Brooks ready for new contract

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 29, 2001

TAMPA -- If they are not applauding his tackles, they are honoring him for his travels with disadvantaged youth.

Derrick Brooks has taken teens to Washington, Africa and the Wild West.

But the next trip he should take is to the bank with the Bucs.

Brooks, a four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker, has two years remaining on his contract that pays close to $3.5-million per year.

But before the 2001 season is over, he should have a contract extension.

"They told me it's supposed to happen," Brooks said. "They say this organization was built on character. I plan to sit back and let it happen. I keep being told the team wants to make Derrick happy.

"I've sat back and watched while they've signed some guys. Technically, I have two years left on my contract. But they did before when I had a couple years left. At that time, they took a bit of a gamble on the player they thought I would become. Now that I've done it, we'll see."

The Brooks Bunch recently completed a trip to the western United States that included river rafting, a visit with American Indians and a trip to the Grand Canyon.

"My motivation is to see the world through kid's eyes," Brooks said. "I want to show them there's a world outside of Tampa. It brings me a lot of personal satisfaction. I started the program without media attention. If not for the kids being requested for interviews, I was going to stop the publicity. But I realized it was a once in lifetime opportunity for them to receive recognition. That's how serious I take this."

WHAT CHANGES?: No matter how many points the Bucs score this season, they won't take any chances with the lead in the fourth quarter.

Coach Tony Dungy has established a defense that is abnormally good at protecting leads.

"We're 34-3 when we lead going into the fourth quarter," Dungy said. "So I think we have a style of play that's pretty successful when we get ahead. Whether people like it or not or wish it were something a little different."

BE SMART: Rather than spend a lot of time stealing plays from other teams, the Bucs spent most of the off-season evaluating what they do best -- and worst on offense.

The plan is to match the play-calling to the personnel, which is not a novel concept except that it hasn't existed much at One Buc Place.

"For example, Warrick (Dunn) had 20 snaps on a play he never ran good for four years," offensive line coach Chris Foerster said. "So why is he running it?"

A MILLION THANKS: In 1987, Ray Perkins had the Bucs purchase a single-wide trailer to serve as a media workroom because he no longer wanted reporters to have access to One Buc Place except during interview times.

That aluminum can has since been moved three times until coming to rest a few years ago in a parking lot.

There have been efforts to spruce it up, but the moldy, rusted, dented hulk became inhabitable several years ago.

Finally, the Bucs and the Glazer family -- heeding the wisdom of director of communications Reggie Roberts -- have came to their senses. When the Bucs return from training camp Aug. 17, the media will have a new, larger trailer from which to file reports.

Let's just hope they don't expect us to use it for 14 years.

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