if we've taken the horse to
the water, but the horse doesn't always have to drink. Yeah.
The thing I was most happy about is that he
didn't try out that pipeline argument again as to to
why minority coaches aren't being hired. So the reality is
now again you and I have said this for some
time now. The league off has done everything it can do.
(03:02):
The fact that it would even go so far as
to incentivize this process says it's gone about as far
as it can go. And you know, Tony Dungee wrote
an open letter to the owners this week and in
it he mentioned how uh disappointed he was and where
the league is at on this issue, and that you know,
(03:23):
there was a point where progress was made and now
everything has started to slide backwards. And really it's on
the owners, it's not on anyone else. And so what
I am hearing as you talk to people now is
if this is gonna continue down this road, then the
only steps left to try and make change are the
same things that happened back at the turn of the
(03:43):
century when legal action was threatened against the league, when
Cyrus Mary and Johnny Cochrane threatened to sue the NFL
over discrimination, and a year later, I believe it was
the Rooney Rule was adopted, and over the next decade
we saw incremental change in mental improvements as it related
to to coaching hires. The other thing I'm hearing now
(04:05):
is that you know there are organizations now that are
talking about going to sponsors NFL sponsors and asking them
if it is good business to do business with a
company whose record right now and diverse hires is not good.
So those are like the last and the extreme steps.
(04:26):
But there are those who feel that that's what's coming
if the owners UM do not make change. And look,
the reality is, and Tony Dungee said this in his
open letter, the most qualified people are not being hired
at this point. And you can objectively say that based
on resumes, experience, all those sorts of things. And so
(04:49):
if you can objectively say that the most qualified are
not being hired, UM someone needs to explain then why
that's happening. Yeah, and look that actually she's not coming
because the people who are not hiring they never explained.
They just kind of ship back like, hey, we got
(05:09):
we want blah blah blah, we're gonna go to the
next level, we're gonna move fast, we're gonna play a
high tempo, all this other stuff, you know, kind of
the traditional we're happy with the guy we hired lines.
You know, there were there were you know, go ahead,
y no. But it's like Jimmy Ray said to me
Um in our article I wrote earlier in the week,
that they don't have to answer to anyone. There's no
accountability and there are no consequences. And as you know, Steve,
(05:33):
until there are consequences, sometimes behavior doesn't change. And that's
why I say it's getting to the point now where
you have people even within the league who were saying
dramatic steps are going to have to be taken potentially
to make change. And that's something you don't always hear
Um that someone within the league. People within the league
(05:53):
would say, you know what, it may take legal action,
It may take threats against sponsors for owners to finally
say something's wrong here. Yeah. Look and by the way,
the fantastic article, Jim, you know we talked about NFL
dot com backslash trotter. If you want to get a
look at it is a fantastic read. Um, a lot
(06:15):
of good opinions from Eric the Enemy, Byron Leftwich. So
two of the coordinators, who with the two offensive coordinators
who are gonna be coaching in the Super Bowl, And Jim,
that's the one thing I don't want to hear any
owner right now say well I didn't know enough about
this guy or that guy. Watch the Super Bowl. Okay,
watch the Super Bowl, Todd Bowls D C for the Bucks,
(06:35):
Eric b Enemy O C for the Chiefs, Byron Leftwich,
O C for the Buccaneers. Okay, the resumes are on display. Okay,
someone's gonna win a championship. You're not, you know, because
you're at home. And so now you've got from now
until another almost calendar year. If you're thinking about making
a change or that's a possibility to start doing your
(06:58):
homework on these guys, stop leaving up in the hands
of somebody else, to start asking. That's what's amazing to me,
how all of a sudden a guy can get hot
over the final three months of the season because his
defense is killing or his offense is killing, he's running
a new wrinkle. But these guys work has been one's
work has been on displaces last year's Super Bowl, and
that's being lazy. That's big, ladies in your homework since then. Yeah,
(07:23):
guys getting hired based on one season. I mean, it's
just incredible. And then you have others who have a
body of work and they get ignored. It's it's just
it's mind numbing. And that's why again I'm saying, take
the subjectivity out of it and just look at it objectively.
And I always say, if you do blind resumes on
some of these guys and you put up some of
(07:45):
these minority coaches who have not been hired versus some
of these white coaches who have been hired, and we
did blind resumes, there's no way why I should put
it this way. It's very obvious which one is more
qualified for the job based on resumes. So clearly there's
(08:05):
something else beyond just qualifications taking place here. Well, as
Todd Bowles said, we know what's going on when we
spoke to the podcast, we know what's going on, and
here's something we're gonna bring you brought up with Todd
Bowls and something that was addressed, uh to Roger Goodell,
and that was of course the nflp A president J. C.
Trutter said several weeks ago, Hey, the offseason does not
(08:29):
ever need to go back to what it was like.
Andrew Whitworth said, Look, I could see coming in and
getting you know, your workout, in getting your conditioning, and
we don't need to do the on field work. Well.
Roger Goodell said today that even though there's gonna be
continue negotiations with the Players Association, that virtual learning is
going to forever be a part of the NFL because
games have been competitive, penalties are down, Guys figured it out.
(08:52):
You know, coaches are saying, sure, some guys need some
on field work at some point. But Jim, it really
sounds like, again we're maybe we won't have O T
s or maybe they'll be one day of on field
O T there's gonna be some type of off season
change which all sides seemingly can live with. Yeah, I
think that there's a there's a potential middle ground here.
(09:16):
You know, as Todd Bowle says, as a coach, These
young guys do need work, the ones who are transitioning
out of college or the ones who haven't had much
playing time. So I think there can be a middle
ground where maybe guys with one or two years experience
or who have not played an X number of games.
I mean, define it anyway you want, but those guys
can maybe continue and get some on field work in
(09:39):
the off season, whereas these veterans, whether you're you know,
you're four years in, three or four years in or more,
they don't need to be on the field like that.
Andrew Whitworth doesn't need to be going through walkthroughs or
or unpadded practices if you will, during the off season.
So I do think there's an opportunity for or a
(10:00):
meeting of the minds here. Will it happen, I don't know,
But as J. C. Treader and others have said, we're
in a different world now, and this COVID off season
showed us that you can still get the job. Because
remember Steve, before the season, we were all like, this
is gonna be the sloppiest play we've seen probably ever
(10:20):
in the NFL. Exactly all of those things, and we
didn't see that. So if you again, if you're being
objective about it, then you have to look at the
data and say it wasn't as bad as what we thought.
Um And therefore there are ways when we talk about
players safety, to take some of the wear and tear
off of these players bodies and to give them time
(10:42):
what they're fent, more time with their families in the
off season. Yeah, look, we were focused. I've spocused in
front office people saying there's no need for everybody to
come in here five days a week during the off
season when they can spend two days a week and
summer and have four day weekends. You know, however they
want to arrange it. So again there's gonna be a
lot of discussion or nationally and with the club. So lastly, Jim,
(11:02):
before we get to Derek, a couple of quick things
that Roger Goodell talked about in terms of he would
not project if there's gonna be fans in the stadiums
next year, or if they're going to require vaccinations for
fans or people who are on the field, you know,
typically on the field. They just don't know yet based
on data. First off, the vaccinations will be available, but
(11:23):
they do like the fact that, oh, Jim's dog, Jim's
dog is barking. She's happy. That's all right on the head.
We love her. She's outside, she's outside, wants to play
with the dog next door. So all right, I love it.
You're dog is great everyone, Jim's dog and fantastic this
tech because I d it's obviously his German shepherd pictures, um,
(11:44):
and you know, and you know. He also said, what's
interesting is that the International Games are still scheduled. Okay,
that doesn't mean that they won't be, but the sounds
that they're gonna take it up until April when they
typically announce the schedule to decide what they're gonna do,
and seventeen games. They're gonna talk to the players Association
about it. But seventeen games is definitely it seems like
(12:05):
it's in the offing starting. So a couple of things
right there. No thing you talked about is how great
the city of Tampa has had to deal with, Um,
the Super Bowl. Not a lot of people here, no
big tent pole events. And Jim our next guest, he's
on the Tampa host committee. Um, great man, great person.
Let's get to Derek Brooks and see what he has
(12:27):
to say about trying to host the Super Bowl, about
his Buccaneers. Oh yeah, and the Hall of Fame, which
will be announced Saturday at NFL Honors. All right, Jim,
Now we are joined by one of the all time
great linebacker, someone you helped put into a gold jacket
(12:51):
in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Tampa Bay buccaneer
Derek Brooks. I don't think I did much to put
him in. I think Derek for himself, it wouldn't have
mattered if I was in the room or not. He
was going into the Hall on that first ballot because
of his place. So many many props to him. Derek.
(13:14):
How are you doing? I'm doing alright? Alright, guys. And
you know what, Jim, I always tell like I tell
Ira this man, Yeah, you know, our careers, you know,
gives you a resume. But still someone has to go
in there and tell the story. So it's just not
an automatic Honestly, I just feel that way. It's not automatic.
(13:34):
So kudos to you guys man that's going in there
grinding through this. And I can just imagine you got
you know, guys going against each other that you know
a great players and trust me, if I'm asked to
do this, I'm probably gonna say no, you yeah, you
(13:55):
guys have a tough job. And and for me, I
guess I'm just so I feel like I'm so close
to the game and respected so much. I don't know
if I could separate my my fandom, you know, from
the actual job that it would take to sit there
and decipher through this and come down to the minor
details in doing it. And I suppose the coach done
(14:18):
you about it before, you know, he accepted this position,
you know, to take over, you know, for Dan and James,
and you know he even struggled with some of that.
But at the end of the day, Coach just felt
he owed it to himself to get back to the
game in this manner. And I told her, I said, Coach,
you a better man than me, because I don't know,
I'll find another way to contribute to the game. Going
(14:39):
into that room on a serious note, I didn't wonder
how guy's former players and even coaches would handle that.
And to Tony's credit, without you know, violating any privilege
of the room, one of the things he was in
that room was very honest, um, and I appreciate that
about him, Because if a guy comes in there, if
(15:00):
you were to come in and talk solely about your teammates,
you know, and and you know glowingly about your teammate
and the kind of suspect about another guy, you might say, Uh,
is that the relationship or is that the truth? Yes,
but that's why I feel, yeah, yeah, Tony did a
great job, And that's why I say I don't know
if I could separate myself from that. But at the
(15:22):
same time, I would never go without recognizing what you
guys got to do despite the resume. I mean, even
Tom Brady. We know he's he's going in, but still
someone's gonna have to go in there and present the
story and tell it. Hold up here, up here, dad,
let me hold up. No, let me tell you what
(15:44):
the presentation for Tom Brady is going to be. When
he gets in that room, whether I'm there or not,
someone will stand up and say, I present to you
Tom Brady. Any questions, and then he will sit down here.
Steve will say that I will be the end of
the discussion, and there might not be any questions. It
might just be I present to you Tom Brady, and
(16:06):
then that person sits down Okay, seriously, well, Jim, at
least that person had to say those five words. But
but Derek Tom's not going into the class of the
way he right now. Yes, yes, I mean that. Guys.
