Today is a good day for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team's on-field performance this season hasn't been what fans were expecting, but three of the architects of Tampa Bay's victory in Super Bowl XXXVII were announced as semifinalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame: former head coach Tony Dungy, hard-hitting safety John Lynch and, arguably the greatest Buccaneer of them all, Derrick Brooks.
Has there ever been a player - outside of the quarterback position - more responsible for the immediate turnaround of a whole franchise?
After fourteen consecutive losing seasons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stormed to a 10-6 season in 1997 and won their first playoff game in fifteen years - eventually losing in the divisional round to the Green Bay Packers.
The 1997 team featured a number of players that would go on to become Buccaneers staples - Warren Sapp, John Lynch, Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott and Ronde Barber - and a new identity. The famous and much-derided 'Creamsicle' uniforms were replaced by a crimson and pewter kit, and the team established a new identity on the field with a ferocious, revolutionary 'Tampa 2' defence.
Although designed and implemented by Dungy and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Derrick Brooks was the field General.
The Tampa 2 requires very specific personnel - the linebackers in that scheme need need to possess good speed and the intelligence to read plays and adapt to a number of positions in run and pass defence.
Pete Prisco, senior NFL writer for CBS Sports, once wrote: "it takes a special linebacker to do that".
In 1995, the Buccaneers found their "special linebacker". Drafted with a reputation for blistering speed and excellent tackling and coverage skills, Brooks quickly became one of the best linebackers in the game, and remained in that discussion until he retired in 2008.
Over the course of thirteen seasons, Derrick Brooks cultivated a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He played in 224 games - every single one since he was drafted. He won a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers' 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders in 2002 - the same season he was also named NFL Defensive Player Of The Year. He recorded 2,198 tackles (a franchise record) on his way to eleven Pro Bowls. He was named Pro Bowl MVP in 2006, and was also named in nine All-Pro teams.
But, if you were to ask the man himself, he would probably rank his community and humanitarian work as one of his greatest achievements. Brooks was recipient of the Walter Payton Man Of The Year award in 2000, and the Byron 'Whizzer' White Man Of The Year award in 2003. He is a strong advocate for the importance of education - founding the Brooks Bunch Charity and Youth Scholarship Foundation, as well as the Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa.
It was his tireless commitment on and off the field, as well as his synonymity with the transformation of the Buccaneers franchise from losers into winners, that sees him remembered as the greatest Buccaneer of all time.
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