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Keith Brooking: No guarantee you'll see same effort you did against Texans for rest of season
12:11 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 28, 2010
SportsDayDFW.com
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking was interviewed on KESN-FM radio on Monday to discuss the Cowboys’ victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday. Here are some highlights:
After playing well on both sides of the ball against the Texans, do you feel even worse about the first two losses?
I do. But, just to be dead honest with you, we’re about moving forward and that was shown yesterday in our performance, as far as us just persevering through a couple of rough weeks and putting that behind us and moving forward and preparing for the Texans. It was our best week of preparation and when your preparation meets opportunity, we put on a great performance yesterday and that was great to see.
Did desperation also play a part in the victory?
I don’t think we were desperate. I think that our backs were, obviously, against the wall and we came out swinging. I think that the difference in the ball game was that we played well in all phases of the game: offensively, defensively and on special teams. But, we prepared that way throughout the course of the week and the key statistic…we caused a lot of havoc in the backfield defensively. [DeMarcus] Ware had an amazing game: three sacks and five tackles for loss. I think people have gotten used to that around here.
We created turnovers and our offense didn’t give the ball up and that’s the key statistic, week in and week out, in this league and that was one of the differences. Our offense turned the ball over a little bit in those first couple of games and we didn’t create turnovers defensively and that kind of puts yourself behind the 8-ball there. We didn’t make silly mistakes; we played smart football for the most part…not that there weren’t mistakes in the game. So, I think that’s the winning combination; that’s a good recipe for success.
Now that you’ve won a game and gained some momentum, do you wish the bye wasn’t this week so you can go out and play some more?
Well, I guess you can probably look at it that way, but I know we’re going to look at it as, first of all, we have three days off. We’re working tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, so essentially, we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. And it’s a time for us to…some guys are banged up, to get treatment, to get healthy and not separate yourself from the game at all. It’s also time to look back on this past week; look back, just for a brief moment, on this past week on what it took for us to go and perform the way we did on Sunday and just think about that and come back that next week, when we face the Titans and have that same approach, that same focus. Actually, better focus, better attention to detail, a better sense of urgency in everything that we do and obviously, we have a big stretch run. We have some tough games ahead of us; I accept that challenge, I love it more than anything and I’m looking forward to taking one step at a time on this journey.
Can you guarantee that the effort the Cowboys put forth against the Texans will be the effort put forth the rest of the season?
I’ve learned, in my short time here on this Earth, that there’s not a lot of things that you can probably guarantee and you shouldn’t guarantee. So I can’t guarantee that. I can guarantee this football team, regardless of what happened the first couple of weeks; we know what’s at stake here. It’s extremely important for everybody involved and we’re going to do everything in our power to get the best out of these next 13 games and we’re going to lay it on the line for our fans, for everybody out there cheering for us and it’s going to be a great journey for these next 13 weeks. I’m really looking forward to it.
12:11 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 28, 2010
SportsDayDFW.com
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking was interviewed on KESN-FM radio on Monday to discuss the Cowboys’ victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday. Here are some highlights:
After playing well on both sides of the ball against the Texans, do you feel even worse about the first two losses?
I do. But, just to be dead honest with you, we’re about moving forward and that was shown yesterday in our performance, as far as us just persevering through a couple of rough weeks and putting that behind us and moving forward and preparing for the Texans. It was our best week of preparation and when your preparation meets opportunity, we put on a great performance yesterday and that was great to see.
Did desperation also play a part in the victory?
I don’t think we were desperate. I think that our backs were, obviously, against the wall and we came out swinging. I think that the difference in the ball game was that we played well in all phases of the game: offensively, defensively and on special teams. But, we prepared that way throughout the course of the week and the key statistic…we caused a lot of havoc in the backfield defensively. [DeMarcus] Ware had an amazing game: three sacks and five tackles for loss. I think people have gotten used to that around here.
We created turnovers and our offense didn’t give the ball up and that’s the key statistic, week in and week out, in this league and that was one of the differences. Our offense turned the ball over a little bit in those first couple of games and we didn’t create turnovers defensively and that kind of puts yourself behind the 8-ball there. We didn’t make silly mistakes; we played smart football for the most part…not that there weren’t mistakes in the game. So, I think that’s the winning combination; that’s a good recipe for success.
Now that you’ve won a game and gained some momentum, do you wish the bye wasn’t this week so you can go out and play some more?
Well, I guess you can probably look at it that way, but I know we’re going to look at it as, first of all, we have three days off. We’re working tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, so essentially, we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. And it’s a time for us to…some guys are banged up, to get treatment, to get healthy and not separate yourself from the game at all. It’s also time to look back on this past week; look back, just for a brief moment, on this past week on what it took for us to go and perform the way we did on Sunday and just think about that and come back that next week, when we face the Titans and have that same approach, that same focus. Actually, better focus, better attention to detail, a better sense of urgency in everything that we do and obviously, we have a big stretch run. We have some tough games ahead of us; I accept that challenge, I love it more than anything and I’m looking forward to taking one step at a time on this journey.
Can you guarantee that the effort the Cowboys put forth against the Texans will be the effort put forth the rest of the season?
I’ve learned, in my short time here on this Earth, that there’s not a lot of things that you can probably guarantee and you shouldn’t guarantee. So I can’t guarantee that. I can guarantee this football team, regardless of what happened the first couple of weeks; we know what’s at stake here. It’s extremely important for everybody involved and we’re going to do everything in our power to get the best out of these next 13 games and we’re going to lay it on the line for our fans, for everybody out there cheering for us and it’s going to be a great journey for these next 13 weeks. I’m really looking forward to it.