Were you surprised when they asked him this yesterday when
(16:26):
he playing to forty five? I was not surprised at
his answer. If they would have asked him fifty. I
think he just said, yes. Uh. What I've had, you know,
had the previous realities last eight months since thom has
been here, was to come to you know, appreciate his
ability to focus and stay into the moment. You know,
(16:47):
I've always heard about it, you know, whether it's through
Peyton or teammates of his over the years, that again,
his innate ability to do that and stay in the
moment and stay so present despite his success. But to
be here in Tampa and to see it a little
bit more up closely and just talk to him, you know,
throughout the year, I was just ultimately impressed, honestly, boyut
(17:12):
his ability to stay focused into the moment and treat
everything as if it's his first And you know, I
thought I thought I was good at it, but I
was really appreciative of Tom doing that this year, DV
if I can without without violating any privilege here, when
when a great player such as yourself sits down with
(17:32):
a Tom Brady, who obviously is Steve has mentioned, is
there will be no discussion about the Hall of Fame
when you two get together in your private time and
just talk. What is that conversation like? Uh, you know,
I it was more about you know, and again these
are things I don't think he might sharing. It was
(17:53):
more about adjusting and him understanding that this is new
territory for him. So in his mind it was like
he was a rookie all over again because he's only
known one way, one city, one environment, and for him,
it was discovering, Hey, what's new about me? Where can
(18:16):
I get better? A new set of teammates, you know,
having to go out of his way to you know,
learn teammates were before you know, obviously he did it
with new teammates in New England, but that environment was
already set. He had to come here and learn a
new staff, learned teammates, learned you know, terminology, learn a city.
I mean, think about it. His first probably weekend Tampa.
(18:39):
He didn't know. It was like for people to just
pull up to his house off of the water. He
thought he would have all the all the private shi
in the world. It wasn't the case. He thought he
could just go to a park and work out and
do all these things that he was previous to. And
again we laugh about it now, but it was just understanding,
you know, those moments in discovering that about himself. So
(19:02):
it was more of the private conversations was hey, how
how quickly do I adjust? And how do I adjust?
And being open to a new themes. So that was
where more of those discussions in our private moments, Dick.
You know, it was interesting to me listening to both
him and Byron Left, which speak of the media day
yesterday was Brady saying like, Left is my coach and
(19:25):
Left saying, oh, no, Brady wanted to be coached, when
from the outside saying, hey, Brady has played for so long,
he said, there's a lost his career. He's gonna tell
Left what he wants to do. And he was like, no, no,
I'm the player and you're the coach. And again you've
got to see it from a much closer perspective than
I have. But what about him again, setting everything aside
(19:49):
to be coached by guy he used to play against,
um who's who's just two years into this coordinator thing
and setting ego aside to the point where now it's worked.
That's where they're playing in this supermore. Yeah, I think again,
that's where they didn't have the privilege of an off season,
in a preseason to work through that. And I would
be remissed without mentioning Clyde Christiansen also the quarterback coach,
(20:13):
being a part of that communication, and give coach Arians
a lot of credit. He stepped back and he said, guys,
my hands are off of this. It's your relationship, your offense.
You three got to figure it out for the best
of our team versus some coaches may have jumped in,
you know, as a head coach and and had more
(20:35):
you know of a direct approach. But give give coach
Aaron's credit for trusting in Tom, Clyde and Byron to
figure this out together where it was communication of the offense,
whether it was game Planet, etcetera. You give credit, you know,
to them. And as I said before, that's some of
the things that people on the outside learned about Tom
(20:56):
this year. It's his willingness to be coached someone new
again he was under what it was Bill O'Brien and
where it was Josh. He had time to build those
relationships up. We're here. He hit it on the run.
And for him being that open to do that, you
know again, man, I was extremely impressed with that. It was.
(21:18):
It kind of reminded me when when Mike Tomlin came
in to coach John Lynch coach House Secondary with Mike
Donald was here and Lynch was three years older older
than him, and Joe Barry was my linebacker coach, and
you know, I was the same age as Joe Barry,
so I could relate to some of those things where
a player really had to humble himself and a coach
(21:41):
having to step forward and claim that real estate. And
again I give credit for those two for spending the
time to work it out, because I believe when they
figured it out, probably during that halfway point of the season,
this office took off and they haven't looked back since. Derek,
how important is it for a player of your level
(22:01):
of ability times level of ability to be challenged? Um,
Because the one thing I had always heard about time
in New England is you better bring something new to
him every week, if not every day, or he's gonna
start to tune you out. Can you speak to that
from a player of your ability about how important it
is to be challenged by a coaching staff and to
(22:22):
not just say Derek's got it, he's a Hall of Famer,
he's good. You know that. They got to bring something
to you. Yeah, you do have to do that from
a staff standpoint, and I think also from the player's standpoint,
I think this team, Tom saw the talent on a
daily basis of what this team and what these assets
was capable of doing. And I think he had to
(22:45):
put him himself in a position to push Mike Evans,
you know, push Chris Godwin, you know, push even o
J when he was healthy and camera and then we
obviously Grant coming in gave him some you know, familiar
familiar face. But also Gronk was away from the game
for a year, so it was a reset button for
him as well. So I think this type of offense
(23:08):
was challenging enough to talk because Tom wasn't used to
the risk it, no what is it, no risk it,
no biscuit approach in all the downfield home run hitting plays,
he wasn't used to that, and again he had to
pool to himself that he still had enough arm strength
for this office. At the same time, Byron only knows
(23:30):
one office and that's coach areas. So I think they
both had to go through a learning process where hey,
we can still have the best of both worlds. We
just gotta figure out where it fits in the game
playing on the week to week basis and toil your point, Jim,
I think that was enough to challenge Tom on a
mental basis and also on a physical basis as well.
(23:54):
Hey hey there, it wasn't no risk, no biscuit from
Tom said what I don't have that side protection health? Right?
I got to block this guy one on one. Oh no, no, no,
I'm not good with that. That was about I want
to I want to flip it to the other side
of your side of the ball um because throughout this postseason,
I don't think it's it's it's amazing. Now They've been
(24:14):
talked about enough. This defense is getting takeaways at an
alarming rate. We saw what they did to the Saints,
we saw what they did to the Packers. Devin White,
the guys in the secondary, the pressures that Shack Barrett
and J P. P Are getting and then the offense
is converting them into points. I mean forty one points
off of off of takeaways so far and through in
(24:34):
three postseason games. But what is clicking so well with
this defense because all three levels, even with injuries at safety,
are functioning at like an optimum level. Yes, uh, Steve.
You go back to the second half of the Atlanta
Falcons game week twil and they came out that second
half and they was flying around and they forced on
(24:58):
the I believe the first four drives of Atlanta they
forced three turnovers and the offense pulled away. And this
team really hasn't looked back since. They've been undefeated ever
since that half. And I look at the key component
one they've stayed healthy. Outside of Devin uh missing a
little bit of time due to COVID, all of these
(25:21):
guys have stayed healthy. Peter Vader coming back last week
was a very big difference in that Packer game and
taking away the running game, and that was probably a
piece that was missing was the run defense wasn't as
tight as it needed to be in some of that
shoulder gainst the Washington Redskins in the playoffs. But Coach
bowl watching football team, Washington football team, I'm sorry, I'm
(25:43):
sorry you, Washington football team. Apologize. Apologizing Martin made you,
uh alright, apologize. But to my point, I think Coach
Bowls has has really done a great job of end
game adjustments, and I think that's one of the things
that's probably been overlooked. Whether it was waiting against the
Washington football team waiting to the fourth quarter to blitz
(26:06):
that young quarterback and forced turnovers, or going into the
safe game and taking away the deep ball and putting
pressure on jew Brees, or even going against Green Brain
loading up that box and taking away to run a
game and make an errand throw every down. I think
they've done a great job of making these adjustments until
your point, they have made quarterbacks pay for the mistakes.
(26:28):
Interceptions are interceptions. They're not pass breakups. When the guys
had a quarterback in the pocket, they're bringing them down
for sacks. They're not letting him throw the ball away.
So those are gonna be critical, obviously going against patrickal
Holmes in this offense this week, but I think you
know when they say turnovers coming, bunches, sacks coming, bunches
(26:51):
and they match up together and you win the turnover battle.
That has definitely been the case for this bucket their defense.
Give me a scouting report on on Devin White. Uh,
Thenni White, I think he's he's matured so much this year. Uh.
And I think a lot of that growth you give
a lot of credit to Lavante David and I think
(27:13):
they've become a one one of the best one two
tandems in the league right now. But this young man
was drafted to come in and make impact blade That's
what he did at L s U. And you're starting
to see his game expand where he's using that speed
to go sideline the sideline, he's understanding what zone spacing
is in a zone defense. You know his man that
(27:35):
you know he's always been a great bliitzer and understanding
that component because he was a former running back, so
he understands that. But now, I think, really the last
six weeks, because Bowls has positioned him and he's adjusted
his game where now he could use that speed and
that ability as an asset because he's understanding more zone
(27:55):
spacing and you see that with the interceptions that he's
received and he's gotten so I think he's going to
continue to get better because he definitely has the big playability.
But at the same time, I think Lavonte David compliments
him well and they probably probably one of the best
one to punches right now in tens of in the league.
(28:16):
I'm curious if you are if you were on Tampa's
defense right now, knowing that Kansas City's offensive line is
banged up, what would you expect from them in terms
of how they try and protect Because Tampa has been
generating so much heat up front and coach bowls when
he does bring heat. If you're the Bucks, what would
you anticipate from from Kansas City at this moment, knowing
(28:39):
that the line is banged up, They're gonna run the football.
They're gonna have to come out and established a run.
Uh think about this for one second. The Kansas City
Chiefs got back and got back in the game, and
last year's Super Bowl against the forty nine is by
running the football, and I think that was the Eric
(29:00):
Enemy influenced on Andy Reid and his offense that coach
behind me has not gotten a lot of credit for.
I still don't think he's gotten a lot of credit
for that, But They got back into the Super Bowl
by running the football and that allowed them to set
up the downfield passing in big plays that they were
able to hit the fourth quarter. So I think with
two banged up with two tackle positions that ask questions,
(29:23):
they're gonna have to come out and established the run
a game, And that to me says the stage or
how they're gonna have to protect Patrick because if you
get the Bucket, their defense back on the heels, and
now they can't dictate tempo, they can't dictate the skies
and dictate pressure. Then that's you know, that's not going
to board well for Kansas City. So I think they're
gonna have to come out and try to establish the
(29:45):
run and then get get some winnable downs. But now
Patrick and the play calling become an asset against the
buck in their defense. This, Derek, and this is gonna
be your specialty too, because the speed of linebacker that
the Bucks have. We see when teams try to deny
the Chiefs deep, try to deny the run game. Patricks
got run lanes. Do you think those run lanes can
(30:07):
be big enough there for him? Because I mean third
and tent is nothing to him. My third intent is
nothing to the Chiefs, It's nothing to the Holmes. Do
you think the speed of linebackers, with Lavonte and Devon
being three down linebackers, kind of minimizes the potential for
him to scramble or to create and do a little
shovel pass kind of last minute dump off pass to
a running backer to Kelsey. I think when they forced
(30:29):
Patrick into this position, they got a tackle him. They
got and I think Patrick understands the last time that
he ran, you know, he got tackled very physical and
had to come out of the game. So I think
if he runs the football and he does a slide,
they got to make it a physical tackle and make
(30:51):
him feel make them feel him when when he does
do that. And another key is Kansasy is going to
get yards, may just keep the ball in front of you.
Play great red zone defense, try to help to feel,
help you dictate temple when you get down into the
red zone. Nine that kind of neutralizes ty retail speed
(31:15):
where it's not vertical, it's hard zone, and as it
comes hard zone, you gotta corral of football and top
of him. When you get down in the red zone,
it gives you a better chance to double team Kelsey
versus trying to double team him in the field. So
I look at this as if they can play great
reds on defense and when Patrick runs the football, account
for him and make it a physical tackle, then obviously
(31:39):
those are some of the things that they can do.
I mean, that's what we when when we played explosive
offenses such as the Rams back in our day, we
say we're gonna make them go through our red zoe
and we're gonna make it a physical football game. When
they tap, we know they're gonna get some yards, but
make sure you bring them down hard, make sure they
don't want to catch it again, and to it it's
(32:00):
a fate, a physical game, and that's what we were
able to do. We didn't go in with no exotic
defenses that we tried to put in at the last minute.
We just played sound defense ourselves, made them go through
our red zone that they had to score. And you
look back over the years, we had our fast share
success against the greatest show on turf, except for the
(32:24):
one game we lost. With the NFC Championship game, we
were you know, we were winning six to five. You know,
before Ricky Poe only touchdown. He's scoring off the side
of his help. Come on, come on, do do me
(32:47):
a favor here. I know you're down in Tampa. The
super Bowl is getting ready to happen. You want to
tie it over the back In the old two season,
I believe it was can you take us behind the
curtain of what it's like, what that game is like,
what preparation it's like that maybe we on the outside
don't see um give us some flavor. Uh. For us,
(33:09):
that was the last year that we didn't have the
bye week when we went to the super Bowl, and
ever since then they've implemented the bye week as a
permanent theme for the Super Bowl. And let me tell you, guys,
I'm so glad we did have a bout week. With
those personalities that we had on that team. We needed
to stay in football mode. We didn't need to change
(33:32):
a thing. I could think one in particular their game.
I could think of Twin So I'm going to protect
the innocent here. But for for us, I was so
glad that we went from you know, the high of
defeating Philly on the road, that we didn't even have
(33:54):
time to think about that. Guys. We shifted into game
mode because we had to come back and get ready
to liut to the West Coast, So we basically stayed
in the same as a game week, and that really
helped us from a mentally focused standpoint that everything was routine. Nowadays,
teams gotta they gotta, you know, take care of everything
(34:16):
once you win the championship to spend the first days
with logistics, so you got to hit the reset button
to start over the preparation and then you don't want
to over prepare because you've got two weeks, so it's
not so most teams try to treat it like a
bye week, but it's kind of hard to do that
because you're the center of attention in terms of the
event of the super Bowl, and that's what players really
(34:40):
have to fight against and understand. You are here to
play the game of the super Bowl. Everybody else they're
here for the event of the Super Bowl. And that
is the hardest thing that players have to fight against, family,
against friends, against the even other teammates. They have to
(35:02):
fight that mentality to do it. So as you get
closer to the game, it makes it easier to wire
in because now everything is all about football and and
you try to eliminate you know, all those distractions that
come with it. But if I'm taking everybody behind the curtain,
I would just simply say that the players really have
to wire in and focus on the game of the
(35:25):
Super Bowl, which is very different than the event of
a Super Bowl. No, but I go back and look
at that game, and and your defense score a touchdowns
in Oakland's offense in that game. You guys made it
look so easy. I mean, how much of an advantage
did you actually have with Brewton having come from Oakland
the previous year, knowing that Raiders offense, knowing that system. Seriously,
(35:50):
how much of an advantage did you have because of that?
You know, we had the advantage of coach Grewen knowing
their personality. And during that week when John, you know,
play a quarterback, and rumor has it that he sliced
our defense. That is not true. We had to let him.
We we had to let him complete passes in order
(36:13):
to get out of practice. Okay, so we let him passes.
But John, he did a good job of setting setting
up and letting us know Oakless personality such as, hey,
when you show risk getting this, his personality is gonna
dictate what he's gonna do. Put Jerry Rice in this situation,
(36:33):
this is how he's gonna respond. But it was Tim Brown,
Charlie Garner. You know, he knew their defensive personnel and
their personality. Now, yes he's you know, he said, hey,
these are plays that you see on film and terminology
and and be honest me to some of that. Some
of it work, but most of it didn't. They changed
up their terminology because they knew, but they couldn't change
(36:55):
their personalities. And it showed. And Coach gruten final message
to that to our defense before we hit that field
was if you don't make make risk and pay for mistakes,
he's going to come back and kill us. If he
throws the ball up, you can't make it a pass
break up. You have to make an interception and do
(37:17):
something with it. Don't give risk and in a second chance.
And we didn't. When he put the ball up and
we had a chance to go get it, man, we
turned them into interceptions and obviously ended up scoring testdowns.
But that was for us. That was a key understanding
their personalities and making you know, quite frankly, making risk
and and paid for mistakes. See before, when we were
(37:39):
talking about, you know, prepping for the event, the two
week issue. This super Bowl is so unique, right because
Tampa's home got you guys, aren't you know? The teams
are having to travel and because of COVID, the Chiefs
are home all week. They're not coming out until the
day before the game, so it's like a regular season
road trips, so distractions are really minimal. But I want
to I want to get back to because now we've
(38:01):
seen him come back again in the new activity and
they're they're on a hamster wheel, right, Yes, do you think?
I mean you saw some things this year like wow,
I mean they're offensives at some points are great, but
then you got to the second half of the season
and it was all over. Everything was all over the place.
Defense never settled in. What do you think it's gonna
take for John to re established himself or can he
(38:25):
do it? Yes? I think he can do it. Uh.
And in all fairness to John, he had to adjust
that first year coming back and understand that this was
a different NFL then when he had left as a coach,
and very different than what he was covering as a broadcaster,
and it took him. I believe it took him really
(38:47):
a year to understand that and then understand dealing with
today's player on a daily basis. I can I can't
even count the number of times I talked to him,
and it's like I wish I had a Terry Brooks
in my locker room that that could deal with all
these things and I could stay focused in on coaching.
(39:09):
You know, he had to understand that players were concerned,
you know, other things outside of football was important to
his team, and he had to adjust and understand that.
But I think one of the big moves that coach
made this offseason was making the changes in this coaching staff,
bringing in Gus Bradley, redoing the defense. And you look
(39:30):
at that staff now, it's pretty much of guys that
John has coached within the past, and that to me
gives me a lot of confidence that now that he
has his staff really put together the way that he
wants it now, I think they can make a serious challenge,
you know, to the chiefs the top of the a
f C. West. Uh. They do have some young talent
(39:52):
that need to to grow, and I think Mike is
doing a good job, to be honest with you, with
John and filling in the pieces. So now that I
think they have a really solid staff solidified, I think
them to uh really challenge the Chiefs. Now, I'm not
saying they're gonna be thrown them, but they showed this
year that not only that they could play with them,
that they could beat them. So I think look for
(40:13):
them to take another step next year towards turned around
around the Raiders franchise. Did tell tell them tell a
real quick not to take a victory lap after a
regular season victory? Yeah, I mean it's probably one of
those things that they that they do regret, uh that
they got caught up in emotions of but you know,
(40:34):
again your living your learn right. Well, it's interesting to
me that the one piece that they're missing is the
one piece that they gave away that they have not
been able to replace, and that's that edge rusher. And
they keep coming back to that as being a problem
for them that they can find a way. The general pressure,
consistent pressure on the quarterback, Well, you had a guy
(40:55):
there that you could have done it, you know, And
maybe I'm wrong here. I know you're close to John,
but I'm gonna say this, and I'll use political terms
to make it easy to understand. What John and Mike
Mayock did to me is what Donald Trump tried to
do to Obama. It's like lap everything away that Obama
and put in place. They came in and tried to
(41:15):
wipe away everything that Reggie mckinson did put in place.
And that's how I view it. And they haven't recovered
from that. So anyway, I don't want to put you
on the spot with that. I'm gonna let that go.
That's just my commentary on it. So um, but let
me ask you. I will say this, I was shocked
when that happened. I sat back and I was like, whoa, Okay,
(41:40):
didn't see that one coming. That's kinda that's kinda all
I take it. And obviously, uh, the results speaking themselves,
they deserve judge. Yes, sir, let me ask you this.
This is probably the hardest question you're gonna get, maybe
the easiest. What's what's harder? Hosting a Super Bowl in
(42:00):
your hometown as a retired Hall of Fame player? We
actually playing in that game? You know what Jim with
with It's not even close. It's playing in a Super Bowl. Man,
if I I joke about this, but if I knew
when I accepted to be co chairman of our host committee.
(42:21):
If I had known how much work it would have been,
I probably would have said no, or I don't know.
I wouldn't have saying I wouldn't have said yes as
quickly as I did just say that. But for me,
it's allowed me a chance to to grow myself personally
(42:42):
and and earn a lot of business equity. Uh, not
just in this town, but even in the NFL circles
where they've had a chance to see me outside of
being a player and sitting in a decision making seat
and whether strategically playing and whether I have an execution strategy. Well,
(43:03):
I've had to be part of a team that has
to pivot daily because there was no blueprint for us
to put on a Super Bowl in a health pandemic,
so we had to rewrite the rules and hopefully l
A in Vegas they get a chance to take our
blueprint and learn from it because we don't know where
we'll be in two or three, so at least we've
(43:25):
given them a head start. At the same time, I
think we positioned ourselves to earn the right when the
bids come up again that Tampa get a lot more
serious consideration than we did before because we stepped in
when the NFL asked. We stepped in and took the
challenge of taking on the Super Bowl when obviously l
(43:46):
A wasn't reading. And I think we've done the best
that we can in planning for every possible scenario and
making this Super Bowl as safe as possible under the
best health concerns there are, but yet still creating as
much since we can the same experience for everybody, even
though we got reduced capacity across all boards. And people say, oh,
(44:07):
isn't there a shame that the Bucks made history and
we don't have a full stadium, And I said, guys,
why not? Why look at it like that? Let's look
at it. Ask hey, Buccaneers did the first part of history.
Who knows the data done it under any other conditions.
They did it under these conditions. And if they go
out and win, it doesn't matter how many people are
(44:29):
in that stadium. It's gonna be enough celebration of town
for everybody to participate. And we hope they ride the
same momentum. Man, I stand lightning one Stanley Cup. You
know I raised failed a couple of games short of
defeating the Dodgers and and hopefully if the Bucks able
to get it done, you know, we'll consider ourselves, you know,
(44:50):
the two championship town Oh ho ho, Hey, hey there,
I can't say anything. I'm in San Diego, so I
can't speak on it. You know, well, we represent you guys,
because that's what we wanted out super Bowl. I remember,
(45:14):
I will say this. I'm in Tampa and it's amazing
what the city is done because it looks I mean
physically it looks like a regular Super Bowl with the signage,
with the events. State is intense and things like this.
Um you know, you know, it's hard to get everybody
to comply with social distancing and things like that. It's
probably a little bit more intense as you go, but
I mean it's it's amazing to see things seem so
(45:38):
the regalia, like as you said, it's an event still
going on when we've got this cloud of fear over.
So salute to you and the people of Tampa and
then the local political leaders to to pull off, um
what this is done. Now. I do want to change
gears because I do want to get someone who's the
students you as a players, so many strong convictions something
(45:59):
we're saying play out in real time in the NFL
right now, and that's player leverage. And if he has,
that's DeShawn Watson by him saying, hey, I'm out. I'm
let everybody know I want out. This isn't me just
asking for a trade. This is a game of chicken.
I don't care who you hired as coach or whatever.
Either you get rid of me or I'm just gonna
(46:22):
I'm just gonna torpedo this this whole thing. You know,
he hasn't said in those terms, but we get what's
going on. What do you when you look at that situation?
First off, what do you think about it? And is
this because he is a quarterbacks? This one of the
few players and he's a great quarterback who can exercise
that type of leverage over a franchise because we see
in the NBA and other sports, but you just don't
see it in the NFL. Well, I would say this
(46:45):
that I look at this as where is there an
opportunity for both sides too, look at this as recognizing
each his partners and how do you played to that
leverage where everybody wins? And maybe you look at how
(47:06):
there are partnerships in terms of players and owners in
the league, in the NBA League office when it gets
to executing, you know, certain strategies and showing more of
a united front when it gets to that, and maybe
they are some learning from it. On the other hand,
you know, isn't now that you've hired someone and and
(47:28):
David Culley, who now has an opportunity to show his
leadership skill and he's been known as a player's coach.
Can he pull this off and repairing a relationship? Clearly
that he's walking into hot fire. Does he have enough
water to cool this down and earn the trust of
(47:49):
a player and get in between that relationship when it
gets to owners. So I look at this as one
is is this enough players who have this type of
influence in the NFL? I don't know, because we have
eighteen hundred players and there's a very small pot of players.
(48:10):
And you look at this position and I asked myself,
if this wasn't the quarterback position, what does this even
be a discussion when it gets to that again, I'm
anxious to learn, anxious to learn the learnings from that.
But I think that Sean has taken up position of
now everybody has put equal focus on that in terms
(48:34):
of attention, and I want to see it play out,
you know, on both sides, because I don't know who ends,
but I do know this something needs to be prepared.
And I'm not I'm not of the mindset to say
if de Sean is traded that this is going to
be a trend. I don't know, because I just said,
(48:55):
who in terms of players have this type of rich
and who in terms of players and owners relationship has
been this damage. Not not very many. At the same time,
I want to look at this as maybe this is
probably one of those times where ownership has to step
(49:16):
up and look at the player in a different light
and not just an employee, but maybe as a partner
because they put the player in this position player to
put himself. And again I think he's, you know, bringing
a certain level accountability to Hey, you guys said this,
and I'm gonna hold you two accountable to what you
(49:37):
said to me, you know, Derek, I want to I
want to ask you this too about thinking outside the box.
We have seen instances in recent years in the league
where it happens. Let's go back to San Francisco hiring
John Lynch's general manager with no gym experience, of personnel experience,
Let's go to Houston talking about interviewing Josh McCown for
(49:58):
the head coaching job with no coaching experience, you have
executive experience from owning an Arena Football League team and whatnot.
I want to put this out there now, Does Derek bros.
Have interest in the NFL? Because anyone works to this
podcast is going to hear this game. You know the
(50:22):
history of this league, you know personnel. Is there interest
on your part? Man? If I thought I was going
to get off this car without you going down that road,
I know I can't share this. Uh just from where
(50:43):
I sit with with my family, the teams that that
I've talked to behind the scenes, I told them that
right now, I'm just not prepared for that commitment. Uh
here where my family is with obviously my son Florida
State and and finish his career to my daughter, you know,
(51:04):
a pretty good little softball player here in high school
here in Tampa. I'm just not ready for that type
of commitment right now to invest into that and put
my family in that position and the things that I
do right now with the NFL p A and NFL
as an appeals officer. Uh. They both have allowed me
(51:27):
to lean in in terms of access, uh, in influence
to give back to this game. And I thank them
for that because I've had a chance to elevate this
position as an appeals officer to make sure that our
relationships across all fronts, whether it's players, whether it's owners,
whether it's officials, etcetera. I've had a chance to be
(51:50):
a part of that process, and again, extremely excited and
satisfied with that. At the same time, I have enough
is in colleagues that are running teams now, uh that
I consult with a matter of fact, I probably need
to start sending them in voices again I get a
(52:12):
chance to to really talk to them, you know, and
help them grow and know and be a sounding board.
And guys, I have I have a great job working
for Mr Vinnick, you know, in our Tampa Bay Lightning round,
our corporated business development and running the team. So you
know right now, you know, Derrick Brooks, you know, I'm fine,
(52:33):
But we will see what the future holds uh for me.
But I have I have shared you know, with teams,
not even shared with colleges Uh, that asked me to
come be an athletic director. I just told him right
now in the space and place that I said, I
can't make that commitment because I know me, I'm going
to dive in one thousand percent and something will have
(52:56):
to suffer and I'm not willing to put my family
in that position, not right now in my life. Well,
I do know when you do do it, he's gonna
be fantastic. Hey, Jim Me and Jim Bowl can let
you know Howard University has a softball team. So when
your daughter is ready, when your daughter is ready, yes, sir,
(53:23):
you know all right, yeah, my wife, because my wife
low they can happen. They could happen. We're get ready
to let you have the hook now now the gym.
(53:44):
This guy got a question. Hey, but real quick as
we started, go ahead. No, No, I'm just saying I'm
always looking for good brothers to come into the league
and do some positive things. So and anyone who talks
to Derek knows that he is about his business and
that he understands this game. You know, you can see
it from a player's standpoint, you can see it from
(54:06):
management standpoint. Having on an arena league team. So he
gets it, um. And that's why I say I think
he would be a valuable asset if he were to
sit in that chair one day for one of these clubs.
Than I appreciate Hey and Derek. Since we started this
conversation with the Hall of Fame, we know Saturday, um,
the final results are going to be announced a NFL
Honors Jim missed. Jim was part of the process once again.
(54:31):
But just your thoughts on the eight people who are
gonna be joining you in Canton and football immortality. We
don't know who they are, but just some thoughts on
some of the people. You know, Peyton Manning, you know
of the monetary guys, but but just some of them
are some of the folks you know who you think
maybe should go in or who you're you're looking towards. Um,
(54:52):
you know again join you in that bus room. Well, uh,
you know, I'll keep it short and sweet, uh and
Jim knowing and I think Jim uh Steve for you know,
allowing me to to really uh have a discussion with
him about you know, John Lynch, Ronde Barbard, even Simeon
Rice and I'm in all these voters know that I'm openly.
(55:15):
I hate to use use the word campaigning, but I'm
openly asking questions and giving information about my three teammates
who I think are deserving, uh to be uh really
in that room and selected to have a gold jacket.
And man, if anybody's on the cuffs, I think John
(55:35):
Lynch would be that, And what that what kind perfect
that will be if it's John or or Ronde or
both here in Tampa, Florida, Super Bowl fifty five of
all Super Bowls and they are selected to have a
gold jacket, would just be again more I just enough
icing on the cake for that. And you know, obviously
(55:58):
there are others, but I just feel, you know, with
my three teammates, and I've seen what they've done measured
against the other grades of this game that are gold
jacket members, uh, that they are deserving of that. And
I understand that, you know, even for Jim a little
bit different and not having that you know, personal sea
(56:19):
feel and touch to get the temperature of a room,
and and like I said, even for them not even knowing,
you know, honestly, I think it's unfair that you guys
don't know, but only David Baker and a couple of
others do, but that doesn't diminish the process. And again,
if if my teammates are allowed to you know, have
(56:41):
that bus and join us and can, I will be
over its static you know about that. But again, uh,
kudos to you guys, Jim again for being able to
pivot and make adjustments to this process as well. And
and I wanna you know, even think President Baker because
(57:02):
each year he tries to adjust this process to stay
current with the game. And it took a while, uh
to even start that process of change. But I think
you know, you guys as selectors, you know, keep sitting
him because we I'm on the board and so keep
sitting information on how we can get better, how can
(57:25):
we can stay relevant and current, you know, with the
current game, even though we're the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
you know, we have to stay current and relevant and
be ever changing too. And see Steve, this is the
reason Derek does not want to be on that committee
because I can now hold on. If he were on
that committee, someone would say to him, Derek, we got
(57:48):
one spot left. We got John Lynch, and we got
Ronde Barber. Who are you putting in? Yes? And Derek
would have to answer that question. That's why he doesn't
want to be that committee. No, no where right there.
You know what, I probably write my name, write it.
Hey here, you're going to sheet of paper and walk
(58:09):
out of the room. Yeah all right, hey, well once
again you you the people on the host committee, the
city of Tampa just doing a fantastic job of setting
this up for Super Bowl fifty five. I know you're
a probably buccaneer um, a great Hall of famer and
(58:30):
the father of a future Howard Bison. Very good, Thank
you so much. Oh man, it's my pleasure man, And
again obviously enjoy you know, listening to you guys and
obviously read every piece that you guys. Right, so you guys,
you know, keeping trance set as yourself. I appreciate you, Derek.
(58:53):
I know it's a busy week for you, so taking
time out for the huddle and flow means a lot. Man.
Thank you, alright, no problem as a game. Can't wait
to see Steve a team who needs a general manager
one day. Derek Brooks is someone I think would do
a phenomenal job when he's ready. He's just I think
(59:16):
you here in this interview just how thoughtful he is
how intelligent he is, and he brings a business aspect
and a player aspect um or he would bring a
business aspect and a player aspect to that position. So um,
you know, I got to thank him for taking time
out of his week to spend with us, because as
you know, super Bowl week can be pretty hectic, and
(59:38):
to have Todd Bowles and Derek Brooks both carve out
some times for the huddle and flow major thanks in
respect to them. Yeah, mad love to to both of them. Look,
one thing I loved about you know, Derek, and first
of all, I think you do. You talked about general manager.
He'd be a great team president too. Owner. He'd be
a yes, pretty pleased, let's make that happen. But the
(01:00:04):
one thing I love about him, and this is like
the linebacker, the football player. And when he was talking
about Patrick Mahomes saying, yeah Mahomes scrambles out of the pocket,
the Buccaneers defenders they need to let him know, they
need to let him feel them. So in other words,
go ahead, rack and ring him up a couple of times,
stick him a couple of times, knock the wind out
(01:00:26):
of and let him know, hey, you know you may
not want to cross that bridge next time you come
down this way. So I just love at the football
player in him, absolutely, But how good was it to
hear him break down the game from his advantage point
in terms of his experience, not only playing in the
Super Bowl, but playing against let's say, a high power offense,
(01:00:46):
that sort of thing. Those are the kind of things
I can just sit and listen to all day to
hear how a great player's mind works in those situations
and how they would attack and and and to call
on their experiences. I just I'm just always those times,
I'm so thankful whenever we have an opportunity to just
sit back and learn from these guys you know the
(01:01:08):
true grades. So again, thank you to Derek Um. It
was awesome, yep, Jim, And why don't you go ahead
and bring us home because we got a Super Bowl
to get to finally, So we again thank you for
your support. We thank you for subscribing, We thank you
(01:01:28):
for leaving us comments, telling us what you want to hear,
who you would like to hear from, what issues you like,
you would like a dress, because when you do that,
we're able to give you more of what you're funking
for And yes, y'all, just because there's a Super Bowl
and the games are stopped will stop being played, that
(01:01:50):
does not mean the huddle and flow is going away.
Jim and I and Thomas are going to be here
as long as you want us here. And one of
the reasons we're gonna be here because of our great
sponsor Into It, proudmakers of Turbo Tax, Quick Books and Mint.
They're keeping us afloat. We're gonna be here for you
(01:02:10):
all because this is what we do for. Jim Trotter,
I'm Steve White, Thomas Warren on the ones and twos.
We are the Howard Mob and we are out
All right, everybody, we are back at the Huddle Flow podcast,
brought to you by Into It, the proud makers of
Quick Books, Turbo Tax and Mint. I'm Steve White with
my guy Jim Trotter. We are two thirds of the
Howard Mob. The other third Thomas Warren back on the
ones and twos by himself. He's got the wheels of steel.
And Jim, we are a couple of days away from
(00:37):
the Super Bowl. We're gonna be joined by a Super
Bowl champion and Hall of Famer Derek Brooks, former buccaneer
UH in just a few minutes. But leading up to
the Super Bowl and all the hype in well, the
hype is external because I'm here in Tampa. There's not
a lot of folks here. But Commissioner Roger Goodell UH
(00:57):
had a few things to say. It just it was
a real interesting kind of pullback that he did, Jim,
and you know, talking about the coaching diversity, because let's
start there, because he was asked a couple of really
good questions by Lindsay Jones the Athletic and then Peter
King of NBC Sports. In fact, Jim, let's hear from
(01:18):
the Commissioner Roger Goodell on that subject right now, I've
said this to you all many times. I'm not sure
there's an issue that we spent more time working with
our ownership on. Our ownership is committed, UM focused on this, UH.
And you know, we look at this as broadly as
possible about we want to make the NFL our clubs
(01:38):
more diverse. UH. And so it's much broader than just
head coaches for us. But the head coaches is important
and we put a lot of our policies and focused
on that this year. UH. As you know, we had
two minority coaches higher this year, but it wasn't what
we expected and it's not what we expect going forward.
So for us, UM, we want to continue to to
(02:00):
look and see what went right, what went wrong. I
think that has to happen with individual discussions with candidates,
both successful and unsuccessful candidates, the clubs and try to understand,
you know, exactly what did what went right and what
went wrong. UH. They're not the outcomes we wanted, and
we're committed more than ever to make sure that we
(02:22):
do that. UM basically saying, you know, what, what what
are you gonna do? Because it hasn't worked increased. Rooty
will hasn't worked. All of these other talking too, is
you've given the owners had work and he basically said, well,
I I guess we can keep talking to him. We're
not going to stop, but we're trying. I mean, it's
(02:42):
it's clearly a case if we've taken the horse to
the water, but the horse doesn't always have to drink. Yeah.
The thing I was most happy about is that he
didn't try out that pipeline argument again as to to
why minority coaches aren't being hired. So the reality is
now again you and I have said this for some
time now. The league off has done everything it can do.
(03:02):
The fact that it would even go so far as
to incentivize this process says it's gone about as far
as it can go. And you know, Tony Dungee wrote
an open letter to the owners this week and in
it he mentioned how uh disappointed he was and where
the league is at on this issue, and that you know,
(03:23):
there was a point where progress was made and now
everything has started to slide backwards. And really it's on
the owners, it's not on anyone else. And so what
I am hearing as you talk to people now is
if this is gonna continue down this road, then the
only steps left to try and make change are the
same things that happened back at the turn of the
(03:43):
century when legal action was threatened against the league, when
Cyrus Mary and Johnny Cochrane threatened to sue the NFL
over discrimination, and a year later, I believe it was
the Rooney Rule was adopted, and over the next decade
we saw incremental change in mental improvements as it related
to to coaching hires. The other thing I'm hearing now
(04:05):
is that you know there are organizations now that are
talking about going to sponsors NFL sponsors and asking them
if it is good business to do business with a
company whose record right now and diverse hires is not good.
So those are like the last and the extreme steps.
(04:26):
But there are those who feel that that's what's coming
if the owners UM do not make change. And look,
the reality is, and Tony Dungee said this in his
open letter, the most qualified people are not being hired
at this point. And you can objectively say that based
on resumes, experience, all those sorts of things. And so
(04:49):
if you can objectively say that the most qualified are
not being hired, UM someone needs to explain then why
that's happening. Yeah, and look that actually she's not coming
because the people who are not hiring they never explained.
They just kind of ship back like, hey, we got
(05:09):
we want blah blah blah, we're gonna go to the
next level, we're gonna move fast, we're gonna play a
high tempo, all this other stuff, you know, kind of
the traditional we're happy with the guy we hired lines.
You know, there were there were you know, go ahead,
y no. But it's like Jimmy Ray said to me
Um in our article I wrote earlier in the week,
that they don't have to answer to anyone. There's no
accountability and there are no consequences. And as you know, Steve,
(05:33):
until there are consequences, sometimes behavior doesn't change. And that's
why I say it's getting to the point now where
you have people even within the league who were saying
dramatic steps are going to have to be taken potentially
to make change. And that's something you don't always hear
Um that someone within the league. People within the league
(05:53):
would say, you know what, it may take legal action,
It may take threats against sponsors for owners to finally
say something's wrong here. Yeah. Look and by the way,
the fantastic article, Jim, you know we talked about NFL
dot com backslash trotter. If you want to get a
look at it is a fantastic read. Um, a lot
(06:15):
of good opinions from Eric the Enemy, Byron Leftwich. So
two of the coordinators, who with the two offensive coordinators
who are gonna be coaching in the Super Bowl, And Jim,
that's the one thing I don't want to hear any
owner right now say well I didn't know enough about
this guy or that guy. Watch the Super Bowl. Okay,
watch the Super Bowl, Todd Bowls D C for the Bucks,
(06:35):
Eric b Enemy O C for the Chiefs, Byron Leftwich,
O C for the Buccaneers. Okay, the resumes are on display. Okay,
someone's gonna win a championship. You're not, you know, because
you're at home. And so now you've got from now
until another almost calendar year. If you're thinking about making
a change or that's a possibility to start doing your
(06:58):
homework on these guys, stop leaving up in the hands
of somebody else, to start asking. That's what's amazing to me,
how all of a sudden a guy can get hot
over the final three months of the season because his
defense is killing or his offense is killing, he's running
a new wrinkle. But these guys work has been one's
work has been on displaces last year's Super Bowl, and
that's being lazy. That's big, ladies in your homework since then. Yeah,
(07:23):
guys getting hired based on one season. I mean, it's
just incredible. And then you have others who have a
body of work and they get ignored. It's it's just
it's mind numbing. And that's why again I'm saying, take
the subjectivity out of it and just look at it objectively.
And I always say, if you do blind resumes on
some of these guys and you put up some of
(07:45):
these minority coaches who have not been hired versus some
of these white coaches who have been hired, and we
did blind resumes, there's no way why I should put
it this way. It's very obvious which one is more
qualified for the job based on resumes. So clearly there's
(08:05):
something else beyond just qualifications taking place here. Well, as
Todd Bowles said, we know what's going on when we
spoke to the podcast, we know what's going on, and
here's something we're gonna bring you brought up with Todd
Bowls and something that was addressed, uh to Roger Goodell,
and that was of course the nflp A president J. C.
Trutter said several weeks ago, Hey, the offseason does not
(08:29):
ever need to go back to what it was like.
Andrew Whitworth said, Look, I could see coming in and
getting you know, your workout, in getting your conditioning, and
we don't need to do the on field work. Well.
Roger Goodell said today that even though there's gonna be
continue negotiations with the Players Association, that virtual learning is
going to forever be a part of the NFL because
games have been competitive, penalties are down, Guys figured it out.
(08:52):
You know, coaches are saying, sure, some guys need some
on field work at some point. But Jim, it really
sounds like, again we're maybe we won't have O T
s or maybe they'll be one day of on field
O T there's gonna be some type of off season
change which all sides seemingly can live with. Yeah, I
think that there's a there's a potential middle ground here.
(09:16):
You know, as Todd Bowle says, as a coach, These
young guys do need work, the ones who are transitioning
out of college or the ones who haven't had much
playing time. So I think there can be a middle
ground where maybe guys with one or two years experience
or who have not played an X number of games.
I mean, define it anyway you want, but those guys
can maybe continue and get some on field work in
(09:39):
the off season, whereas these veterans, whether you're you know,
you're four years in, three or four years in or more,
they don't need to be on the field like that.
Andrew Whitworth doesn't need to be going through walkthroughs or
or unpadded practices if you will, during the off season.
So I do think there's an opportunity for or a
(10:00):
meeting of the minds here. Will it happen, I don't know,
But as J. C. Treader and others have said, we're
in a different world now, and this COVID off season
showed us that you can still get the job. Because
remember Steve, before the season, we were all like, this
is gonna be the sloppiest play we've seen probably ever
(10:20):
in the NFL. Exactly all of those things, and we
didn't see that. So if you again, if you're being
objective about it, then you have to look at the
data and say it wasn't as bad as what we thought.
Um And therefore there are ways when we talk about
players safety, to take some of the wear and tear
off of these players bodies and to give them time
(10:42):
what they're fent, more time with their families in the
off season. Yeah, look, we were focused. I've spocused in
front office people saying there's no need for everybody to
come in here five days a week during the off
season when they can spend two days a week and
summer and have four day weekends. You know, however they
want to arrange it. So again there's gonna be a
lot of discussion or nationally and with the club. So lastly, Jim,
(11:02):
before we get to Derek, a couple of quick things
that Roger Goodell talked about in terms of he would
not project if there's gonna be fans in the stadiums
next year, or if they're going to require vaccinations for
fans or people who are on the field, you know,
typically on the field. They just don't know yet based
on data. First off, the vaccinations will be available, but
(11:23):
they do like the fact that, oh, Jim's dog, Jim's
dog is barking. She's happy. That's all right on the head.
We love her. She's outside, she's outside, wants to play
with the dog next door. So all right, I love it.
You're dog is great everyone, Jim's dog and fantastic this
tech because I d it's obviously his German shepherd pictures, um,
(11:44):
and you know, and you know. He also said, what's
interesting is that the International Games are still scheduled. Okay,
that doesn't mean that they won't be, but the sounds
that they're gonna take it up until April when they
typically announce the schedule to decide what they're gonna do,
and seventeen games. They're gonna talk to the players Association
about it. But seventeen games is definitely it seems like
(12:05):
it's in the offing starting. So a couple of things
right there. No thing you talked about is how great
the city of Tampa has had to deal with, Um,
the Super Bowl. Not a lot of people here, no
big tent pole events. And Jim our next guest, he's
on the Tampa host committee. Um, great man, great person.
Let's get to Derek Brooks and see what he has
(12:27):
to say about trying to host the Super Bowl, about
his Buccaneers. Oh yeah, and the Hall of Fame, which
will be announced Saturday at NFL Honors. All right, Jim,
Now we are joined by one of the all time
great linebacker, someone you helped put into a gold jacket
(12:51):
in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Tampa Bay buccaneer
Derek Brooks. I don't think I did much to put
him in. I think Derek for himself, it wouldn't have
mattered if I was in the room or not. He
was going into the Hall on that first ballot because
of his place. So many many props to him. Derek.
(13:14):
How are you doing? I'm doing alright? Alright, guys. And
you know what, Jim, I always tell like I tell
Ira this man, Yeah, you know, our careers, you know,
gives you a resume. But still someone has to go
in there and tell the story. So it's just not
an automatic Honestly, I just feel that way. It's not automatic.
(13:34):
So kudos to you guys man that's going in there
grinding through this. And I can just imagine you got
you know, guys going against each other that you know
a great players and trust me, if I'm asked to
do this, I'm probably gonna say no, you yeah, you
(13:55):
guys have a tough job. And and for me, I
guess I'm just so I feel like I'm so close
to the game and respected so much. I don't know
if I could separate my my fandom, you know, from
the actual job that it would take to sit there
and decipher through this and come down to the minor
details in doing it. And I suppose the coach done
(14:18):
you about it before, you know, he accepted this position,
you know, to take over, you know, for Dan and James,
and you know he even struggled with some of that.
But at the end of the day, Coach just felt
he owed it to himself to get back to the
game in this manner. And I told her, I said, Coach,
you a better man than me, because I don't know,
I'll find another way to contribute to the game. Going
(14:39):
into that room on a serious note, I didn't wonder
how guy's former players and even coaches would handle that.
And to Tony's credit, without you know, violating any privilege
of the room, one of the things he was in
that room was very honest, um, and I appreciate that
about him, Because if a guy comes in there, if
(15:00):
you were to come in and talk solely about your teammates,
you know, and and you know glowingly about your teammate
and the kind of suspect about another guy, you might say, Uh,
is that the relationship or is that the truth? Yes,
but that's why I feel, yeah, yeah, Tony did a
great job, And that's why I say I don't know
if I could separate myself from that. But at the
(15:22):
same time, I would never go without recognizing what you
guys got to do despite the resume. I mean, even
Tom Brady. We know he's he's going in, but still
someone's gonna have to go in there and present the
story and tell it. Hold up here, up here, dad,
let me hold up. No, let me tell you what
(15:44):
the presentation for Tom Brady is going to be. When
he gets in that room, whether I'm there or not,
someone will stand up and say, I present to you
Tom Brady. Any questions, and then he will sit down here.
Steve will say that I will be the end of
the discussion, and there might not be any questions. It
might just be I present to you Tom Brady, and
(16:06):
then that person sits down Okay, seriously, well, Jim, at
least that person had to say those five words. But
but Derek Tom's not going into the class of the
way he right now. Yes, yes, I mean that. Guys.
Were you surprised when they asked him this yesterday when
(16:26):
he playing to forty five? I was not surprised at
his answer. If they would have asked him fifty. I
think he just said, yes. Uh. What I've had, you know,
had the previous realities last eight months since thom has
been here, was to come to you know, appreciate his
ability to focus and stay into the moment. You know,
(16:47):
I've always heard about it, you know, whether it's through
Peyton or teammates of his over the years, that again,
his innate ability to do that and stay in the
moment and stay so present despite his success. But to
be here in Tampa and to see it a little
bit more up closely and just talk to him, you know,
throughout the year, I was just ultimately impressed, honestly, boyut
(17:12):
his ability to stay focused into the moment and treat
everything as if it's his first And you know, I
thought I thought I was good at it, but I
was really appreciative of Tom doing that this year, DV
if I can without without violating any privilege here, when
when a great player such as yourself sits down with
(17:32):
a Tom Brady, who obviously is Steve has mentioned, is
there will be no discussion about the Hall of Fame
when you two get together in your private time and
just talk. What is that conversation like? Uh, you know,
I it was more about you know, and again these
are things I don't think he might sharing. It was
(17:53):
more about adjusting and him understanding that this is new
territory for him. So in his mind it was like
he was a rookie all over again because he's only
known one way, one city, one environment, and for him,
it was discovering, Hey, what's new about me? Where can
(18:16):
I get better? A new set of teammates, you know,
having to go out of his way to you know,
learn teammates were before you know, obviously he did it
with new teammates in New England, but that environment was
already set. He had to come here and learn a
new staff, learned teammates, learned you know, terminology, learn a city.
I mean, think about it. His first probably weekend Tampa.
(18:39):
He didn't know. It was like for people to just
pull up to his house off of the water. He
thought he would have all the all the private shi
in the world. It wasn't the case. He thought he
could just go to a park and work out and
do all these things that he was previous to. And
again we laugh about it now, but it was just understanding,
you know, those moments in discovering that about himself. So
(19:02):
it was more of the private conversations was hey, how
how quickly do I adjust? And how do I adjust?
And being open to a new themes. So that was
where more of those discussions in our private moments, Dick.
You know, it was interesting to me listening to both
him and Byron Left, which speak of the media day
yesterday was Brady saying like, Left is my coach and
(19:25):
Left saying, oh, no, Brady wanted to be coached, when
from the outside saying, hey, Brady has played for so long,
he said, there's a lost his career. He's gonna tell
Left what he wants to do. And he was like, no, no,
I'm the player and you're the coach. And again you've
got to see it from a much closer perspective than
I have. But what about him again, setting everything aside
(19:49):
to be coached by guy he used to play against,
um who's who's just two years into this coordinator thing
and setting ego aside to the point where now it's worked.
That's where they're playing in this supermore. Yeah, I think again,
that's where they didn't have the privilege of an off season,
in a preseason to work through that. And I would
be remissed without mentioning Clyde Christiansen also the quarterback coach,
(20:13):
being a part of that communication, and give coach Arians
a lot of credit. He stepped back and he said, guys,
my hands are off of this. It's your relationship, your offense.
You three got to figure it out for the best
of our team versus some coaches may have jumped in,
you know, as a head coach and and had more
(20:35):
you know of a direct approach. But give give coach
Aaron's credit for trusting in Tom, Clyde and Byron to
figure this out together where it was communication of the offense,
whether it was game Planet, etcetera. You give credit, you know,
to them. And as I said before, that's some of
the things that people on the outside learned about Tom
(20:56):
this year. It's his willingness to be coached someone new
again he was under what it was Bill O'Brien and
where it was Josh. He had time to build those
relationships up. We're here. He hit it on the run.
And for him being that open to do that, you
know again, man, I was extremely impressed with that. It was.
(21:18):
It kind of reminded me when when Mike Tomlin came
in to coach John Lynch coach House Secondary with Mike
Donald was here and Lynch was three years older older
than him, and Joe Barry was my linebacker coach, and
you know, I was the same age as Joe Barry,
so I could relate to some of those things where
a player really had to humble himself and a coach
(21:41):
having to step forward and claim that real estate. And
again I give credit for those two for spending the
time to work it out, because I believe when they
figured it out, probably during that halfway point of the season,
this office took off and they haven't looked back since. Derek,
how important is it for a player of your level
(22:01):
of ability times level of ability to be challenged? Um,
Because the one thing I had always heard about time
in New England is you better bring something new to
him every week, if not every day, or he's gonna
start to tune you out. Can you speak to that
from a player of your ability about how important it
is to be challenged by a coaching staff and to
(22:22):
not just say Derek's got it, he's a Hall of Famer,
he's good. You know that. They got to bring something
to you. Yeah, you do have to do that from
a staff standpoint, and I think also from the player's standpoint,
I think this team, Tom saw the talent on a
daily basis of what this team and what these assets
was capable of doing. And I think he had to
(22:45):
put him himself in a position to push Mike Evans,
you know, push Chris Godwin, you know, push even o
J when he was healthy and camera and then we
obviously Grant coming in gave him some you know, familiar
familiar face. But also Gronk was away from the game
for a year, so it was a reset button for
him as well. So I think this type of offense
(23:08):
was challenging enough to talk because Tom wasn't used to
the risk it, no what is it, no risk it,
no biscuit approach in all the downfield home run hitting plays,
he wasn't used to that, and again he had to
pool to himself that he still had enough arm strength
for this office. At the same time, Byron only knows
(23:30):
one office and that's coach areas. So I think they
both had to go through a learning process where hey,
we can still have the best of both worlds. We
just gotta figure out where it fits in the game
playing on the week to week basis and toil your point, Jim,
I think that was enough to challenge Tom on a
mental basis and also on a physical basis as well.
(23:54):
Hey hey there, it wasn't no risk, no biscuit from
Tom said what I don't have that side protection health? Right?
I got to block this guy one on one. Oh no, no, no,
I'm not good with that. That was about I want
to I want to flip it to the other side
of your side of the ball um because throughout this postseason,
I don't think it's it's it's amazing. Now They've been
(24:14):
talked about enough. This defense is getting takeaways at an
alarming rate. We saw what they did to the Saints,
we saw what they did to the Packers. Devin White,
the guys in the secondary, the pressures that Shack Barrett
and J P. P Are getting and then the offense
is converting them into points. I mean forty one points
off of off of takeaways so far and through in
(24:34):
three postseason games. But what is clicking so well with
this defense because all three levels, even with injuries at safety,
are functioning at like an optimum level. Yes, uh, Steve.
You go back to the second half of the Atlanta
Falcons game week twil and they came out that second
half and they was flying around and they forced on
(24:58):
the I believe the first four drives of Atlanta they
forced three turnovers and the offense pulled away. And this
team really hasn't looked back since. They've been undefeated ever
since that half. And I look at the key component
one they've stayed healthy. Outside of Devin uh missing a
little bit of time due to COVID, all of these
(25:21):
guys have stayed healthy. Peter Vader coming back last week
was a very big difference in that Packer game and
taking away the running game, and that was probably a
piece that was missing was the run defense wasn't as
tight as it needed to be in some of that
shoulder gainst the Washington Redskins in the playoffs. But Coach
bowl watching football team, Washington football team, I'm sorry, I'm
(25:43):
sorry you, Washington football team. Apologize. Apologizing Martin made you,
uh alright, apologize. But to my point, I think Coach
Bowls has has really done a great job of end
game adjustments, and I think that's one of the things
that's probably been overlooked. Whether it was waiting against the
Washington football team waiting to the fourth quarter to blitz
(26:06):
that young quarterback and forced turnovers, or going into the
safe game and taking away the deep ball and putting
pressure on jew Brees, or even going against Green Brain
loading up that box and taking away to run a
game and make an errand throw every down. I think
they've done a great job of making these adjustments until
your point, they have made quarterbacks pay for the mistakes.
(26:28):
Interceptions are interceptions. They're not pass breakups. When the guys
had a quarterback in the pocket, they're bringing them down
for sacks. They're not letting him throw the ball away.
So those are gonna be critical, obviously going against patrickal
Holmes in this offense this week, but I think you
know when they say turnovers coming, bunches, sacks coming, bunches
(26:51):
and they match up together and you win the turnover battle.
That has definitely been the case for this bucket their defense.
Give me a scouting report on on Devin White. Uh,
Thenni White, I think he's he's matured so much this year. Uh.
And I think a lot of that growth you give
a lot of credit to Lavante David and I think
(27:13):
they've become a one one of the best one two
tandems in the league right now. But this young man
was drafted to come in and make impact blade That's
what he did at L s U. And you're starting
to see his game expand where he's using that speed
to go sideline the sideline, he's understanding what zone spacing
is in a zone defense. You know his man that
(27:35):
you know he's always been a great bliitzer and understanding
that component because he was a former running back, so
he understands that. But now, I think, really the last
six weeks, because Bowls has positioned him and he's adjusted
his game where now he could use that speed and
that ability as an asset because he's understanding more zone
(27:55):
spacing and you see that with the interceptions that he's
received and he's gotten so I think he's going to
continue to get better because he definitely has the big playability.
But at the same time, I think Lavonte David compliments
him well and they probably probably one of the best
one to punches right now in tens of in the league.
(28:16):
I'm curious if you are if you were on Tampa's
defense right now, knowing that Kansas City's offensive line is
banged up, what would you expect from them in terms
of how they try and protect Because Tampa has been
generating so much heat up front and coach bowls when
he does bring heat. If you're the Bucks, what would
you anticipate from from Kansas City at this moment, knowing
(28:39):
that the line is banged up, They're gonna run the football.
They're gonna have to come out and established a run.
Uh think about this for one second. The Kansas City
Chiefs got back and got back in the game, and
last year's Super Bowl against the forty nine is by
running the football, and I think that was the Eric
(29:00):
Enemy influenced on Andy Reid and his offense that coach
behind me has not gotten a lot of credit for.
I still don't think he's gotten a lot of credit
for that, But They got back into the Super Bowl
by running the football and that allowed them to set
up the downfield passing in big plays that they were
able to hit the fourth quarter. So I think with
two banged up with two tackle positions that ask questions,
(29:23):
they're gonna have to come out and established the run
a game, And that to me says the stage or
how they're gonna have to protect Patrick because if you
get the Bucket, their defense back on the heels, and
now they can't dictate tempo, they can't dictate the skies
and dictate pressure. Then that's you know, that's not going
to board well for Kansas City. So I think they're
gonna have to come out and try to establish the
(29:45):
run and then get get some winnable downs. But now
Patrick and the play calling become an asset against the
buck in their defense. This, Derek, and this is gonna
be your specialty too, because the speed of linebacker that
the Bucks have. We see when teams try to deny
the Chiefs deep, try to deny the run game. Patricks
got run lanes. Do you think those run lanes can
(30:07):
be big enough there for him? Because I mean third
and tent is nothing to him. My third intent is
nothing to the Chiefs, It's nothing to the Holmes. Do
you think the speed of linebackers, with Lavonte and Devon
being three down linebackers, kind of minimizes the potential for
him to scramble or to create and do a little
shovel pass kind of last minute dump off pass to
a running backer to Kelsey. I think when they forced
(30:29):
Patrick into this position, they got a tackle him. They
got and I think Patrick understands the last time that
he ran, you know, he got tackled very physical and
had to come out of the game. So I think
if he runs the football and he does a slide,
they got to make it a physical tackle and make
(30:51):
him feel make them feel him when when he does
do that. And another key is Kansasy is going to
get yards, may just keep the ball in front of you.
Play great red zone defense, try to help to feel,
help you dictate temple when you get down into the
red zone. Nine that kind of neutralizes ty retail speed
(31:15):
where it's not vertical, it's hard zone, and as it
comes hard zone, you gotta corral of football and top
of him. When you get down in the red zone,
it gives you a better chance to double team Kelsey
versus trying to double team him in the field. So
I look at this as if they can play great
reds on defense and when Patrick runs the football, account
for him and make it a physical tackle, then obviously
(31:39):
those are some of the things that they can do.
I mean, that's what we when when we played explosive
offenses such as the Rams back in our day, we
say we're gonna make them go through our red zoe
and we're gonna make it a physical football game. When
they tap, we know they're gonna get some yards, but
make sure you bring them down hard, make sure they
don't want to catch it again, and to it it's
(32:00):
a fate, a physical game, and that's what we were
able to do. We didn't go in with no exotic
defenses that we tried to put in at the last minute.
We just played sound defense ourselves, made them go through
our red zone that they had to score. And you
look back over the years, we had our fast share
success against the greatest show on turf, except for the
(32:24):
one game we lost. With the NFC Championship game, we
were you know, we were winning six to five. You know,
before Ricky Poe only touchdown. He's scoring off the side
of his help. Come on, come on, do do me
(32:47):
a favor here. I know you're down in Tampa. The
super Bowl is getting ready to happen. You want to
tie it over the back In the old two season,
I believe it was can you take us behind the
curtain of what it's like, what that game is like,
what preparation it's like that maybe we on the outside
don't see um give us some flavor. Uh. For us,
(33:09):
that was the last year that we didn't have the
bye week when we went to the super Bowl, and
ever since then they've implemented the bye week as a
permanent theme for the Super Bowl. And let me tell you, guys,
I'm so glad we did have a bout week. With
those personalities that we had on that team. We needed
to stay in football mode. We didn't need to change
(33:32):
a thing. I could think one in particular their game.
I could think of Twin So I'm going to protect
the innocent here. But for for us, I was so
glad that we went from you know, the high of
defeating Philly on the road, that we didn't even have
(33:54):
time to think about that. Guys. We shifted into game
mode because we had to come back and get ready
to liut to the West Coast, So we basically stayed
in the same as a game week, and that really
helped us from a mentally focused standpoint that everything was routine. Nowadays,
teams gotta they gotta, you know, take care of everything
(34:16):
once you win the championship to spend the first days
with logistics, so you got to hit the reset button
to start over the preparation and then you don't want
to over prepare because you've got two weeks, so it's
not so most teams try to treat it like a
bye week, but it's kind of hard to do that
because you're the center of attention in terms of the
event of the super Bowl, and that's what players really
(34:40):
have to fight against and understand. You are here to
play the game of the super Bowl. Everybody else they're
here for the event of the Super Bowl. And that
is the hardest thing that players have to fight against, family,
against friends, against the even other teammates. They have to
(35:02):
fight that mentality to do it. So as you get
closer to the game, it makes it easier to wire
in because now everything is all about football and and
you try to eliminate you know, all those distractions that
come with it. But if I'm taking everybody behind the curtain,
I would just simply say that the players really have
to wire in and focus on the game of the
(35:25):
Super Bowl, which is very different than the event of
a Super Bowl. No, but I go back and look
at that game, and and your defense score a touchdowns
in Oakland's offense in that game. You guys made it
look so easy. I mean, how much of an advantage
did you actually have with Brewton having come from Oakland
the previous year, knowing that Raiders offense, knowing that system. Seriously,
(35:50):
how much of an advantage did you have because of that?
You know, we had the advantage of coach Grewen knowing
their personality. And during that week when John, you know,
play a quarterback, and rumor has it that he sliced
our defense. That is not true. We had to let him.
We we had to let him complete passes in order
(36:13):
to get out of practice. Okay, so we let him passes.
But John, he did a good job of setting setting
up and letting us know Oakless personality such as, hey,
when you show risk getting this, his personality is gonna
dictate what he's gonna do. Put Jerry Rice in this situation,
(36:33):
this is how he's gonna respond. But it was Tim Brown,
Charlie Garner. You know, he knew their defensive personnel and
their personality. Now, yes he's you know, he said, hey,
these are plays that you see on film and terminology
and and be honest me to some of that. Some
of it work, but most of it didn't. They changed
up their terminology because they knew, but they couldn't change
(36:55):
their personalities. And it showed. And Coach gruten final message
to that to our defense before we hit that field
was if you don't make make risk and pay for mistakes,
he's going to come back and kill us. If he
throws the ball up, you can't make it a pass
break up. You have to make an interception and do
(37:17):
something with it. Don't give risk and in a second chance.
And we didn't. When he put the ball up and
we had a chance to go get it, man, we
turned them into interceptions and obviously ended up scoring testdowns.
But that was for us. That was a key understanding
their personalities and making you know, quite frankly, making risk
and and paid for mistakes. See before, when we were
(37:39):
talking about, you know, prepping for the event, the two
week issue. This super Bowl is so unique, right because
Tampa's home got you guys, aren't you know? The teams
are having to travel and because of COVID, the Chiefs
are home all week. They're not coming out until the
day before the game, so it's like a regular season
road trips, so distractions are really minimal. But I want
to I want to get back to because now we've
(38:01):
seen him come back again in the new activity and
they're they're on a hamster wheel, right, Yes, do you think?
I mean you saw some things this year like wow,
I mean they're offensives at some points are great, but
then you got to the second half of the season
and it was all over. Everything was all over the place.
Defense never settled in. What do you think it's gonna
take for John to re established himself or can he
(38:25):
do it? Yes? I think he can do it. Uh.
And in all fairness to John, he had to adjust
that first year coming back and understand that this was
a different NFL then when he had left as a coach,
and very different than what he was covering as a broadcaster,
and it took him. I believe it took him really
(38:47):
a year to understand that and then understand dealing with
today's player on a daily basis. I can I can't
even count the number of times I talked to him,
and it's like I wish I had a Terry Brooks
in my locker room that that could deal with all
these things and I could stay focused in on coaching.
(39:09):
You know, he had to understand that players were concerned,
you know, other things outside of football was important to
his team, and he had to adjust and understand that.
But I think one of the big moves that coach
made this offseason was making the changes in this coaching staff,
bringing in Gus Bradley, redoing the defense. And you look
(39:30):
at that staff now, it's pretty much of guys that
John has coached within the past, and that to me
gives me a lot of confidence that now that he
has his staff really put together the way that he
wants it now, I think they can make a serious challenge,
you know, to the chiefs the top of the a
f C. West. Uh. They do have some young talent
(39:52):
that need to to grow, and I think Mike is
doing a good job, to be honest with you, with
John and filling in the pieces. So now that I
think they have a really solid staff solidified, I think
them to uh really challenge the Chiefs. Now, I'm not
saying they're gonna be thrown them, but they showed this
year that not only that they could play with them,
that they could beat them. So I think look for
(40:13):
them to take another step next year towards turned around
around the Raiders franchise. Did tell tell them tell a
real quick not to take a victory lap after a
regular season victory? Yeah, I mean it's probably one of
those things that they that they do regret, uh that
they got caught up in emotions of but you know,
(40:34):
again your living your learn right. Well, it's interesting to
me that the one piece that they're missing is the
one piece that they gave away that they have not
been able to replace, and that's that edge rusher. And
they keep coming back to that as being a problem
for them that they can find a way. The general pressure,
consistent pressure on the quarterback, Well, you had a guy
(40:55):
there that you could have done it, you know, And
maybe I'm wrong here. I know you're close to John,
but I'm gonna say this, and I'll use political terms
to make it easy to understand. What John and Mike
Mayock did to me is what Donald Trump tried to
do to Obama. It's like lap everything away that Obama
and put in place. They came in and tried to
(41:15):
wipe away everything that Reggie mckinson did put in place.
And that's how I view it. And they haven't recovered
from that. So anyway, I don't want to put you
on the spot with that. I'm gonna let that go.
That's just my commentary on it. So um, but let
me ask you. I will say this, I was shocked
when that happened. I sat back and I was like, whoa, Okay,
(41:40):
didn't see that one coming. That's kinda that's kinda all
I take it. And obviously, uh, the results speaking themselves,
they deserve judge. Yes, sir, let me ask you this.
This is probably the hardest question you're gonna get, maybe
the easiest. What's what's harder? Hosting a Super Bowl in
(42:00):
your hometown as a retired Hall of Fame player? We
actually playing in that game? You know what Jim with
with It's not even close. It's playing in a Super Bowl. Man,
if I I joke about this, but if I knew
when I accepted to be co chairman of our host committee.
(42:21):
If I had known how much work it would have been,
I probably would have said no, or I don't know.
I wouldn't have saying I wouldn't have said yes as
quickly as I did just say that. But for me,
it's allowed me a chance to to grow myself personally
(42:42):
and and earn a lot of business equity. Uh, not
just in this town, but even in the NFL circles
where they've had a chance to see me outside of
being a player and sitting in a decision making seat
and whether strategically playing and whether I have an execution strategy. Well,
(43:03):
I've had to be part of a team that has
to pivot daily because there was no blueprint for us
to put on a Super Bowl in a health pandemic,
so we had to rewrite the rules and hopefully l
A in Vegas they get a chance to take our
blueprint and learn from it because we don't know where
we'll be in two or three, so at least we've
(43:25):
given them a head start. At the same time, I
think we positioned ourselves to earn the right when the
bids come up again that Tampa get a lot more
serious consideration than we did before because we stepped in
when the NFL asked. We stepped in and took the
challenge of taking on the Super Bowl when obviously l
(43:46):
A wasn't reading. And I think we've done the best
that we can in planning for every possible scenario and
making this Super Bowl as safe as possible under the
best health concerns there are, but yet still creating as
much since we can the same experience for everybody, even
though we got reduced capacity across all boards. And people say, oh,
(44:07):
isn't there a shame that the Bucks made history and
we don't have a full stadium, And I said, guys,
why not? Why look at it like that? Let's look
at it. Ask hey, Buccaneers did the first part of history.
Who knows the data done it under any other conditions.
They did it under these conditions. And if they go
out and win, it doesn't matter how many people are
(44:29):
in that stadium. It's gonna be enough celebration of town
for everybody to participate. And we hope they ride the
same momentum. Man, I stand lightning one Stanley Cup. You
know I raised failed a couple of games short of
defeating the Dodgers and and hopefully if the Bucks able
to get it done, you know, we'll consider ourselves, you know,
(44:50):
the two championship town Oh ho ho, Hey, hey there,
I can't say anything. I'm in San Diego, so I
can't speak on it. You know, well, we represent you guys,
because that's what we wanted out super Bowl. I remember,
(45:14):
I will say this. I'm in Tampa and it's amazing
what the city is done because it looks I mean
physically it looks like a regular Super Bowl with the signage,
with the events. State is intense and things like this.
Um you know, you know, it's hard to get everybody
to comply with social distancing and things like that. It's
probably a little bit more intense as you go, but
I mean it's it's amazing to see things seem so
(45:38):
the regalia, like as you said, it's an event still
going on when we've got this cloud of fear over.
So salute to you and the people of Tampa and
then the local political leaders to to pull off, um
what this is done. Now. I do want to change
gears because I do want to get someone who's the
students you as a players, so many strong convictions something
(45:59):
we're saying play out in real time in the NFL
right now, and that's player leverage. And if he has,
that's DeShawn Watson by him saying, hey, I'm out. I'm
let everybody know I want out. This isn't me just
asking for a trade. This is a game of chicken.
I don't care who you hired as coach or whatever.
Either you get rid of me or I'm just gonna
(46:22):
I'm just gonna torpedo this this whole thing. You know,
he hasn't said in those terms, but we get what's
going on. What do you when you look at that situation?
First off, what do you think about it? And is
this because he is a quarterbacks? This one of the
few players and he's a great quarterback who can exercise
that type of leverage over a franchise because we see
in the NBA and other sports, but you just don't
see it in the NFL. Well, I would say this
(46:45):
that I look at this as where is there an
opportunity for both sides too, look at this as recognizing
each his partners and how do you played to that
leverage where everybody wins? And maybe you look at how
(47:06):
there are partnerships in terms of players and owners in
the league, in the NBA League office when it gets
to executing, you know, certain strategies and showing more of
a united front when it gets to that, and maybe
they are some learning from it. On the other hand,
you know, isn't now that you've hired someone and and
(47:28):
David Culley, who now has an opportunity to show his
leadership skill and he's been known as a player's coach.
Can he pull this off and repairing a relationship? Clearly
that he's walking into hot fire. Does he have enough
water to cool this down and earn the trust of
(47:49):
a player and get in between that relationship when it
gets to owners. So I look at this as one
is is this enough players who have this type of
influence in the NFL? I don't know, because we have
eighteen hundred players and there's a very small pot of players.
(48:10):
And you look at this position and I asked myself,
if this wasn't the quarterback position, what does this even
be a discussion when it gets to that again, I'm
anxious to learn, anxious to learn the learnings from that.
But I think that Sean has taken up position of
now everybody has put equal focus on that in terms
(48:34):
of attention, and I want to see it play out,
you know, on both sides, because I don't know who ends,
but I do know this something needs to be prepared.
And I'm not I'm not of the mindset to say
if de Sean is traded that this is going to
be a trend. I don't know, because I just said,
(48:55):
who in terms of players have this type of rich
and who in terms of players and owners relationship has
been this damage. Not not very many. At the same time,
I want to look at this as maybe this is
probably one of those times where ownership has to step
(49:16):
up and look at the player in a different light
and not just an employee, but maybe as a partner
because they put the player in this position player to
put himself. And again I think he's, you know, bringing
a certain level accountability to Hey, you guys said this,
and I'm gonna hold you two accountable to what you
(49:37):
said to me, you know, Derek, I want to I
want to ask you this too about thinking outside the box.
We have seen instances in recent years in the league
where it happens. Let's go back to San Francisco hiring
John Lynch's general manager with no gym experience, of personnel experience,
Let's go to Houston talking about interviewing Josh McCown for
(49:58):
the head coaching job with no coaching experience, you have
executive experience from owning an Arena Football League team and whatnot.
I want to put this out there now, Does Derek bros.
Have interest in the NFL? Because anyone works to this
podcast is going to hear this game. You know the
(50:22):
history of this league, you know personnel. Is there interest
on your part? Man? If I thought I was going
to get off this car without you going down that road,
I know I can't share this. Uh just from where
(50:43):
I sit with with my family, the teams that that
I've talked to behind the scenes, I told them that
right now, I'm just not prepared for that commitment. Uh
here where my family is with obviously my son Florida
State and and finish his career to my daughter, you know,
(51:04):
a pretty good little softball player here in high school
here in Tampa. I'm just not ready for that type
of commitment right now to invest into that and put
my family in that position and the things that I
do right now with the NFL p A and NFL
as an appeals officer. Uh. They both have allowed me
(51:27):
to lean in in terms of access, uh, in influence
to give back to this game. And I thank them
for that because I've had a chance to elevate this
position as an appeals officer to make sure that our
relationships across all fronts, whether it's players, whether it's owners,
whether it's officials, etcetera. I've had a chance to be
(51:50):
a part of that process, and again, extremely excited and
satisfied with that. At the same time, I have enough
is in colleagues that are running teams now, uh that
I consult with a matter of fact, I probably need
to start sending them in voices again I get a
(52:12):
chance to to really talk to them, you know, and
help them grow and know and be a sounding board.
And guys, I have I have a great job working
for Mr Vinnick, you know, in our Tampa Bay Lightning round,
our corporated business development and running the team. So you
know right now, you know, Derrick Brooks, you know, I'm fine,
(52:33):
But we will see what the future holds uh for me.
But I have I have shared you know, with teams,
not even shared with colleges Uh, that asked me to
come be an athletic director. I just told him right
now in the space and place that I said, I
can't make that commitment because I know me, I'm going
to dive in one thousand percent and something will have
(52:56):
to suffer and I'm not willing to put my family
in that position, not right now in my life. Well,
I do know when you do do it, he's gonna
be fantastic. Hey, Jim Me and Jim Bowl can let
you know Howard University has a softball team. So when
your daughter is ready, when your daughter is ready, yes, sir,
(53:23):
you know all right, yeah, my wife, because my wife
low they can happen. They could happen. We're get ready
to let you have the hook now now the gym.
(53:44):
This guy got a question. Hey, but real quick as
we started, go ahead. No, No, I'm just saying I'm
always looking for good brothers to come into the league
and do some positive things. So and anyone who talks
to Derek knows that he is about his business and
that he understands this game. You know, you can see
it from a player's standpoint, you can see it from
(54:06):
management standpoint. Having on an arena league team. So he
gets it, um. And that's why I say I think
he would be a valuable asset if he were to
sit in that chair one day for one of these clubs.
Than I appreciate Hey and Derek. Since we started this
conversation with the Hall of Fame, we know Saturday, um,
the final results are going to be announced a NFL
Honors Jim missed. Jim was part of the process once again.
(54:31):
But just your thoughts on the eight people who are
gonna be joining you in Canton and football immortality. We
don't know who they are, but just some thoughts on
some of the people. You know, Peyton Manning, you know
of the monetary guys, but but just some of them
are some of the folks you know who you think
maybe should go in or who you're you're looking towards. Um,
(54:52):
you know again join you in that bus room. Well, uh,
you know, I'll keep it short and sweet, uh and
Jim knowing and I think Jim uh Steve for you know,
allowing me to to really uh have a discussion with
him about you know, John Lynch, Ronde Barbard, even Simeon
Rice and I'm in all these voters know that I'm openly.
(55:15):
I hate to use use the word campaigning, but I'm
openly asking questions and giving information about my three teammates
who I think are deserving, uh to be uh really
in that room and selected to have a gold jacket.
And man, if anybody's on the cuffs, I think John
(55:35):
Lynch would be that, And what that what kind perfect
that will be if it's John or or Ronde or
both here in Tampa, Florida, Super Bowl fifty five of
all Super Bowls and they are selected to have a
gold jacket, would just be again more I just enough
icing on the cake for that. And you know, obviously
(55:58):
there are others, but I just feel, you know, with
my three teammates, and I've seen what they've done measured
against the other grades of this game that are gold
jacket members, uh, that they are deserving of that. And
I understand that, you know, even for Jim a little
bit different and not having that you know, personal sea
(56:19):
feel and touch to get the temperature of a room,
and and like I said, even for them not even knowing,
you know, honestly, I think it's unfair that you guys
don't know, but only David Baker and a couple of
others do, but that doesn't diminish the process. And again,
if if my teammates are allowed to you know, have
(56:41):
that bus and join us and can, I will be
over its static you know about that. But again, uh,
kudos to you guys, Jim again for being able to
pivot and make adjustments to this process as well. And
and I wanna you know, even think President Baker because
(57:02):
each year he tries to adjust this process to stay
current with the game. And it took a while, uh
to even start that process of change. But I think
you know, you guys as selectors, you know, keep sitting
him because we I'm on the board and so keep
sitting information on how we can get better, how can
(57:25):
we can stay relevant and current, you know, with the
current game, even though we're the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
you know, we have to stay current and relevant and
be ever changing too. And see Steve, this is the
reason Derek does not want to be on that committee
because I can now hold on. If he were on
that committee, someone would say to him, Derek, we got
(57:48):
one spot left. We got John Lynch, and we got
Ronde Barber. Who are you putting in? Yes? And Derek
would have to answer that question. That's why he doesn't
want to be that committee. No, no where right there.
You know what, I probably write my name, write it.
Hey here, you're going to sheet of paper and walk
(58:09):
out of the room. Yeah all right, hey, well once
again you you the people on the host committee, the
city of Tampa just doing a fantastic job of setting
this up for Super Bowl fifty five. I know you're
a probably buccaneer um, a great Hall of famer and
(58:30):
the father of a future Howard Bison. Very good, Thank
you so much. Oh man, it's my pleasure man, And
again obviously enjoy you know, listening to you guys and
obviously read every piece that you guys. Right, so you guys,
you know, keeping trance set as yourself. I appreciate you, Derek.
(58:53):
I know it's a busy week for you, so taking
time out for the huddle and flow means a lot. Man.
Thank you, alright, no problem as a game. Can't wait
to see Steve a team who needs a general manager
one day. Derek Brooks is someone I think would do
a phenomenal job when he's ready. He's just I think
(59:16):
you here in this interview just how thoughtful he is
how intelligent he is, and he brings a business aspect
and a player aspect um or he would bring a
business aspect and a player aspect to that position. So um,
you know, I got to thank him for taking time
out of his week to spend with us, because as
you know, super Bowl week can be pretty hectic, and
(59:38):
to have Todd Bowles and Derek Brooks both carve out
some times for the huddle and flow major thanks in
respect to them. Yeah, mad love to to both of them. Look,
one thing I loved about you know, Derek, and first
of all, I think you do. You talked about general manager.
He'd be a great team president too. Owner. He'd be
a yes, pretty pleased, let's make that happen. But the
(01:00:04):
one thing I love about him, and this is like
the linebacker, the football player. And when he was talking
about Patrick Mahomes saying, yeah Mahomes scrambles out of the pocket,
the Buccaneers defenders they need to let him know, they
need to let him feel them. So in other words,
go ahead, rack and ring him up a couple of times,
stick him a couple of times, knock the wind out
(01:00:26):
of and let him know, hey, you know you may
not want to cross that bridge next time you come
down this way. So I just love at the football
player in him, absolutely, But how good was it to
hear him break down the game from his advantage point
in terms of his experience, not only playing in the
Super Bowl, but playing against let's say, a high power offense,
(01:00:46):
that sort of thing. Those are the kind of things
I can just sit and listen to all day to
hear how a great player's mind works in those situations
and how they would attack and and and to call
on their experiences. I just I'm just always those times,
I'm so thankful whenever we have an opportunity to just
sit back and learn from these guys you know the
(01:01:08):
true grades. So again, thank you to Derek Um. It
was awesome, yep, Jim, And why don't you go ahead
and bring us home because we got a Super Bowl
to get to finally, So we again thank you for
your support. We thank you for subscribing, We thank you
(01:01:28):
for leaving us comments, telling us what you want to hear,
who you would like to hear from, what issues you like,
you would like a dress, because when you do that,
we're able to give you more of what you're funking
for And yes, y'all, just because there's a Super Bowl
and the games are stopped will stop being played, that
(01:01:50):
does not mean the huddle and flow is going away.
Jim and I and Thomas are going to be here
as long as you want us here. And one of
the reasons we're gonna be here because of our great
sponsor Into It, proudmakers of Turbo Tax, Quick Books and Mint.
They're keeping us afloat. We're gonna be here for you
(01:02:10):
all because this is what we do for. Jim Trotter,
I'm Steve White, Thomas Warren on the ones and twos.
We are the Howard Mob and we are out
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